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Archive for November, 2011

The last couple of days have been beautiful, the weather near perfect and some of us are suffering from spring fever while others are simply struggling with the pollen levels. This time of the year reminds me that summer is coming and things are about to slow down – in networking. I would like to take just a moment and discuss this trend and what I believe may be the cause of it.

Let’s begin in the fall. At this time of the year we are working feverishly trying to procure new business because we realize that around the holidays things will slow down. As December draws near, some of us become preoccupied with things like parties and shopping and our attention turns from building our business. Others find it increasingly difficult to make contact as people begin long vacations.

Then the holidays pass. We put our marketing and networking efforts into high gear, going to several meetings a week, trying to get things cranked up again. The result is increased business and increased profits. Have you ever noticed that in the early part of February that things begin to pick up almost at a maddening pace? When this occurs, unless we are prepared for growth, we start to back off on our promotions as we scramble to complete the work that has been generated by our marketing efforts.

In effect, we stop networking. We lose contact with those we have been making and asking for referrals, and they begin to feel as if we are not interested in them any longer. When this happens, they may look for someone else to refer when that target prospect comes along.

By early to mid summer, we are starting to crawl out from under the workload and we again look for opportunities. Unfortunately, the vacations have started again as children are released from school for the summer. Thus it is very difficult once again to find the contacts that were out there just before our business picked up again late last winter.
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Do you remember your first day as a business owner? You were probably just like the rest of us… pretty darned happy and bit on the proud side. Yeah, back then we thought we could conquer the world. Now we’re too busy conquering our own little corner of the world to pay a lot of attention to the rest of the world… unless it’s to learn a few tips from successful marketers just like us who have made it big. Tips just like these… that will apply to every market – regardless of the product or service – are a great motivators to try something new. Yeah, you never know when the next idea will be worth a million dollars!

1. Create a Special Offer
A special offer is exactly that… an offer that is special. Normally, customers would not be able to purchase this product or combination of products, and once the products are gone… sorry!

You don’t have to go out and order a bunch of new products to put together a special offer. It don’t take a whole lot… just use what you’ve got. Grab a few items that are related, group them together, discount the price, and your customers will be excited to be getting a good deal. Think about it from your standpoint… you’ve sold three or four items rather than one. Yeah, combination offers are winning deals for everyone!

2. Address the Small Customer Groups
Niche markets are everywhere, right under your nose! Within the customer audience that you serve right now are groups of people who share common traits. Think about it… maybe you have a group who speaks Spanish, a group of teens, and a group of middle class family men and women.
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I am an impulse buyer, just like a number of shoppers out there who do not take the time to prepare; when making big purchases. I had the biggest problem with the flat screen tv stands that I always bought on impulse; they rarely served the purpose I needed them for, and most of them were either too small or too large for the space I had available. After spending too much money on ill-suited TV stands and having not solved my need for a television cabinet; I decided to change my method of shopping, so that I could finally get the right TV stand for my needs.

Make a list of requirements

My mum was always making shopping lists and I could never understand why she took so much time creating these detailed lists, when she knew exactly what she wanted to buy. I took the time to seat down and write down the requirements I expected out of the TV cabinet. I was amazed at the amount of details I put down about the kind of TV cabinet that I was looking for. I knew that I wanted a cabinet that could hold my entertainment unit, as well as my children’s video games and movies. I also wanted a portable cabinet so that I could move the position of the television for convenience. Once I knew what I wanted, I got online to search for an ideal TV cabinet; I came across a corner tv stand and knew that it would meet my requirements.

Take your time and compare prices

I did not buy the stand immediately; I took the time to go through other online stores to compare prices. I like to make sure that I have gotten the best deal, when making a big purchase; which in this case was the TV stand. I came across several other options, which were much more affordable than the corner tv stand that I had first came across. I bought my Tv cabinet online, but I made sure that I got the measurements right so that the stand could fit perfectly in my living room.

When was the last time you had to deal with a difficult customer? It was probably and external customer but perhaps it was an internal customer, such as a member of your team, a colleague or even – your boss!

I’m sure that you always want to provide exceptional service to both your internal and external customers. However, in the real world, things go wrong and mistakes are made. These “customers” will often judge your level of service based on how you respond to a mistake. Do it well and they’ll probably forgive you and possibly even say positive things about your business or your abilities to other people.

The important thing to realise when dealing with an upset customer, be they internal or external, is that you must -deal with their feelings, then deal with their problem. Upset customers are liable to have strong feelings when you, your product or service lets them down and they’ll probably want to “dump” these feeling on you.

You don’t deal with their feelings by concentrating on solving the problem, it takes more. Here are 5 action ideas that deal with the customers’ human needs:

1 – Don’t let them get to you – Stay out of it emotionally and concentrate on listening non-defensively and actively. Customers may make disparaging and emotional remarks – don’t rise to the bait.

2 – Listen – listen – listen – Look and sound like your listening. The customer wants to know that you care and that you’re interested in their problem.
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