Want to grow your business even more? What are you doing to cultivate your existing clientele?
I have found one of the best ways to grow my own business is by providing seriously on-point customer service, valuable and regular communication with clients, and by offering referral incentive programs.
When you have a really happy customer, who likes your approach and what you do, they become an advocate for you. Specifically that means in meeting with colleagues, they talk you up, encourage others to call you for services, and share, with pride, the things that you have done for them or how you have helped them.
Advocates for your business, make it easier for you to close a sale to a recommended party, do away with low price conversations, and really help to grow your business.
I thank all clients that refer a new customer to my business by sending a $50 Visa gift card. There is no limit to how many of these I will send to a client, but I do send these thank you’s typically only when the new customer’s monthly sale will be over $1,000.
I don’t post or tell clients about my special incentive program, but always follow-up with them about the success or lack thereof of any referrals they do send to me. It is funny, but they like to know how things turned out. When they get their gift from me, many have express surprise and even shock to receive anything for the referral.
I’ve found that growing your business starts by taking exceptional care of your existing customers and building long term relationships, but by showing appreciation too.
Find out more about how we do business by visiting our website today at www.McCordWeb.com.
Sometimes a well meaning friend will send you a link to a bad review about you or your business that they found online and it can spoil your day. Here are a few things to know about how to handle a bad review.
Not all bad reviews need a response
Not everything needs you to respond. In some cases a response may be worse than just letting the review stay out there. If you do decide to write a response, take a deep breath. Never respond to or write a rebuttal when you are upset or angry. Take time to craft a thoughtful response and be conciliatory in your comments. Acknowledge the feelings of the reviewer.
You cannot please everyone
This is hard for some business owners, but you cannot please everyone every time. Take the bad along with the good and know that there are simply some “trolls” out there that get their jollies crushing you online.
Consider the review placement
If the review is on Google+, Yelp, or another highly visible site, I do recommend that you consider writing a rebuttal. If appropriate, I would encourage you to even contact the client – if they have given enough information for you to identify them and see if you can fix the problem. A customer who has had a problem resolved can be your biggest advocate. Don’t forget to ask them to update their review after you have fixed the problem. If the review is not on a high profile site, know that even then, it may still be visible to others and may still need your attention.
Move forward and learn from any errors
If you did get a bad review that is warranted, use the opportunity as a chance to retrain staff or challenge your current processes. You can really learn a lot about how customers perceive you from reviews even bad ones.
Move forward after a bad review, remember you’ve pleased plenty of other customers and stay focused on what you do right and work to improve areas where you may be weak.
Need help solving a problem like a bad review? Visit our website at www.McCordWeb.com to find out how we can help today.
Expect the unexpected from a quality AdWords consultant when you call – a free helpful informational chat.
All paid consultants regardless of the industry deal with this issue – is it okay to let someone pick your brain and when do you try to move them into a paying customer category.
For me, I will share information freely with a potential client as I feel that helping people to make good decisions, whether they trade with me or not, is very important. Not only do I freely share information on the phone, but at events and parties I am happy to share my knowledge when asked and appropriate and if not boring to others sharing the conversation.
I have however had a few prospects really take advantage of me and so I have a few guidelines that I use for my own business that may be helpful to you.
When a prospect calls me, I will always chat for 15 minutes to an hour if I have time in my schedule. I do however start my clock to time every phone call. If I am pressured for time and have a production deadline, I will make an effort to end the call after 15 minutes, so I do not lose my production schedule for the day. Depending on the query, I may send additional information by email and possibly even schedule a free follow-up conversation so I can be thoughtful in responses.
When a prospect has called several times and I have spent typically one to two hours on the phone with them and they have not made a purchase, I will then ask to move them into the paying client category. I then move them to an hourly rate for additional conversation. I have found that those who really just want free information will not move further into the process, but then they will stop calling me as well.
I love to share information freely, but some days I have more time than others to simply chat. My policy has never been to immediately move a prospect into the paying customer arena as I feel that they simply must have time to get to know me before money and a contract are enacted. But I do keep a careful eye on how much time I am spending chatting and investing in a client to identify if I may or may not be a good match for a potential client.
Need some help right now? Pick up the phone and call me at 540-693-0385, I’d be glad to chat.
Just my thoughts for today on how best to hire family members to work in your business.
I run a family business and wanted to share with you some tips on hiring and employing family members.
First, not all family members are well suited to work in your business. I know this from experience. Before you hire a sister, brother, son or daughter, consider first if this is best for your family relationship. In some cases it may hurt the relationship and it may be better to just stay as family than to move to a family and employee relationship.
I personally found that I was able to have a better employer/employee relationship with my children than I was able to have with my sisters.
If you do decide to hire a family member make sure you do the following:
Make sure you are not just hiring just for charity.
Set clear standards of your expectations.
Create a backup coverage plan.
If they do not work out, let them go early.
Pay generously.
Make sure their hiring makes sense for your business.
Now some details on the list above.
On creating a backup plan, when you hire a family member, you will typically be more generous when problems come up then you would be with a typical employee. For example, I employee my college kids, I have a backup plan in place for exam week so I do not need them or expect them to work that week. If they miss work for me, I keep a backup library of writing things to use if they are busy at school and miss one of my deadlines. It takes the pressure off of them and me and the just take a hit in pay and I move on with my week. There’s no stress or anger on my part when they miss a deadline. For them, it is a choice – get paid or not.
On letting go early, if you feel that the employee/employer relationship is not working or is causing stress in your family, you have two choices. You can suck it up and consider the employment as charity and don’t let missed deadlines and inattention cause you stress. Or let the person go with the understanding that it simply did not work out, and you prefer and value a strong family relationship, rather than an employer/employee relationship. From my experience, the longer you let a situation get under your skin, if expectations are not met and you allow that family member to not meet expectations, the more difficult and problematic the separation will be when you are finally forced to let them go.
On paying generously, I have found that this is important as the family employee will talk with other family members. If it appears to them that you are making loads of money off their work and they are not paid generously, they will grouch behind your back and other family members may judge your actions without knowing or understanding. Pay more and better and you come out looking like a hero. Family harmony and your reputation in the family is worth the extra money you may pay to employ a family member.
I have found in some cases that employing a son or daughter can be a lifeline for them – to generate income they need and the opportunity to build marketable skills. For me, I am able to get quality help that I need as long as I keep a very strict separation between being a parent and employer.
I have had much more trouble employing my sisters. I think that some of this is due to relationship dynamics. Children will naturally be more able to submit to your plans than your own siblings who may interpret the new working relationship as a threat to their own power in family dynamics.
Just my thoughts for today. Feel free to share your own experience below by clicking comments.
