Posted by Robert Bylett at 7:02 PM
in Business Consulting, Client Satisfaction, Clients, Coaching, Communication, Small Business
One of the more difficult tasks associated with being a small business owner is dealing with the money. We do a good job and like to believe that our customers will be so thankful that they will immediately send a special courier with our payment on a silver platter. But, they don’t. And, more time goes by. And, it’s starting to look like we’re going to have to have “the talk.” Not the birds and the bees…the collection talk.I’ve been there myself! I think I’ve heard all of the excuses – it’s been a long time since I’ve heard one that really impressed me!“The money is coming in; just wait until this ‘big deal’ closes!” (I’m still waiting.)
“I’m just waiting for the economy to pick up.” (Really? My landlord isn’t.)
“I didn’t get your invoice. The post office must have lost it.” (Check your trash can, buddy.)
It was extremely frustrating because not only am I an excellent coach, I’m a good person. And, it seemed that every time my sincere desire to serve my clients overrode my business sense, I was left holding the (empty) bag. I was tired of acting like a bank—providing interest-free loans on my coaching expertise to clients who claimed they couldn’t pay when the bill was due.
Continue reading "Having Trouble Getting Paid? It’s Time to Train Your Customers!" »
Posted by Robert Bylett at 3:15 PM
in Business Consulting, Business Owner, Client Satisfaction, Clients, Coaching, Small Business
Many small businesses get started because the “owner” is very good at what they do. Whether they are a butcher, baker or candlestick maker, they are expert technicians in their field of expertise – possibly even the best. Often they start their business because they are frustrated by someone else profiting from their hard work and controlling what they do. So now they’ve hung their own shingle and it should only be a matter of time before everyone realises they can go straight to the expert instead of the middleman and their business will be wildly successful. Right??? Not likely.Unfortunately, customers care about more than just expertise when they decide to buy a product or service. They care about their customer “experience.” They want to feel special and important. They want good service and responsiveness. They want to feel valued. What the new business owner quickly realises is that they are no longer free to just focus on their craft. They are now in charge of accounting, marketing, sales, etc. They now have to do for themselves everything that the “middleman” did for them when they were an employee. Unfortunately, they’ve spent all of their time learning to be the expert, not the businessman.
Continue reading "Being the “Best” Doesn’t Mean You’ll Have a Successful Business" »
Posted by Robert Bylett at 9:53 AM
in Business Owner, Client Satisfaction, Clients, Happy Business
Let’s be honest, when your business is just getting started, any customer is good. You can’t afford to be picky because you have to pay the bills. As your business strengthens, you create happy and satisfied customers. They may not be ideal, but as long as they’re happy and satisfied, they aren’t too difficult to work with. Once your business matures and reaches a comfortable and consistent level of success, a new luxury emerges…the opportunity to turn down customers you do not want to work with. You can now choose to only work with “perfect” customers!
What exactly is a perfect customer? It’s different for everybody because it depends on the characteristics and traits that you value and enjoy, and how the operation of your business is structured. Although your business may not be at the point where you can afford this luxury, it is never too early to define your perfect customer. If you can’t be picky, why define it now? Well, we’ve talked about evaluating your customers regularly and grading them. We’ve also talked about how important it is to track this performance and evaluation data. If you start your business with these processes in place, when the time comes you’ll be ready to easily recognize the customers you do and do not want to work with.
The easiest way that I can think to show you how to define a perfect customer is share with you my definition of a perfect customer, so here it is!
Continue reading "Customers = Good; Happy Customers = Better; Perfect Customers = Best!" »
Posted by Robert Bylett at 11:22 AM
in Client Satisfaction, Communication, Courtesy System, Happy Business
Keeping your clients happy is important to having a happy business. But let’s be real, it’s important to having a business. Unhappy clients won’t stay clients for long. If you don’t have any clients, you also don’t have a business!If you’ve gone through the process of implementing the Courtesy System and it is operating effectively, then keeping your clients happy is a given. However, if you aren’t using the Courtesy System, I’d like to share some methods and strategies to keeping your clients happy. It is always cheaper to keep a good client than to find a new client. So, let’s do everything we can to keep them happy and whistling!
Continue reading "Do Your Clients Whistle While You Work? In Other Words...Are They Happy?" »
Posted by Robert Bylett at 8:21 AM
in Business Owner, Client Satisfaction, Employee Satisfaction, Happy Business
Common sense suggests that if your staff is happy that they will give better customer service, which will then make your customers happy. It’s logical, but is it true? The only way to really know is through consistent measurement of both employee and customer satisfaction.
Recently, I listened to a presentation by the head of customer research for one of the UK's major retail banks. He told the invited audience that its research showed no link between the satisfactions of staff in a branch with the satisfaction of customers that bank there. In this bank, there is no statistical correlation between staff satisfaction and customer satisfaction.
Continue reading "Does Happy Staff Mean Happy Customers?" »
Posted by Robert Bylett at 8:57 AM
in Business Owner, Clients, Happy Business
You’ve just gotten done evaluating all of your customers and you’ve given them a letter grade – A, B, C, D or F. Now, it’s time to decide what to do with the customers with a grade C or lower. You have two options: 1.) rehabilitate them; or 2.) fire them.Rehabilitation
For those customers worth keeping (long-time customers or customers who had been good customers in the past), you need to redefine the terms of their service. Essentially, they will not get service when they fail to meet their obligations (deadlines for decisions, information, or payment) and they will be charged more when their demands fall outside the guidelines of the contract. There are three potential outcomes of a rehabilitation scenario: 1.) the customer becomes unhappy or frustrated and decides to terminate the relationship on their own; 2.) the customer changes their behaviour and becomes a good customer; or 3.) you are at least paid for the stress and headaches caused by the customer.
Continue reading "Be Like Sugar...Toxic Customer, You’re Fired!" »
Posted by Robert Bylett at 4:59 PM
in Business Owner, Clients, Happy Business
You know your customers are consciously or subconsciously grading you every time they interactOne of the keys to having a happy business is working with perfect customers – or at least “good” customers. Therefore, you should make a habit of regularly evaluating and actually grading your customers. By regularly, I mean at least annually with an objective system. Also keep in mind that an ‘A’ customer will not necessarily stay an ‘A’ customer – over time the customers will change as will your business. So, every year, give each of your customers a grade of A, B, C, D or F.Once you have graded your customers, then what? Since you want to keep your ‘A’ and ‘B’ customers, this would be a perfect time to tell them how much you value working with them. A customer appreciation event or token of appreciation will go a long way to keeping them as loyal customers and will encourage them to stay high grade customers.
Continue reading "It’s Report Card Time! For Your Customers!" »
Posted by Robert Bylett at 8:12 AM
in Business Owner, Clients, Communication, Mission, Values
‘You reap what you sow’ is a principle found in practically every philosophy since the dawn of the agricultural age. When you put an apple seed into the ground, water it and tend to it, then you will get an apple tree. You reap what you sow.
Even though this principle is based on the natural world, it also works in the business world. Everything that we do makes a difference. If our activities are positive, then what we get back will be positive. If they’re negative, we’ll get back negative. And while we may not see immediate gains or gratification from our positive actions, it is true that eventually we will. Some time in the future, the totality of our positive actions and words will amount to something.
I want to give you a few things to consider about the effect of positive actions. Our businesses involve people, whether it is our vendors, our employees, or our clients. What are you doing or saying with regard to these people? Are you sowing good will? Are you sowing a caring attitude? Are you sowing consideration for others needs and interests? As you sow these seeds of kindness and positive energy, I believe you will reap a tremendous harvest.
People will genuinely like and appreciate you, and people do business with people they genuinely like and appreciate. Further, when you fail or make a mistake – which you will from time to time - people will be much more forgiving if you have properly sown your seeds.
Continue reading "WWJAD – What Would Johnny Appleseed Do? You Reap What You Sow" »
Posted by Robert Bylett at 8:32 AM
in Business Owner, Clients, Courtesy System, Employees, Happy Business
You’ve just spent the last 8 to 12 months 
diligently working with your employees through all 8 Performance Standards. Hooray!! You’re done! Right? Not quite!In order for it to continue working, you have to monitor and revisit all of the Performance Standards on a routine basis. You should also continue measuring performance to the standards and encouraging positive improvements.Now, that is best case scenario assuming you have no employee turnover. Of course, I’m sure that you’re one of the lucky employers who has little trouble with employee turnover because we all know that employee turnover is never an issue in the hospitality industry;-) However, assuming that you regularly have new employees joining your team, you have to keep training the Courtesy System like it is brand new because these employees have never heard about it.That’s not a big deal. You may get a little grumbling from your long term employees about the retraining, but truth be told, many of the skills and habits the Courtesy System instils take conscious effort to maintain because they go against base human nature. Therefore, the retraining is the key to ensuring ongoing success with the Courtesy System and ultimately a Happy Business!
Continue reading "The Courtesy System…A Never Ending Story" »
