Monday, November 22, 2010

Are Your Scales Bright And Shiny?

As a little fish in the pond of big businesses, there are many small details that need to be taken care with the few fins you have. Although you can delegate some, if not most of the details to professionals in specific fields, you can't delegate "yourself" as a project, as you would bookkeeping.

Taking the responsibility of keeping yourself well groomed, well dressed, well rested and well fed will have you swimming circles around the competition. Not only will you be healthy and have lots energy as a result, your customers will perceive your company as also being healthy, professional and successful.


Analogy
When you go to a pet store or aquarium to look for the new addition to your fish tank, you'd never dream of choosing a fish that looked unhealthy to bring home. Instead you look for one with bright and shiny scales!

A strong fish will give you the longevity you'd expect from the investment you've just made and won't negatively affect the health of your existing fish and tank.


Keep Swimming Little Fish!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Are You Too Quiet For Your Own Good?

As a little fish in the pond of big businesses, you might find that you spend most of your time developing your product or service and not enough time telling others about what you do because you don't want to draw attention to yourself.

The secret to a successful business is not to attract attention to yourself, but instead to draw attention to the problem that your product or service solves for the prospective customer.

When you spend the time talking about the features and benefits of your business offerings and topics related to your industry, you educate your listeners, prime them as future prospects and as a result position yourself as the industry expert.

This approach is passionate, authentic, infectious and profitable.

Don't be shy. Look for opportunities this week to dialogue about the business you're passionate about!

Keep Swimming Little Fish!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Are You Waiting Until It's Too Late To Survey Your Customers?

Although you think your product or service offering may be unique and in high demand, have you taken the time to consider how your customer may feel about it?

Most conscientious business owners survey their customers, but unfortunately most of those same business owners do so after the fact, at a time when it's too late to do anything about the negative experience their customer may have had.

Conducting ongoing dialogue with your customer during the entire course of a project or business transaction will keep you informed every step of the way of how your customer feels about doing business with you and your company. This ongoing communication will provide you with the necessary information needed to change, correct or enhance your customer's experience before it's too late.

Analogy
Consider a marriage. If a couple doesn't openly communicate regularly in efforts to continuously improve their relationship, it's likely that they will end up in divorce without knowing how they got there in the first place.

This "continuous" style of surveying shows your customer that you greatly value their business and that you want to continue the relationship.

Keep Swimming Little Fish!