10 Important Business Needs To Regularly Check Up

Whether you’re thinking it’s Spring Cleaning Time or a time for an annual checkup, your business needs to undergo a checkup each year.

No matter how large or small your business is, you cannot gauge the effectiveness of any changes you’ve made without analyzing the benefits and bottom line.

Here are 10 questions to get you started:
   1.  How do your year-to-date sales compare to the last couple of years?  Don’t be satisfied if you managed to match them because if sales stayed the same then you’ve achieved zero growth. With inflation, this flat growth line is a warning sign for more trouble down the road.

2.  What percentage of your business is from repeat customers? This is important to know because if it’s too low, then it needs to be improved.

The estimated cost of getting a new customer versus retaining an existing one can be as much as five to one in terms of dollars spent.  Keeping customers is more cost-effective than constantly seeking new ones.

3.  How long has it been since you offered a new product or service?
Loyal customers like to see you changing and progressing with the times.  If you’re stuck for an idea, ask your customers what they need.

4. Do you consider marketing and advertising expenses or investments?
How you look at the money spent in these areas affects your willingness to spend money at all.  Would you look at prescriptions as a waste of money? Marketing is really investing in you, your vision, and your company. The old adage that you must spend money to make money is true, but you must spend it wisely. Spend it on ads that are pulling responses and orders, and if they’re not maybe you need to change publications.

5.  Do you know what PR is and how to use it to positively position your business in the media?  I’ll bet that at least one of your competitors does. Nearly every mention of a company or business in the newspapers and magazines is a direct result of publicity efforts. Being quoted or featured in an article speaks volumes to your clients and readers who are your potential prospects. A good PR consultant can do that for you and show you ways to extend the shelf life of that article beyond its publication.

 6. Are you listed in the yellow pages?  If you only have a line listing, consider including a small ad in the yellow pages. If you can afford it, it will pay dividends throughout the year.

 7. Do you teat your regular customers better than your drop-ins?  You should.  If your customers don’t feel special when coming to you for products of services, why should they remain loyal to you? Have a customer appreciation day or a special invitation only sale for your regulars. Create a mailing list of your regulars. Send occasional post cards or greeting cards for special events or just to keep in touch.  Learn to recognize them on sight and greet them by name when they visit you.

8.   How long has it been since you really talked to one of your customers?
Just as you appreciate when your Doctor takes time to talk to you, your customers will appreciate you if you take an interest in their needs. If you have a service business, have lunch or coffee periodically with some regulars – even if they only contact you once or twice a year.  The personal touch in an impersonal world will be remembered.

9.  How is your business doing compared to your competition?  Every company, no matter what the size, has competition – even home-based businesses. Is their business growing or downsizing? Is their pricing or service better than yours?  If so, what can you tell potential customers about the price difference? Think about how you can improve your service to meet or exceed your customer’s expectations.

10.  Are your employees happy?  Don’t ask them directly, but observe them throughout the day.  Watch, listen and learn. Employees who like their jobs don’t watch the clock for quitting time, aren’t habitually late, don’t have poor body language, don’t spend time on personal phone calls, and don’t look like they never smiled. Observe how they interact with customers.  

Not everyone is a match for direct contact with the public, so make sure you don’t have an employee who is driving business away. For some reasons, when you smile as you talk on the phone, the exchange with the client becomes more pleasant and more productive. It’s as if that smile went right through the phone wires to the person to whom you’re talking. Have a wonderful day.

10 Tips For Growing Your Business

1. Over deliver, but don't over promise. - Most companies do just the opposite.
They want that sale so they promise their customers the moon but then they fall just a little short.

They might have provided exceptional customer service, but excellent service looses its luster if it falls short of the promise.
In fact, it’s worse than not promising at all.

The bottom line is that you must organize your business so that you always exceed, but absolutely never fall short of a promise to a customer.

2. Use your customer’s name when ever possible. - Your customer’s favorite word (everyone’s favorite word) is their name. Use it, use it often, and when you write it, make sure that you spell it correctly. It’s also important to use a level of formality that will make your customers the most comfortable, so you’ll need to decide whether to use their full names, their surnames or their first names.

3. Give your staff both the responsibility and the authority to solve customer complaints. - Customers like to deal with decision makers, so make everyone on your staff a decision maker. A quick and satisfying resolution to a problem can help to solidify your customer’s loyalty.

You’re much more likely to lose customers if they have to wait, or if they get shuffled from department to department.
4. Keep your business spotless. - Unless you own a farm, dirt and clutter give an unprofessional impression whereas a clean business sends a message of professionalism to everyone, including your staff.  If you can do this with a business that is typically dirty, like a garage for example, you’ll absolutely dazzle your customers.

Just imagine the reactions of customers as they peer through the window of an impeccably clean, neat and organized workshop.
5. Incorporate a dress code. - Some people have difficulty with this one because they want their people to have the freedom to express their individuality, but a dress code can mean anything from completely matching outfits all the way to a minimum standard of dress (i.e. clean clothes in good repair with no written messages). 

Just as cleanliness does, a dress code sends a message of professionalism to everyone who comes in contact with your business. It lets them know there is a plan here… that some thought has gone into the development of this business, and most importantly, that it is not exactly the same as every other business of its type.
6. Regularly reward your employees for excellence in customer service. - This will show them that you’re not just paying “lip service” to customer service.
 This doesn’t always have to mean money, it might be as simple as a thank you and tickets to a show, but what ever you do, always do it in front of their peers. Not only will it make them feel good to be appreciated in front of their peers, but it will send a message to your entire staff that around here, customer service really is important.

7. Ask for 3 referrals from each of your clients. - Referrals are always your best source of new clients. Asking for a specific number adds to the professionalism surrounding your request. 

Don’t worry about offending them, you won’t. Just be polite, be direct, and be professional.
You’ll be surprised at how much your customers will appreciate the opportunity to help you out.
8. Smile when you answer the telephone. - It’ll come through in your voice.
A great example is The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company which requires that its employees answer the telephone within three rings and with a smile.

All too often, business phones are answered by busy employees or even busy owners who give the customer the impression that they’re an interruption to their busy day.

No business can afford to send those kinds of messages for long, no matter how successful they are.
Eventually it’ll catch up to them, because of course, customers are not an interruption to their day, customers are the reason they’re in business.
9. Raise your prices. - How many customers will you loose if you raise your prices?
An accountant friend of mine recently gave this a try. He is now enjoying a larger income and a better clientele. The clients he did loose had been the cheapest and the most demanding of the bunch.

So ask yourself this question, “how many customers will I loose if I raise my prices?” The answer may surprise you.
10. Set corporate goals. Celebrate with your staff when you reach them. Give them the credit. - Great leaders set goals, liberally pass out the credit for their successes and take the blame for their failures.

I’m not saying that you never let your employees know when they are producing substandard work. 

Everyone’s got to be working on the same page, but if things don’t work out in the end, take responsibility, and if they do work out, share the victory. Your staff will work all the harder because of it.








By Mark Wardell
President, Wardell Professional Development Inc.
mwardell@wardell.biz
Phone 604-733-4489
www.wardell.biz

Wardell is a business consulting firm, uniquely focused on the needs of small/mid sized growth companies.
  

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