Making a Road Map to Your Goals

Making a Road Map to Your Goals

Goal setting is a crucial part of realizing your personal and professional dreams. However, it isn’t enough to create these goals mentally; you must write them down. The act of writing down your goals gets the process off to a head start and gives your brain its own set of instructions. The more specific your goal is and the more details you provide, the more successful you will be at achieving it.

Here are some suggestions for mapping out your path to achieving your goals.

Give yourself time each week to clarify your goals. It isn’t enough to just write down your goals and bury the list away. Frequent review and adjustment of your goals should be considered a requirement of achieving the goals themselves. Spend an average of 10-12 minutes a day revisiting your goal list and making necessary adjustments to it. For example, say your list of goals includes revamping your website, seeking out more referrals, and creating a new marketing plan. By revisiting this list each week, you can assess your progress. You may realize that you have spent most of your time on your marketing plan, but have completely neglected the other goals. This time each week can also be spent adding specifics to each goal, like due dates and relevant numbers.
Spend enough time on weekly goals. If you set goals that you want to be met by the end of the week, you should be spending at least 50% of your time doing what it takes to achieve them by Friday. So if you put in an 8-hour workday, then an average of four hours per day should be set aside for weekly goals. Keep this in mind when setting your goals for the week. Will you be able to invest that much time? What do you have going on this week that might prevent you from accomplishing your goals? Set your goals high, but be realistic about what is required of you to meet a weekly objective. Always set yourself up for success.
Build relationships with people who can help you achieve. Win/win relationships are those that benefit each person. For example, as the owner of a hair salon, you may form a relationship with the boutique owner down the street. During prom season, you could cross-promote services and exchange referrals. A relationship like this provides benefits for both parties and helps to achieve sales and marketing goals. Make win/win relationship building a priority when you create your road map.
Embrace the good and drop the bad. We all make New Year’s resolutions, but many of us fail to stick with them throughout the year because we don’t commit to making those resolutions a regular part of our lives. When setting your long-term goals, focus on forming 3 good habits and breaking 3 bad habits a year. You may decide that you want your customer service follow-up to become habitual, rather than sporadic and on an as-needed basis. You may have sabotaged your past efforts because you tend to procrastinate, so commit to dropping that bad habit as well. When making your goal list, consider what you will do to make a desired behavior habitual and an undesired one a thing of the past.

Developing a road map to your goals provides you with a clear path and increases your chance of success. How do you map out your goals? Please share your ideas in the comments below!

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DSEF & CBBB: 7 Tips for Optimizing Your Professional Profile Blog

DSEF & CBBB: 7 Tips for Optimizing Your Professional Profile Blog

By Lindsey Max

Mashable lists 7 tips for ensuring you have the best online professional profile:

1) Keep it up to date: Post as often as you can with any new changes, statements, or recommendations. Try getting a new recommendation once a month; or, if you receive multiple recommendations at once, spread them out in your postings.

2) Refresh your keywords and specialties: Find popular terms from job search websites that describe specifically what you do and integrate them into your profile. Be careful not to overuse these keywords, however, and be sure to include them in a natural way.

3) Be Everywhere: Create multiple online profiles, making sure your message is consistent throughout all of them. Participate in online discussions, post recommendations, and comment on blogs to get yourself out there!

4) Get the recognition you deserve: Don’t be modest! If you have received any awards or have had special accomplishments, SHARE THEM!

5) Diversity your professional and peer recommendations: Having recommendations from more than one group will add to your credibility. Don’t have all your recommendations come from your coworkers at your previous job, for example.

6) Request personal and professional recommendations: Ask for specific recommendations, but always remember to say thank you. It is very important to show your appreciation, and little things like a thank you note or a $5 Starbucks card may help more than you think.

7) Get involved in groups on LinkedIn and other job forums: Look for LinkedIn groups and job forums that relate to your specific career goals and get involved. Such groups and forums can be great ways to network with company executives and recruiters.

To read the full article, visit http://mashable.com/2012/07/17/optimize-online-professional-profile.

Free e-book “Business Owner’s Road Map to Success.” It has over 50 pages of techniques for everything a small business owner needs to master, from business planning and ethical selling to a success mindset. It’s all there and it’s free for you. To get it, just “Like” our Facebook Page here: http://on.fb.me/KsIN6P Pass it on!

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Using Instagram for Your Small Business

Using Instagram for Your Small Business

Instagram is a photo-sharing tool that has recently exploded onto the social media scene. A free app that can be found on both the Apple and Android mobile platforms, it provides users with a novel way to connect with a whole new group of people.

According to Instagram’s website, “It’s a fast, beautiful and fun way to share your photos with friends and family. Snap a picture, choose a filter to transform its look and feel, then post to Instagram. Share to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr too – it’s as easy as pie. It’s photo sharing, reinvented.”

If you regularly take pictures on your phone and share them with others, you should consider using Instagram as a networking and marketing tool.

How you can benefit from Instagram:

Capture moments from your business events. Photos of conferences, openings and special celebrations can be filtered to capture the tone or mood of an image. These can then easily be sent right to a tab or album on your business Facebook page. Clients and contacts who visit the page will be able to get a feel for what kind of energy existed at these events and may be motivated to learn more about your business. And once you share photos from Instagram to Facebook, it’s easier to access and use these photos in other places, like Pinterest and your website, as well.
Make your business feel more real by taking and sharing photos from around the office, your production process, etc. Before someone signs on to work with you, they can get a glimpse of what it might be like to actually work in your business. What does a typical day look and feel like? These images can share many valuable details about the day to day of your business environment.
Share photos as subtle business messages. Your business can take pictures of happy customers for instant testimonials, parties, fundraisers, and training events to share with customers, contacts and team members. Share photos of people having fun with your products, too. By using appropriate tags, users will be able to find them easily. Remember that Instagram is a social network, so you should share these images as well as images that are personally important to you.
Connect with a new group of people. Use Instagram to browse other photos that appeal to your personal and professional interests. By following users who share such images, you can connect with a wider range of people who may become part of your broader business network. Remember to give as much as you get by taking the time to like and comment on images that appeal to you.
Engage with customers regularly by inviting them to share photos of themselves using your products on your Facebook wall. Encourage users to comment on photos and even hold a contest where people vote on their favorite every month. Instagram can be a tool that helps you keep an ongoing conversation about your products and business.

Maintaining a social media presence can be overwhelming if you try to participate in too many. Don’t rush to use Instagram if you don’t feel you have the time to invest in it right now. It’s a great tool for those who already enjoy taking and sharing pictures. Now you can use that passion to benefit your business.

Are you already using Instagram in your business? How have you benefitted from it? Please share your ideas in the comments section below!

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Tips to Improve Your Online Site

Tips to Improve Your Online Site

Today’s technology provides a great number of conveniences that have changed the way everyday tasks are completed. For example, twenty years ago, if you needed to find the phone number or any other information about a business, you opened up the yellow pages, or perhaps you splurged and called 411 to get what you needed.

As you know, all that has changed. The first place most people go when they need information about a business is the internet. You’ve probably done it hundreds of times: Google the name of the business, scan the first couple of results, and click on the one that appears to be the business’s official site. If designed well, you are quickly able to find it from that Google search, find contact info, business hours, product info, testimonials, etc.

Because of the way consumers look for businesses today, having an effective web presence is essential. Here are some tips for improving your website so customers can easily find what they are looking for.

Keep it simple. A site that is uncluttered is much easier to navigate and takes less time to load, especially for users accessing it from a mobile device. Evaluate your current content and get rid of anything that isn’t absolutely essential. Keep your calls to action simple, based on your goals. You should even also simplify the font used to make sure it’s legible and appropriate. There’s nothing worse than having to click through an untidy site that is chock full of needless html coding or flash animation, or whose menus are not easily found. Tip: Identify five business sites that you find easy and pleasant to use, and model your own after the qualities that you feel are the most user-friendly.
Use call to action buttons to your advantage. Call to action buttons (Submit Order, Start Download, Add to Cart, etc.) are designed to get the user to act on something, so they should definitely stand out. Make the buttons larger than the font on the rest of the page, and use a bright color like orange to differentiate them from other text. Remember that your call to action buttons should “command attention without overwhelming your design.” Source
Provide testimonials with photos. Any business can say good things about itself, and consumers are often skeptical. That’s why testimonials are so important. Visitors to your site want to know how real people felt about their experiences with you. Including photos with your testimonials will make them even more relatable and real to your potential customers.
Keep it updated. All hyperlinks should be functional and relevant, any online ordering system should contain current products and pricing, contact information should be accurate, etc. Set yourself monthly reminders to visit your own site as if you were a first time viewer. Click around the entire site, testing out links and reading any copy. If something is out of date, fix it immediately.
Include a description of your business. You might have an “About” page that includes a mission statement and a brief description of the products/services you offer. Be smart about how the description is worded, as it will affect your SEO (search engine optimization). Remember how most people’s first step is usually a Google search? You can improve your website’s visibility if you use key words that someone might use in a search. For instance, if you sell all-natural cleaning products, you should include words such as: green, chemical-free, environmentally-friendly, and organic. Such terms are most likely to be used in a search, and you want your site to pop up in the first page or two of results. There is no shortage of resources for improving your SEO, such as SEOmoz for those just getting started.
Create an interesting “About” page. This portion of your site should be interesting and personable. Do this by making the copy easy to understand and written in your own unique style that feels professional, yet conversational. Also, be sure to include a call to action button on this page like “Learn More” (links to more specific product information) or “See How It Works” (links to a video demonstrating the product).
Include a blog. A blog serves the purpose of providing answers that potential customers may be searching for, while also providing the fresh content that Google loves when determining the order in which it displays search results. Write a blog at least 2-3 times per week that provides content related to what you have to offer, without being an ad. For example, if you sell jewelry, you might write about current fashion trends and how to wear jewelry with different outfits. The blog gives visitors a reason to keep coming back to your site, and to tell their friends about it.

A site that is user-friendly and full of valuable information can be a major asset to your business. Use your own experiences with both effective and ineffective sites to decide how you want yours to look. What other tips do you have for improving your site? Please share your ideas below!

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3 Effective Ways to Market Your Business

3 Effective Ways to Market Your Business

Imagine if you were planning a major celebration, such as a wedding. You’ve spent days and weeks planning the perfect theme, venue, food, music, etc. As amazing as this party could be, it simply wouldn’t happen if you didn’t send out invitations. Without invitations, no one beyond your close circle of family and friends would even know about the event. This same rule applies to your business. Marketing your business is mandatory for bringing in customers, but you should also think of it as an ongoing process instead of something you do once in awhile when sales are starting to lag. Here are three effective ways you can market your business and bring in customers.

Tap your customers’ passions. It’s no secret that successful entrepreneurs know how to educate their customers on what they need as well as how the product works. However, people aren’t usually as interested in what they need as they are in what they really want. Find out what your customer is passionate about, what motivates that person on a daily basis, what he/she really enjoys doing, etc. Your marketing materials are much more likely to bring in customers if you appeal to a customer’s lifestyle/culture rather than the product itself. For instance, if you are selling all-natural cleaning products, an advertisement stating that customers will get “10% off if you stop by all this week” will likely get overlooked. On the other hand, if your message says, “We’ll provide you with all your green cleaning needs because your family’s well-being is our #1 priority,” you’ve now tapped into your customer’s desire to eliminate harsh chemicals from the home. People respond better to messages they care about than they do to sales talk.
Get involved in your community. Being a part of your community offers wonderful opportunities for networking, service-sharing, customer service, and marketing. Even better than that though, is demonstrating your commitment to give back. By participating in community events and hosting your own events, you will be more recognizable to others, and they will be more able to relate to you because like them, you are interested in the community’s well-being. For example, a local contractor builds the central display for the town’s annual festival for free, makes himself available for free estimates for neighborhood residents, and is regularly seen his children’s baseball games and school fundraising events. Because he is a visible part of the community who frequents the same local spots as his customers, they are more likely to remember who he is and trust him to do the job well.
Make customers feel special. Word of mouth is a powerful thing, and customers are happy and excited to recommend you to others after they’ve had a memorable, positive experience patronizing your business. We live in tough economic times where getting the lowest price has become a top priority for most people, and lots of businesses that can offer competitive pricing don’t have time for superior customer service. Find ways to personalize your products and services, such as including a handwritten thank you note with your customer’s order. Being kind and attentive to customers is an effective and low-cost way to market your business.

How have you been able to use our suggestions? What are some other ways to market your business that have worked for you in the past? Please share your comments below!

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How to Run a Great Contest on Facebook

How to Run a Great Contest on Facebook

Running a contest on Facebook is a great idea because it not only engages your community, but it gives you something new to talk about. Both of these things attract new people to “like” your page and can help bring in new customers and prospects. However, if not done properly or effectively, a contest can backfire and turn people away from your page or worse; you could lose your page altogether if you don’t abide by Facebook’s terms of serie. Use the following tips to help you run a successful Facebook contest.

Decide on an outcome. If you have an objective or ultimate goal for your contest, then you will be more equipped to create one that is successful. For example, your goal may be to build up your mailing list or referrals, to introduce your product line, or to compile customer testimonials to use in future advertising. Keep your goal in mind when working out the details for how the contest will operate. This will help you keep it straightforward, user-friendly, and easily shareable.
Carefully choose your contest type. There are a myriad of ways to run a contest including photo or video contests, essay contests, trivia, or sweepstakes. Once you’ve decided on your desired outcome, make sure the type of contest and the motivating prize you choose will help you achieve your goal. Consider your target market and what they will be willing to do. For example, let’s say your target market consists mostly of career-minded professionals in the corporate sector. If you design your contest in such a way that there is too much work involved to enter, like one that requires a 5-minute viral video, you will be very disappointed with the small number of entries you get, if any. Ask yourself what your target market will be willing to do for the chosen prize. In the example above, if the chosen prize is a one-time voucher for 10% off the next purchase, chances are slim that your potential customers will put much time in for a glorified coupon. A better choice would be a free gift basket of their choice of up to 5 products or one year of unlimited free shipping. Get creative and think about the kind of contest that you would want to enter.
Use a third party app. Because of Facebook’s Promotional Guidelines, which prohibit the use of any Facebook features (comments, likes) as requirements to enter, third party apps are a requirement for running a contest. Unfortunately, these apps are not always free to use, but there are some inexpensive ones such as Wildfire or Google Docs that make running your contest easy to do. Tip: If you have a blog, consider accepting entries via comments on the blog using a service like Rafflecopter. Don’t risk losing your Facebook page because you weren’t willing to pay for a 3^rd party app.
Don’t run the contest for too long. A contest that runs for a more than a few days to a week will most likely lose its steam long before the end date. Keeping in mind what people have to do to enter, choose a time frame that is reasonable enough for any necessary preparation, but tight enough to maintain interest.
Promote! The best way to promote your contest is to ask people to share it. Ask in person, post about it every day on your Facebook page, and/or add a widget on your blog such as a countdown ticker. Encourage others to click the “share” button to help you get the word out, and explore the use of Facebook ads to attract new people in your target market, as well as engaging your existing community. The more you ask people to share your contest, the better turnout you will have.

What experiences or ideas have you had for running a successful contest on Facebook? Please share your tips in the comments section below!

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Creating Buzz For Your Business

Creating Buzz For Your Business

When starting a business, it is important to focus on the providing a quality product, and consider how best to deliver it to your customers. However, none of that will matter if no one knows about your product. You must get people talking about your business, sharing information about it on the internet, and recommending it to others. This creates a buzz that will bring customers to your door.

Highlight personal success stories as well as hardships. When discussing your business with others, it pays to set yourself apart from others by sharing how you got to where you are. What led you to the decision to run your business? What obstacles have you faced and overcome along the way? How have you achieved your goals thus far? What makes you passionate about this business? Answering these types of questions will show others that because your business is a personal victory, that you are dedicated to providing customers with nothing but positive shopping experiences.
Reach out to those who have inspired you. There are no doubt a number of people who have influenced your decision to start a business. These might be former teachers/professors, family members, friends, fellow business owners, etc. Don’t be afraid to contact them to share your accomplishments, thanking them for being positively influential in your life, and offering them V.I.P. customer status for inspiring you to achieve your dreams. You never know where it might lead. For example, a former dancer has started her own studio and reaches out to her childhood dance instructor to tell her the good news. Not only does the instructor offer her valuable professional advice, but she offers her services as a master class guest teacher to bring in new clientele. Those who have taught you well can likely continue passing on their wisdom and experiences.
Blog about your business. Blogging not only allows you to share information about your business, but it affords you the opportunity to interact with current and potential customers. Regularly participate in the conversation that occurs in your blog’s comments section, and do the same for others’ blogs. Tip: Add video. A humorous and unique video either on your blog or business’s website can create immediate buzz by drawing the attention of a larger population. If you really execute this well, your video has the potential to go viral; the exposure provided by a viral video can be a turning point for a startup business from which it grows to the next level.
Make a major announcement. Sometimes, business owners are successful at creating an initial buzz, but sustaining that attention is difficult. One way to keep your business at the forefront of the people’s interest is to make a major announcement, like a new product, contest or promotion, equipment upgrade, improved facilities, or competitive price cut. Create anticipation of your announcement by referring to it in marketing materials with an emphasis on the upcoming date. When you do make such an announcement, it should be done in such a way that no one is likely to miss it. For example, a local bakery announces that it will be creating an audition reel for a major reality competition show for chefs and wants to include its customers on the tape. The bakery’s owner sends out electronic and paper mailings as well as posts a large banner on its storefront offering a free cupcake to any customer who shows up to appear in the audition reel. The bakery becomes a full house on the day of shooting, and aside from drawing in so many customers, the owner walks away with plenty of quality footage to submit to the network.

Creating buzz for your business is an effective technique to attract new customers and maintain current ones. How do you create buzz? Please share your ideas below!

To get your free copy of the eBook, click here: 15 Days to Greater Success. You can download it from our Facebook Page. And while you’re there, you can download our other free eBooks too: Business Owner’s Road Map to Success, Creating Your Success Mindset, and Reflections on Success. They’re all designed to give you an edge in your business, and help you focus on the daily practices that lead to your goals.

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Creating Useful Content Marketing

Creating Useful Content Marketing

Building an audience that is interested in your business and all it has to offer is the main objective of content marketing. Today’s technology makes it easier than ever before to distribute such relevant content to your target market. By taking advantage of these resources, you can create and share useful content to acquire an interested following, and watch your business grow.

Provide solutions to problems. Consider problems that your target market encounters that your products/services can solve. Share these solutions online.
Re-package your present content. Just because you want to broaden your audience base doesn’t mean you have to reinvent the wheel. You most likely already have content that is worth sharing, so consider re-packaging it into a different medium, such as an e-book. With the presence of smartphones and e-readers, e-books are very appealing to the general public. The same goes for podcasts. The great thing about podcasts is that they are free; another bonus is their accessibility from a variety of devices. A little market research and an inventory of the types of technology you are interested in will help you choose the best format for your content.
Update current content. Thinking more about your current content, it is definitely worth periodic review. Some of it may only need to be tweaked, but you might find that an update or re-write is in order. For example, when reviewing your blog archives, you come across a post about interacting with customers during a product demonstration. If this post was written prior to 2007-2008, it would be a good idea to update it to include new ideas about interacting through smartphone apps. You should also review your content for new information backed by current scientific research, recent user reviews, innovative product concepts, etc. If it is relevant to your business, it’s probably relevant to your audience as well.
Change your medium. Sometimes it isn’t necessary to alter your content, just the way it is presented. For example, if your blog hits have been steadily on the rise for three years, but have experienced a plateau in recent months, experiment with changing the format. Posts made up solely of text might benefit from an occasional video, for example. Try out different media to decide which ones work best for your needs and attract your audience.

Successful content marketing contains quality in both the message and its delivery. Be sure that what you are creating is valuable to your audience and easily shareable.

How do you create and share useful content? Please add a comment below!

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Executive Spotlight: David and Bianca Lisonbee, 4Life Research

From the DSEF: We’re excited to continue our blog series featuring top executives in DSEF-supporter direct selling companies today! Every few weeks we’ll introduce you to another top executive, and they’ll share their thoughts on Direct Sales, Ethics, Social Good, and why they support the DSEF.

Today we’re thrilled to continue this series with David Lisonbee, 4Life Research Founder & CEO, and Bianca Lisonbee, Co-Founder & Chairwoman of Foundation 4Life. 4Life Research has been a big supporter of the DSEF for many years, and we’re thrilled to have the Lisonbees share their thoughts with you today. Enjoy!

Executive Spotlight: David and Bianca Lisonbee, 4Life Research

David and Bianca Lisonbee

What is the name of your company, and how did you become involved with this company?

We launched 4Life Research in 1998. Looking back, it’s more apparent to us now than ever that “Research” in our company name was no mistake. With a background in direct selling and health and wellness, we knew that in order to succeed, 4Life distributors would rely on our corporate commitment to scientific integrity. At the end of the day, product efficacy and differentiation play important roles in distributor success.

With this in mind, we have a Health Science Advisory Board comprised of doctors, researchers, academicians and scientists who inform our Research and Development Department led by 4Life Chief Scientific Officer Calvin McCausland, Ph.D.

Since 1998, 4Life has been granted nine worldwide patents (six from the USPTO) and more than 500 product registrations.

With a mature sales force, charismatic product line, global charitable organization (Foundation 4Life) and an opportunity that has produced significant growth every year since our inception, we feel we’re uniquely positioned as a global leader in the marketplace.

What do you love about your company?

Our distributors. Our employees. Our partnerships. The people. In fact, our corporate slogan is Together, Building People. Science is an integral part of our opportunity but it isn’t science for science’s sake. We commit ourselves to one-of-a-kind products in order to engage entrepreneurs with an opportunity to succeed. And in this industry, none of us go it alone. It’s a great honor to share and build successful lifestyles with people, and we’re blessed by the opportunity to build these lifelong partnerships with people here in our home state of Utah and in countries on the other side of the world. No matter where we go, we encounter people who dedicate themselves to our mission of improving lives in the areas of science, success, and service.

What makes your salesforce amazing?

Our network of global distributors spans 5 continents with corporate offices in 22 countries. As such, we enjoy a salesforce of great diversity. But wherever we go and whomever we build business with around the world, there seem to be numerous core values that we all share. Faith, for example. Our 4Life family encompasses great diversity. We break bread with people of all religious backgrounds. But no matter the religious backgrounds from which we each arrive, the distributors of 4Life tend to believe, not only in the importance of belief but also in the importance of respecting the beliefs of others. Then there’s the singularity of vision that we see in the actions of our leaders. 4Life distributors are committed to improving their own lives, as well the lives of others and because of this, they tend to be active and contributing members of their communities.

Ethics is an integral part of DSA membership. How do you ensure your company maintains the highest level of ethics?

We train and promote the importance of ethical leadership. This year, 4Life was recognized with the Code of Ethics in Action distinction at the DSA Annual Meeting in Grapevine, TX. The Direct Selling Association created this symbol of consumer protection to select companies who go above and beyond the standard of commitment to communicating the importance of our industry’s Code of Ethics. We’re honored by this acknowledgement because it recognizes our commitment to the highest level of ethics in all areas of business.

Social good is another essential element of direct sales. What kind of social good campaigns does your company participate in or run?

We launched Foundation 4Life® in 2006 to build people, families, and communities wherever 4Life® conducts business, with a particular focus on the children of the world.

Today, we conduct work in more than 20 countries. Our projects are driven by the field so we always have people on the ground in communities where we work. This is important because we’re more interested in developing philanthropic partnerships than we are in one-off donations.

One example of our Foundation’s strategic initiative: We’re in the process of identifying specific communities around the world with 200-300 children each to develop a 5-6 year relationship. During that time, we’ll implement a sustainability program in conjunction with Feed The Children to focus on four primary areas: food and nutrition, health and education, water and sanitation, and skills for income development.

Your company is a Direct Selling Education Foundation supporter. Why do you think DSEF is important?

Support of the Direct Selling Education Foundation isn’t merely important – it’s essential. The primary function of the Direct Selling Association is to lobby and defend our industry’s market position.

The DSEF focuses on building public trust and understanding through partnerships, education drives, media initiatives and that kind of high level brand campaigning so important to the general perception of what our businesses are all about.

The DSEF works for each of us to preserve and improve a market climate of trust, which helps direct sellers prosper and thrive. Perhaps we should end by pointing out that DSA Membership does not include support of the DSEF’s work. 4Life’s support of the DSEF is an important responsibility.

Thank you, David and Bianca Lisonbee, for sharing your inspiring story with us. We are grateful for the support of companies like 4Life Research, that help us to spread the message of ethics, entrepreneurship and integrity around the world. We appreciate you!

From the DSEF: Free e-book “Business Owner’s Road Map to Success.” It has over 50 pages of techniques for everything a small business owner needs to master, from business planning and ethical selling to a success mindset. It’s all there and it’s free for you. To get it, just “Like” our Facebook Page here: http://on.fb.me/KsIN6P Pass it on!

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Checklist to Improve Your Business Relationships

Checklist to Improve Your Business Relationships

Imagine this: you walk into a restaurant to have dinner and are greeted pleasantly by the host. After promptly being seated, your server introduces him/herself and proceeds to provide you with attentive service. In the middle of your meal, the manager or owner comes by to introduce him/herself and make sure you’ve gotten everything you’ve needed. You leave the restaurant with a full stomach and ready to recommend the establishment to friends and family immediately. This restaurant is no doubt successful because of the importance it places on business relationships, and the owners’ commitment to building those relationships shows in a positive way. Read on for some ways to improve your own business relationships.

Offer more than they expect. Going above and beyond your customers’ expectations will always make a good impression. For example, a customer is unhappy with her recent photo framing order because the matte was not mounted on straight. Not only did the owner re-do the job for free, but she put it first on her priority list and also offered the customer free shipping on her next order if she continued to patron the business. For many successful business owners, a satisfied customer is not enough; doing something to make a customer say, “Wow!” is something to strive for.
Anticipate their needs. The more attentive you are to your customers, the better able you will be to anticipate their needs and attend to them, possibly even before they do! If you have a customer who always purchases the same product every month, consider offering her an automatic refill service where she can set up automatic payments and receive her item regularly without having to actually place the order each time. Another idea would be to show her different uses for the product that she may be unaware of or to introduce her to products that would complement the one she likes. Getting to know your customers will give you the insight to anticipate their wants and needs.
Be yourself. Most people can easily detect when someone is being insincere. You always want to smile and be polite, but don’t be afraid to show customers your personality. If people are drawn to your sense of humor, incorporate that into your conversations. Don’t worry about what you think customers want to hear or who they want you to be; just be yourself and let your business relationships be built on your genuine desire to provide excellent customer service.
Be honest. If you are not honest, you are not reliable. Customers want to do business with those who are dependable and ethical. If you mess up, admit to your mistake and do everything possible to make it right. If you can’t deliver on something, don’t promise it. If you practice dishonesty or deceit, the fallout can cause irreparable damage to your business and your reputation. Always hold yourself to a high standard; business relationships require trust between both parties.

Improving your business relationships is not much different from improving your personal ones. Think of others before yourself, be honest, be sincere, and listen to the other person. What else do you think should be added to this list? Please share your ideas below!