Do not Fall into “Busy Trap”

June 25, 2010


If you are like many small business owners you do not put together a plan when starting your day. Instead you just react to whatever comes your way throughout the day. And even if you do plan your day in the morning; you start reacting to the requests and tasks that come your way throughout the day – things like customers calling to complain, employees calling in sick, store emergencies and many other operational issues.
In the previous blog post we mentioned that the ”to-do list” is a very powerful tool to plan your day and accomplish more in less time. However, when emergencies mentioned above start coming your way the to-do list gets thrown out the window and people start reacting to those emergencies. This is what we call the “Busy Trap” – you always seem busy; but don’t seem to accomplish much of whatever you had set out to do at the beginning of the day. At the end of the day you look back and think – “what the heck did I really accomplish today?”
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Filed Under: Management, Operations Tagged With: ,

Your Best Time Management Tool – To-do List

June 24, 2010


Chances are many of us today will have forgot to complete at least 1 task they set out to do at the beginning of the day even though they had all good intentions and time to do it. The problem is we just couldn’t remember it at the right moment. If you have got a feeling at some point where you think you need to do something; but can’t recall what it is then you know what I mean.
There is a simple, yet effective, tool we have used that is sure to help you remember things and increase your productivity. The “To-do List” in its various forms can make sure you remember what you need to do when you need to do it. In the previous article we have mentioned other techniques you can use to improve productivity.
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Filed Under: Management, Operations Tagged With: , ,

5 Effective Techniques to Get More Done in Less Time

June 23, 2010


People often say that once you have started your small business you can pretty much forget about your wife, girlfriend, kids, friends or everyone else that matter in your personal life. We tend to disagree. While it is true that running a business is no small task – they don’t call the owners Chief Everything Officer for no reason – there are ways by which you can get more done in less time and have time left to enjoy those personal moments.
Here are five techniques we have found useful in our experience in running the previous business as well as the current one.
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Filed Under: Employees, Management, Operations Tagged With: , ,

Go Above and Beyond Customer Expectations

June 22, 2010


I came across this interesting article showing examples of excellent customer service from some of the companies you may already know. I am sure we all have experienced this type of customer service in our daily lives. Usually, it is easy to find this with small mom-and-pop businesses that are close to their customers and know them by names. We wrote one such example in my personal life not too long ago here.
We have come across some more well-known companies that strive to provide the best customer service every day. Below we have listed some of them along with examples of why they are famous for their customer service.
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Filed Under: Customers, Employees, Marketing Tagged With: ,

More Ways to Pamper Your Best Customers

June 22, 2010


In the previous blog post we argued that for many small businesses their best customers contribute more than 30% of sales and profit even when they make up only 10% of total customer. We said that you have to make these customers feel special by giving them special treatment and recognizing them.
In this post we will explore additional ways by which you can treat your best customers in a special fashion.
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Filed Under: Customers, Marketing, Sales Tagged With: , ,

How to Pamper Your Best Customers

June 20, 2010


As we mentioned in the previous post on “Do you know who your best customers are?” for many small businesses their best customers contribute more than 30% of sales and profit even when they make up only 10% of total customer. Not only this; but there is additional benefit they generate for your business that is equally important. They are also your evangelists. They bring in additional business by spreading word about your business to their friends and families.
Given the importance of these customers to your business it is imperative that you take good care of them and give them special treatment. These are, after all, the customers that will help you grow your business.
So how do you treat these customers well and pamper them? The key to remember, when taking care of these customers, is to make them feel special. After all, they are kind of special to your business! You should not limit yourself to discount and free products when providing them special treatment; although they are important. You should also think about intangibles such as recognition, appreciation, etc.
Below we have listed several ways by which you can pamper your best customers and make them feel special. Feel free to add your voice in the comment section.
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Filed Under: Customers, Marketing, Sales Tagged With: , ,

Do you Know Who your Best Customers are?

June 17, 2010


For most small business their “best” customers contribute more than 30% of sales and profit even though they make up only 10% of total customers. Think about this!! These are the customers that help you pay your bills. Not only do they deliver you more sales and profit directly; but they also help you increase sales indirectly by spreading good word about your business to their friends and families.
Given the importance of these customers it behooves you to know who they are. Unfortunately, not too many business owners spend time identifying these customers let alone making sure they are taken good care. In this post we give you several ways you can identify your best customers. We will look at how to take good care of them once you have identified in the subsequent posts.
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Filed Under: Customers, Marketing, Sales Tagged With: , ,

10 Questions You must Ask in Customer Survey

June 16, 2010


In the previous post on “How to Hold onto Your Existing Customers” we mentioned that regular customer feedback is one of the important tools you should use to keep a pulse on your business and understand how your customers perceive the value they are getting from you. The customer feedback also will raise any red flags that you need to address before they get out of control and the business is deteriorated significantly.
There are several avenues you can use to get customer feedback. If you have a web site for the business you can use the online poll using free survey tools such as Surveymonkey , Free Online Surveys. If you have a physical store you can use a simple typed form that customers can fill in while they are waiting. Even social media sites such as Facebook have poll utilities you can use to get customer feedback.
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Filed Under: Customers, Technology Tagged With: , ,

How can you Hold on to your Existing Customers

June 15, 2010


As mentioned in previous post most businesses lose large percent of their customers on a regular basis. We identified several reasons why customers leave. In this post we want to give you tips on how to make sure you retain large portion of your existing customers.
Losing a customer can cost you lot more than you realize. Research shows that it costs multiple times over to get new customers than to hold onto existing ones. You have to spend money on marketing and advertising as well as offer them incentives to come to you again. Our advice to all business owners is this – DO WHATEVER YOU HAVE TO DO TO HOLD ON TO YOUR EXISTING CUSTOMERS.
Here are the steps that show how you can accomplish this:
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Filed Under: Customers, Management, Marketing, Sales Tagged With: , ,

Do you know Why your Customers are Dumping you?

June 14, 2010


If history is any guide; you will lose about 20% of your current customers by the end of the month and 40% by the end of the year. I know it sounds terrible; but that’s fact of life. While 30-40% of sales for any business come from existing customers; the rest comes from customers using revolving door. They will come and go for a variety of reasons.
This customer churn can be costly for your business. You need to constantly recruit new customers to fill the gap left by those customers who have dumped you. This costs money reducing your profit. It is said that it is 4 times more expensive to get new customer compared to retaining the existing one. We will look at the ways to stop customers from dumping you in a later post; but let’s understand why they leave you in the first place. The reasons are quite varied and some are easier to correct than others.
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Filed Under: Customers, Employees, Management, Marketing, Operations Tagged With: , ,