SBM #110- Recession- Play Offense or Defense

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The world economies are in a mess and heading for a recession. But this shouldn’t be much of a surprise if you’ve been paying any attention to the news over the past year.

The war in Ukraine, inflation, ongoing supply chain disruptions, interest rate increases, energy supplies and pricing are making it tough for consumers and small businesses alike.

So what is a small business owner to do? Well, you have two choices, play defense, and batten down the hatches or go on the offense and grab market share. So let’s explore both options.

Play defense

The most natural thing to do in recessionary times is to get ready to ride out the storm. In episode #55 of the Small Business Minute titled Are you Ready? I review some things you can do to ready yourself for an economic downturn.

But when a recession does hit, playing defense means making draconian cuts in expenses because there’s a good chance your revenues will take a hit.

It means being ruthless. You need to adopt the attitude that nothing is sacred, and everything is on the block. But being internal optimists, that’s not easy for a lot of entrepreneurs. Always remember the goal during recessionary times is to survive and live to fight another day.

One big problem with any pending economic retraction is knowing how bad things may get. There have been many contractions that weren’t anywhere near the predictions and ended up being nothing more than speeds bumps.

Ocean storm with lighthouse in background
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However, there have also been many times that the reality was far worse than the forecasts. In addition, some industries were more impacted than others. The point is no one knows with any certainty which way the winds are going to blow. So, it’s better to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

This recession is different

Unfortunately, there is one major problem facing business owners this time around – Covid! Let’s be honest, from a business owners’ perspective, Covid was not just a health issue, it was business destroyer. Its impact was far worse than any recession.

Small businesses faced unprecedented disruption, through forced shutdowns, and health and safety protocols that were extensive and expensive. This left small businesses uncertain of their future.

Because of this, entrepreneurs were forced to make decisions to cut staff and expenses in order to survive. Any owner that had a financial cushion saw most of that safety net disappear.

So, once the economies of the world started to open up, entrepreneurs have been struggling to return to profitability and normalcy. Unfortunately, because of Covid, most small businesses have nothing left to cut.

Sadly, if a recession is in the cards, thousands of small businesses will disappear as they are tapped out. One thing that you can count on is that there won`t be a government bailout.

But there is an alternative.

Play Offense

Soccer/Football player on the offense

If you take a pause and step back for a moment, you’ll might realize that there is another approach to consider, and that is to go on the offense.

When you consider that when most small business owners hear the word recession, their knee jerk reaction is pull back on everything. As I mentioned early, it’s a legitimate strategy. Batten down the hatches and survive.

However, instead of a wholesale slash and burn across all areas of their company, taking a surgical approach might prove to be the way forward.

First off, making cuts is prudent. But instead of sweeping cuts, why not look at all non-profitable areas of your company. Got dead inventory that you’ve been hanging onto, dump it and free up your cash. Even at $.25 on the dollar, it’s better than staring at it and it puts some cash in the bank.

Next, focus only on those products and services that are profitable, period! This is not the time to launch any new initiatives. They usually require some form of investment, whether that’s human or financial to support it until such time they contribute in a meaningful way to the bottom line.

By focusing on those products or services that are already profitable frees up financial and human resources to go on the offense and start grabbing market share.

When you consider that just about everyone of your competitors will be cutting their marketing spend, this will create a vacuum in the marketplace. With them cutting back on their promotional campaigns, this forces the advertising industry to offer discounts or bonuses to make up for their shortfalls. So, this is the time to take advantage of the situation and amp up your awareness.

By increasing your marketing and sales initiatives during this period, it can drive awareness of your products and services within your target market. The key here is “your target market”.

“Going on the offense in a recession,

is like driving down a two lane highway

and getting the chance to pass

10 slower cars in one shot.”

It’s absolutely necessary to have laser like focus on your target because you’ll need to be shrewd on how you spend your money. Because your profitability will probably take hit during a recession, this may not be the best time to open new markets, but every case is different and need to be measured on its own merits. However, going deeper into those channels that you already know and understand is the smart play.

It’s also important to be aware that recessions aren’t biased. They impact most industries the same. So, you’ll need to be prepared to sharpen your pencil as you hunt for new customers, because everyone will be looking for value.

Once the economy recovers, you should be able to recover most of the margin you gave up, because you’ll have fewer competitors.

Going on the offense in a recession, is like driving down a two lane highway and getting the chance to pass 10 slower cars in one shot.

Bear in mind, this strategy take guts, but as the saying goes “To the brave goes the spoils!” But when you think about it, how risky is it? It might be less than you think. When you consider your that many of your competitors will be sitting in a corner sucking their thumbs hoping that things get better.

Fortunately, recessions don’t come around that often but when they do, you must react decisively regardless of whether you choose to play offense or defense.

A word of caution if you’re planning to play defense, be ready to protect current customers or market share. Chances are one of your competitor may be playing offense and you are on their hit list.

Basketball players at the net

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Greg Weatherdon has been there, done that. As an entrepreneur, he learned not only how to get a business to the point of running smoothly, but also how to reduce the number of hours he worked, delegate more responsibility to his employees, and take longer vacations while his business chugged along like a well-oiled machine. And now he is providing the secret to success.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

ORDER HERE

SBM #109 The Accidental Solopreneur

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The following is an edited transcript

{Greg}
Today I would like to welcome back Dennis Geelen the author of the Zero In Formula. Dennis was a previous guest on SBM #92 titled – The 2 Biggest Mistakes. If you haven’t listened to it, I encourage you to check it out.

The reason for having Dennis join us today, is that he’s launching his new book – The Accidental Solopreneur.
So, welcome back to the Small Business Minute.

{Dennis}
Hey, Greg. Thanks so much for having me back on the podcast. So happy to be here.

Picture of the Accidental Solopreneur book

{Greg}
So, I thought a good place to is by getting Dennis to share his background as we really didn’t touch on any this the last time he was on.

So my first question is, what prompted you to leave the corporate world and start your journey as a solopreneur consultant?

{Dennis}
So, your question, what prompted me to leave the corporate world and start my journey as a solopreneur consultant?

Well, short answer is I was laid off, at the age of 43, for the first time ever. I was laid off from a corporate job and I decided, hey, why not bet on myself and start my own solopreneur practice?

The longer answer would be I had great encouragement and support from my wife. I had a nice severance package, so I knew that I could give it some time.

I decided to give it a full year. Really try and give it my all and start my own consulting business. And at the end of the year, if things were working great, awesome, I would have no regrets. I would have learned, and I’d be on to something. Just the feeling of betting on myself and making it, would be awesome.

If it didn’t work again, no regrets. I would know that I tried, gave it my all and I would never have that – “What if?” feeling. And I would still be young enough to jump back into the corporate world and probably be a better person because of it.

So that’s really what prompted me. If I hadn’t had been laid off, I never probably would have taken the step. So, I guess it was a blessing in disguise.

Dennis Geelen

{Greg}
We all know there are many ways to become an entrepreneur and to co-opt some words from Shakespeare- “Some are born entrepreneurs, some become entrepreneurs, and some have entrepreneurship thrust upon them”

Being laid-off has always been a common theme for people transitioning to entrepreneurship. This is especially true if one has a decent severance package. As I like to say, it let’s you take your idea for test ride, and judging by the success your enjoying, it certainly seems to have paid off for you.

So, can you share what were some of the biggest mistakes you made early in your journey?

{Dennis}
Yeah, lots, lots of mistakes made early on. Where do I start?
So, when I first started zero in my consulting business, I was very naive.

I just thought, hey, I’ve got 20 plus years of corporate experience. I’ll just announce to the world that I’m a business consultant and I’ll give myself a catchy name, Zero IN.
I’ll create a logo, I’ll create a website, and then I’ll just sit back and watch the clients roll in. Of course, that’s not what happened at all.

I did those things, but the clients didn’t roll in. What I found was I really had to niche down. I really had to be the expert at something. Just calling myself a business consultant really didn’t appeal to anybody. That’s a generalist.

I had to get really specific. What specific business challenges am I helping you solve and for who?
What business is in what industry. So, I really had to go through the process of learning how to be the expert and then building credibility as a consultant.

In in my corporate life people didn’t know me as a consultant. They knew me as a director of professional services or a director of Project Management.

You know, I was not a consultant, so I had to brand myself. I had to build credibility and I had to become the expert. Then I had to learn how to package my services, and sell my services. So, all kinds of mistakes in the beginning. Just assuming that announcing to the world you are a consultant, and you know people will be lining up at your door. I had a lot to learn and luckily had enough runway to be able to make those mistakes and learn from those mistakes.

 “who makes more money the heart surgeon or the family physician?”

{Greg}
Focusing (SBM #53) or becoming expert in a given area is one of the hardest lessons for entrepreneurs to learn. That applies equally to companies and not just consultants. It’s a lesson I learned many years ago and it paid off handsomely.

When I sit with struggling entrepreneurs, most can’t identify their target market or ideal customer. That’s because they’ve never really looked at what they do differently or can do better than anyone else.

To drive home the point on focusing, I usually ask the question “who makes more money the heart surgeon or the family physician?” I think we all know the answer.

But to become the expert, it requires discipline and commitment. Discipline, as you point out in the Accidental Solopreneur, to know when to say no to an opportunity if it doesn’t fit. And commitment, to learn everything there is on the subject matter. It’s tough to do, but so worth it!

So let me ask, were you impacted by the pandemic, and if so, how did you pivot? 

 “I helped companies solve indifference.”

{Dennis}
Yeah, the pandemic. Boy, that really messed up a lot of businesses. So, for me, I was finally rolling, I had figured out my niche.

I helped medium sized businesses with their customer experience and creating a culture of innovation. Or as I like to say it, I helped companies solve indifference. Indifferent customers or indifferent employees. And here’s how you do it.

I had got my package down, my services down. I was doing all kinds of engagements. I was doing all kinds of speaking.
I was doing all kinds of workshops and then boom, the pandemic hits.

So, what I did was OK, now I had runway again. I had just made a bunch of money in the early part of 2020, in late 2019, from having figured things, so I had some time
I was given by the pandemic.

The Zero In Formula

I had some money that I was given by my success. I decided to sit down and write the book the Zero in formula. It’s where I took everything that I was doing with my clients. I put it into a book released in September of 2020, and that’s right when things were starting to open back up again.

And boom, that got me all kinds of exposure and more, you know, companies understanding what I do and who I do it for and how I do it. And because I was on so many podcasts and, you know, there was articles about the book and the book hit bestseller. That really was a blessing in disguise. For me, the pandemic is what allowed me to do that.

{Greg}
So many business owners felt the wrath of Covid. They just weren’t prepared. As much as Covid was a health issue, it was also an economic one as the lockdowns came into play.

Long before Covid, I had always told my clients that you need to have a rainy day fund to survive any form of business slow down or interruption. I was usually thinking along the lines of short term illness or a fire, etc.

Like most people, I never in my wildest dreams would have contemplated a pandemic. However, those that heeded my advice, made it through. It wasn’t pleasant, but they made it.

By having cash reserved, it allows you to continue doing the things that need to be done or as in your case, gave you the opportunity to write Zero In.

I noticed that you now also help other solopreneurs start their own practice, what prompted that new initiative for you?

{Dennis}
Yeah, so a funny thing happened. After a few years in at zero in, things were rolling. I now have a book. I now had online courses.

I was doing all kinds of workshops and consulting engagements and I was just starting to write another business book. I thought, ok, I should have a follow up to the zero in formula. Similar niche, similar type of stuff I’m talking about, but a different spin on things just to keep things fresh.

What I noticed was a lot of people were reaching out to me at this point now saying, hey, I want to do what you did.
Hey, can I pick your brain for a little bit? Hey, I’m starting my own consulting practice. Can you give me a few pointers? Can you give me a few tips?

This was happening through e-mail, through DM’s, the zoom calls, people were wanting to spend time with me and pick my brain. I thought maybe there’s another niche here for me as well while I’ve got zero in going and I can help these medium sized businesses.

I could also start working with other solopreneurs to help them get started, so I pivoted and wrote a very different book.

Instead of the business book I was planning to write, I decided to write a book for solopreneurs and this one, The Accidental Solopreneur, which it ended up being called, is told in a fictional parable format.

I always love those types of books where it’s told in the form of a story with interesting characters. But tips and strategies come out through the book, so that’s what I did there. I started up a whole other side business as well, where now I’m also coaching solopreneurs where they can book calls with me.

I’ve created an online course called the Solopreneur Playbook where I take people through the six steps that I went through, to eventually build a successful solopreneur consulting business.

That’s really been a great new initiative for me, and it was really just prompted by all those people reaching out to ask and I thought there’s a market there. I’ve got expertise, I can help these people.

picture of playbook course
The Solopreneur Playbook: 6 Steps to FREEDOM

{Greg}
That certainly sounds like an interesting opportunity. Going into business is never an easy decision and most underestimate what is required.

By the time they do realize that they’re unprepared, they’ve used up their whole runway and have to throw in the towel. Fortunately, for those that get a reality check early in the process, they’ll now have a new resource available in The Accidental Solopreneur and the accompanying playbook.

So that a great segue to my final question. The Solopreneur Playbook that you have developed is based on your new book The Accidental Solopreneur. Can you give a high level overview of the playbook?

{Dennis}
So, like I said, the book came out of that and an online course as well. Really what I show in the book and in the course itself is a 6 step playbook. I call it the Solopreneur Playbook and it’s basically this.

Step 1 Be the expert. Like I said off the top, that was the first mistake I made, I didn’t niche down enough, but it’s easy to say that. How do you do that? What does that look like? So, in the book you get to see how the guy does it in the story.

In the course, there’s all kinds of resources to help you niche down and be the expert.

Step 2 is to build credibility. It’s great that you’ve niched down now, but you’re still probably one of several options in that niche. Why you? How do you build credibility so that people want to choose you instead of your competitors?

So, in the book, again, it shows how the guy does that in the course, all kinds of resources and examples on how to build your credibility.

Step #3 How do you refine? Which is extremely important is how do you refine and offer your services? How do you package them so that you’re not just selling your time for money so you’re not just saying, hey, it’s 100 bucks an hour to work with me?

What’s your proprietary process? How do you package what you do into a certain number of steps or a certain process and then sell it at a fixed price so people feel like they’re buying a proven methodology or a proven product?
I’ve been telling people in the course sell it like it’s a product, package it that way and price It that way.
So how do you do that?

Step #4 How do you sell it? Learning to sell and getting good at sales is so critical because if you don’t have any customers, you don’t have a business.

So, learn to sell is step #4. Now, I tell people in the course, those first four steps are probably going to be iterative.
You’re not going to get it perfect right off the bat. You’re probably have to go through several iterations before you get that, and then you might stop there.

You might have an offering that’s so good and is priced so well that you’re making all kinds of money and you’re helping all kinds of people or businesses and you’re good with that. But if you want to go further, that’s where steps five and six come in.

Step #5 is build an audience. Now, can you have a podcast? Can you have a newsletter? Can, you know, generate a large following on LinkedIn or Twitter so that you can really cash in on Step 6.

Step #6 is to build assets that generate recurring revenue instead of just offering your time and your services.
Can you write books? Can you do online courses?
Can you have people sponsor your podcast or your newsletter?

Can you create Cheat Sheets that people pay for? You know, what can you do now that you’ve built an audience? Build something once and sell it 1000 times.

So that’s the playbook. That’s the six steps. But it’s very important that you do them intentionally and in order, and you do them properly and that’s really what I go through in the book and the course.

“No Sales, No Business!”

{Greg}
Thanks Dennis for that overview. Those 6 steps make a lot of sense and that’s coming from someone who has been there. Step 4 Learn to Sell is the one that stood out for me the most.

Too often entrepreneurs are technically competent, but they lack the ability to properly present their expertise. I have a saying that I use frequently and that is “No sales, no business!” You can have the best mouse trap but if you don’t have any sales skills you’ll never get any customers.

That’s pretty much all the time we have, and I want to thank you for your time today as well as I want to wish great success with the book and the playbook. I’m sure it will help those many solopreneurs who want to grow their practices.

Also, I lied. I have more question for you. How can people contact you?

{Dennis}
Thanks again for having me on, Greg. So great to be here.
Yeah, if people want to get in touch with me, you can reach out through LinkedIn.

Always happy to connect with people there.
Or you can visit my website, www.dennisgeelen.me .
There you can see all about the book. You can see all about the courses or book coaching calls with me. Love to connect with people and help them through their journey.

{Greg}
Dennis has graciously offered a 25% discount for his online course to my listeners. So just head over to my site at gregweatherdon.com and you’ll find a link for the course, the discount code and his new book in the transcript of this interview.

Here is the link to the course – https://dgeelen.gumroad.com/l/solopreneur_playbook Use this promo code for 25% off – tvzvajc

Here’s the link to his book The Accidental Solopreneur

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Greg Weatherdon has been there, done that. As an entrepreneur, he learned not only how to get a business to the point of running smoothly, but also how to reduce the number of hours he worked, delegate more responsibility to his employees, and take longer vacations while his business chugged along like a well-oiled machine. And now he is providing the secret to success.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

ORDER HERE

SBM #106 – 4 Ways to deal with difficult clients

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The reality of being a small business owner is that you are going to have difficult clients. How you deal with them comes down to how much you are willing to endure.

These are the clients that hire you because of your expertise, but then try to tell you how to run the project. They can also be the type that doesn’t respect your time or are late in getting you the information you need but still expect you to meet the original deadline. Of course, let’s not forget those that expect you do more than originally agreed upon, and don’t think they should be charged more. I could go on, but you get the point.

(more…)

SBM #100 – How much time do you really have?

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One of the biggest challenges of a service business is managing your inventory. Now you might wonder what inventory, besides a few stationary supplies you may have, that need to be managed?

Well, unlike a manufacturing, retail or a distribution business, where you have physical inventory that needs to be stored, sold and then replenished, service businesses on the other hand have a single and very unique inventory -TIME!

 

3 people standing inside big clock

Time- It’s how you get paid!

Because as a service business, your product is the knowledge that you and your staff carry around in your head. Putting this knowledge or expertise to work is how you generate your revenue and that’s usually in the form of hours worked.

It can be argued that service technicians like appliance or auto repair have inventory, but for the most part you hire them for their knowledge and they in turn they charge you for the time it takes to fix the problem. Therefore, the parts although important, are secondary to diagnostic skills the technician possess, because without those skills, there wouldn’t be a part to sell.

Similarly, sales and marketing services companies also generate revenue by the hour, however, it is rarely shown as such as most fees are displayed as a total for a given project. But all the fees are calculated as an estimate of how much time or hours are involved in executing the project by the various staff members.

Establish some balance

One of the biggest issues with owners of service businesses is understanding that their inventory is finite and that they should be running their companies with that in mind. Unfortunately, this is contrary to how many of these businesses operate. They assume that they can just put in more time and work longer hours. Although feasible in the short term, it is rarely a long term strategy. Yet so many continue to do so.

There are some advantages to managing your business based on your available inventory of time. First off, it should bring a sense of balance to a business. Balance, as in work life balance.
Secondly, it would allow you to establish realistic delivery timelines to the customer. Let’s be honest, we all think we can complete an assignment quicker than reality dictates but that just stresses out your staff or annoys the client when we are late. So being realistic can reduce the occurrence of both.

Additional benefits of managing your inventory can be significant on the financial front. Foremost, you’ll quickly understand whether you are charging enough and whether your existing inventory of hours available can support your financial demands.

Calculate how much time you really have

Furthermore, you should also discover how efficient or inefficient your organization is and where improvements can be made. Increases in efficiencies can greatly enhance your profitability. A simple metric such as revenue per hour is great place to start in benchmarking any improvements. This calculation is done by simply dividing your total revenue by total payroll hours for any given period, including your own.

So, how do you calculate this inventory? Well, it is easier than you think, and it really doesn’t matter whether your staff is making $20/hr or $200/hr as it is the exact same calculation. Earning a higher hourly rate does not give you more hours in a day, as we all get the same 24hrs.

The following example is how you calculate your total available inventory of time in a service business.

1. Assume a 40 hour work week = 2,080 hrs
2. Assume 3 weeks vacation = (120)
3. Assume 11 statutory holidays = (88).
4. Assume 5 sick days = (40)
5. Assume 2×15 mins breaks/day = (12.5)
Total available hours 1855.5 hrs

So before doing this exercise, most owners assume they have 40 hours a week or 2080 hours per year per employee that are available to them. However, after taking into account vacations, stat holidays, sick days and coffee breaks, that number is reduced by 11% to 1855 hours per year or a loss of almost 6 weeks out of a 52 week year.

This number actually gets worse if employees are required to travel to clients as in the case of a repair technician or a salesperson. You can easily lose and additional 2 hours per day which is a potential loss of an additional 13 weeks per annum. So now we are down to 33 weeks of billable time in a year or 1335 hours from a high of 2080 hours. That’s a 36% reduction in available inventory or billable time.

Once you understand how much available time you have, you can now start to make realistic assumptions and projections. Of course, the challenge to all service businesses is the ability to maximize your available time inventory and make sure it’s productive.

Hiring more people not the best option

Unfortunately, the only way to increase your inventory in a service business, is to hire more people. But realistically, that’s not necessarily the best option, especially if you have demand peaks and valleys in your business throughout the year. So, finding tools or processes to increase productivity might be a better avenue to maximize your existing inventory.

Realistically, we are all faced with slack periods where there’s insufficient demand and people are not busy. Sadly, you can’t store any unused time for future use. Because once that minute hand on the clock moves forward, you have lost that inventory forever.

So, sit down with staff and explain the impact they can have on the business by being more efficient. Then ask them where the bottlenecks are and their suggestions to get rid of them, because once that inventory is gone, it’s gone!

You may also enjoy episode #59 Quit Digging!

 

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Greg Weatherdon has been there, done that. As an entrepreneur, he learned not only how to get a business to the point of running smoothly, but also how to reduce the number of hours he worked, delegate more responsibility to his employees, and take longer vacations while his business chugged along like a well-oiled machine. And now he is providing the secret to success.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

ORDER HERE

SBM #90 Google Reviews Matter

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I’ve been wanting to golf at a rural course for a number of years now. The reason is that this golf course now sits upon farmland that was once owned by two of my uncles. I had spent a lot of time of these farms as a kid growing up and I had only played the course once many years before and my memory suggested it wasn’t a bad little course.

So when a neighbour suggested that we get out for a round of golf, I recommended we go to this course and told him about my family heritage. He agreed and a tee time was booked.

Google Reviews

For the sake of brevity, let’s just say the course condition was less than stellar. The fairways and greens looked like they hadn’t seen water the whole season and were harder than concrete. Needless to say I was a little embarrassed that I had recommended the course.

“…playing on what was the equivalent of a parking lot didn’t help.”

Aside from the terrible course condition, the signage was askew, and you were left to your own devices to find your way between holes. All in all, not a great experience and my score reflected my frustration. Heck, golf is hard enough at times and playing on what was the equivalent of a parking lot didn’t help.

My Google review

So, having wasted good money playing a bad course, I felt compelled to leave a Google review. Needless to say they only received a one-star and my write-up stated that the course was unkept and appeared to be unloved as well. I further stated that they clearly couldn’t maintain 36 holes, so maybe they should try to focus on 18 and do it better.

About a week or so later, I noticed a message alert in my Facebook feed. To my surprise, it was from the course operation manager asking if we could chat, to which I agreed.

This individual went on to tell me that my review pained him because they are family owned and they work hard. He further explained that their water pump had been down for three weeks and that they’d been hauling water day and night during the hottest time of the year. He then proceeded to ask me to remove my review now that he had explained his position.

My initial response to his request was that he should have let us know at the time that the course was unplayable and let us make the decision to play, or they should have offered some form of discount when we showed up. This is a common theme with many small businesses, when they are unable to provide an acceptable level of service for whatever reason. They just keep quiet and continue to charge their regular fees, instead of coming clean and being honest.

Responding to Google reviews helps

It’s been my experience, that the main driver for this type of behaviour is that they are so in need of the revenue, that they place customer service or experience a distant second. But what they don’t realize is that this attitude costs them far more in the long run and just compounds an already bad situation.

I further suggested to the individual that they should reply to my comment on Google because people want to see how businesses react to bad reviews. I also told him that responding to bad reviews with a legitimate reason actually has a positive impact. He responded that they would just prefer that I remove the original comment because they don’t think they should have to air their disputes in public.

Shortly after this, the conversation started going off the rails. I explained to him that I wasn’t prepared to remove my comments, because I experienced a subpar course regardless of the reasons. In addition, I also wanted him respond to my review as I knew it was in his best interest, but he wanted none of that.

The point of this story is that far too many businesses fail to pay attention to the impact of good or bad reviews can have on your business. But even more importantly, is the impact you can have in responding to any and all reviews. Just think of how you go about searching for goods or services on Google. Once you’ve narrowed down the search results, do you read the Google reviews? How do you react when you see reviews that have no response from the business owner? How do you feel when there is honest commentary from the business owner to each comment?

When asked, most people agree that they value Google reviews when researching businesses and the research overwhelmingly support this position. Unfortunately, too many businesses do not pay any attention to this free resource and it’s costing them a lot of business.

Google provides every business the ability to be listed in their search results. It’s always of interest to me when I do a search within an industry to see businesses that haven’t claimed their listing. To find out if your business is listed, simply go to Google my Business. If your business is not listed, they make it quite easy to get a listing included in their search results by logging in and completing your business profile. That way you’ll be able to get the benefits of having Google reviews

In a recent survey by BrightLocal, an online agency that helps marketers working with a local business do their job better, found the following key statistics:

Key Statistics

  • 90% of consumers used the internet to find a local business in the last year, with 33% looking every day
  • 82% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses, with 52% of 18-54-year-olds saying they ‘always’ read reviews
  • The average consumer reads 10 reviews before feeling able to trust a business
  • Only 53% of people would consider using a business with less than 4 stars
  • The average consumer spends 13 minutes and 45 seconds reading reviews before making a decision
  • Among consumers that read reviews, 97% read businesses’ responses to reviews

A link to the complete survey results can be found here:

https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/#influence-of-reviews

Additionally, research has also found that consumer give more credibility to businesses that respond to reviews, good or bad. That’s because it shows that the business actually cares about their customer service. For proof, just think about how you react to reviews with and without responses from the business. I know how I feel, but to qualify this, I asked approximately 10 people what their thoughts were regarding businesses that respond to reviews. 100% agreed that they look favourably upon those businesses that take the time to respond.

Make them personal

If you’re going to respond to review, avoid the standard cut and paste responses, such as “Thank you” and make them a little personal. Whatever you do, do not offer any discounts or bribes to people in order to get them to write a Google review. It’s highly frowned upon by Google should they find out and will seriously impact your search ranking. However, asking people for reviews is quite acceptable and worthwhile.

As for my little story, in order to end my conversation with the individual, I stated that I will consider updating my comments to reflect that the owner did reach out to me. However, after further ruminating on the subject, I decided not to update my comments. My rationale was that it’s not my responsibility to do his job.

I’d like to know your thoughts if you were faced with a similar situation. So, leave your comments below.

You may also enjoy Want More Sales-Follow up

If you found this of value, please pass this along to any business owner that you fell could benefit by understanding the upside to Google reviews.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Greg Weatherdon has been there, done that. As an entrepreneur, he learned not only how to get a business to the point of running smoothly, but also how to reduce the number of hours he worked, delegate more responsibility to his employees, and take longer vacations while his business chugged along like a well-oiled machine. And now he is providing the secret to success.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

Order Here

SBM #88 Discounts

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For many Covid-19 has temporarily changed the way business is done and for others those changes will be permanent. This is both good and bad. The good is that for those that adapt, they will find news ways to do business. The bad is that for those who remain steadfast in their ways, they may not survive. This brings me to today’s topic, discounts.

Discounts are necessary

Before going any further, many of the enterprises deemed as essential along with those businesses that have only had to relocate their workers to their home, are most likely able to continue with business as usual and don’t need to offer any discounts. For the rest though, discounts may be necessary.

There’s lots of commentary on social media platforms about the merits of maintaining your pricing during these disruptive period. These statements are usually is prefaced by slogans such as “Get paid what your worth” or “Don’t discount your value” and so on. These are all great motherhood statements that have some value when things are normal. But these aren’t normal times.
Let’s be honest, even in the best of times, you only get to take that position when you’ve been in business long enough and have created a reputation as an organization that consistently deliver results and are deemed to be an expert in your field. So, regardless of what you think you’re worth. It only matters what your customers think you’re worth and chances are your customers are being enticed by intriguing value propositions by your competitors.

30-50% of SME’s will fail

Having been through more than one economic upheaval and survived to talk about it, I disagree with whole notion of not offering discounts. Based on estimates, approximately 30-50% of SME will not make it and as an owner you have but one goal for the next while-survival, period. Since the majority of your customers are probably suffering, they will be looking discounts on any spending they’re making and if you don’t, your competitor will.

Assuming 30% failure rate, the 1st 10% are already gone, with the 2nd 10% only weeks away. It’s the last 10% who you need to worry about, because they’ll be gunning for you by targeting your customers by offering discounts. Why? Because they’re desperate. This in turn will put huge competitive pressure on your business as you compete with lower priced competitors. For those that are financially secure or are unaffected by the impact of Covid-19, hallelujah! Otherwise, you need to make sure you keep cash coming in, because if you’re not selling anything, you risk falling into the 30%.

Protect your brand

The challenge in all of this is fighting our own pride and ego. They say that “pride goeth before the fall”. This translate into those that are too arrogant will fail. If there ever was a time to seriously consider offering temporary discounts, this is it. It’ll give you the ammunition to protect your brand and your company. Remember that breaking even is ok, because in times like these, profit can wait for better days.

Covid-19 Discounts

So, how do you go about offering discounts that don’t become permanent? One simple way is to turn what you’re doing upside down. Why not consider offering a temporary Covid-19 discounts on your product and services? You can communicate to your clients that in these difficult time you want to do your part and help other business owners.

How you do this is quite simple. On your quotes or invoices, you show what your regular fee or product costs as you would normally. Then on the next line you show “Less temporary Covid-19 discounts” and then deduct the amount of the discounts.

By itemizing the discounts as separate line items on the quote or invoice, you reinforce your goodwill gesture, even though it’s self preservation. By having it as a separate line item it reinforces that it’s a specific discount thereby inferring that this won’t be forever. Failing to list the discounts separately, effectively creates a new lower price. When things return to normal and you and your business is still standing when many aren’t, you can then begin to remove your discounts.

To quote Darwin “It’s not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change”

 

You may also enjoy Cash flow – The breath of life

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Greg Weatherdon has been there, done that. As an entrepreneur, he learned not only how to get a business to the point of running smoothly, but also how to reduce the number of hours he worked, delegate more responsibility to his employees, and take longer vacations while his business chugged along like a well-oiled machine. And now he is providing the secret to success.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

ORDER HERE

SBM # 76 – Pick Up the Phone

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Technology has been an amazing boon for businesses of every size, but none more so than for small businesses. Having come of age as an entrepreneur through the technology evolution, it’s truly amazing that what once took days by many, is now done in minutes by one person.

The development and ease of use of current technology now allows small businesses to compete with much larger organizations. Software applications that once would have cost the small business owner a fortune to purchase, along with the hardware to run these applications, are now available for pennies a day and hosted on the cloud. Heck, most can be managed on your smartphone, giving you true mobility and freedom.

Small screen and keypad restrictive

I admit that, try as I might, there are just somethings that I can’t manage well on a smartphone. Whether that’s because the screen size or fat finger syndrome, I just prefer a much larger interface. Don’t get me wrong I love having all this capability in the palm of my hand, but I find the small screen and keypad restrictive.

I read somewhere once that smartphones and tablets are for consuming information, whereas laptops and desktops are for inputting information. I guess the reason I remembered this, is because it certainly rang true to me. Hats off though, to those that can manage everything on their smartphones!

This simple app never gets credit

However, one the most powerful apps included in every smartphone that gets used less and less every day, is the phone app. This powerful, yet simple app never gets any credit or hype, yet has the ability to increase our efficiency and productivity many times over.

Unlike so many of our other available communication apps, this simple app can cut through the clutter that fills our inboxes and messaging apps. Aside from calling a customer service line, where you’re put in a cue, because our call is important, if someone is available, they’ll usually answer the phone. This then becomes an opportunity to create a personal interaction that is sorely missing in todays business environment.

Calling someone to get an answer, is far quicker than writing an email or sending a text message. Talking to someone on the phone reinforces the relationship and that’s a critical element in a selling situation. One major advantage a phone call has over just every other communication vehicle, except face to face interaction, is the ability to hear an individual’s emotions.

It reinforces relationships

This live interaction gives you the opportunity to clarify or reinforce your position based on the feedback you’re receiving. A phone call allows to adjust on the spot should the situation change or if someone is having a bad day. You can’t really do that once you’ve hit send on that email or text message.

In addition, when two people are having a conversation, you can typically benefit from added information that is shared during a conversation. This information can be personal or business and serves again to reinforce the relationship. This rarely happens in email or text communications.

Phone calls also have an immediacy. Once more, if the individual is available, you’re not having to wait hours or days for a response that is becoming the norm with many electronic communications. Most interactions via the phone are usually just a clarification on some outstanding issue. If necessary, a follow up email can always be sent later as a confirmation. Meanwhile, by making a call, you get your answer and can then move forward with your task at hand.

Phone calls are personal

I’m constantly having to remind clients to pick up the phone when I see them starting to compose an email or text message. As a small business owner, it’s incredibly important to connect on a human level as frequently as we can with our customers and prospective customers. It’s one more human touchpoint. In many cases it can be a point of difference between you and your competition, because a phone call is personal.

I’m not sure how we’ve managed to move away from this tool but as the chasm grows between human interaction, I predict that we may see a resurgence in it’s use. I for one hopes so. So next time you’ve got a question for a customer, pick up the phone!

You may also enjoy Look as Good as You Sound

Copyright © Greg Weatherdon 2019

Sign up above to receive email notification of the latest update to this blog.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Greg Weatherdon has been there, done that. As an entrepreneur, he learned not only how to get a business to the point of running smoothly, but also how to reduce the number of hours he worked, delegate more responsibility to his employees, and take longer vacations while his business chugged along like a well-oiled machine. And now he is providing the secret to success.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

ORDER HERE

SBM #70 – My Kodak Moment

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In its heyday, the Kodak company used the following tagline in their advertising: “Make it a Kodak Moment!” This phrase was used when taking a picture of someone at a particular moment that will never be forgotten. It even made its way into everyday use to highlight anything good or embarrassing that happened to an individual, even when it wasn’t captured on film.

I’m sure we’ve all experienced our fair share of Kodak Moments in our lives, so I want to share one of mine that will be forever burned into my memory. It was an expensive sales lesson about being overly confident, that I’ll never forget. This event unfolded when I had my first company, The Sales Support Company. As a quick backgrounder, we provided retail merchandising services for the major consumer packaged goods companies, whereby we performed a myriad of services for our clients that ranged from new product introductions to regular sales coverage and even in-store display building.

Camera of choice

This last item, in-store display building usually required us to take a picture of each display as proof of performance. This was a pretty common practice in those days and these photos would ultimately be submitted to the client. Like pretty much everyone in the industry, our camera of choice was Polaroid. It’s ability to produce an instant picture that could be immediately catalogued with all the necessary information made it attractive unlike traditional film which required waiting until the whole roll was used and then developed.

Although we had a pretty impressive roster of clients, most of which were global players, we still wanted more. One such prospect was the Kodak Company, which at the time was one of the worlds largest photographic film companies. When you consider that in those days film was sold in thousands upon thousands of retailers that ranged from the local corner store to department stores. This was an ideal client for our services.

Over a number of years, I had tried multiple times to get an appointment with their senior sales personnel only to be rebuffed. However, over time, we did manage to execute a few small regional projects but certainly not on the scale we had hoped. These small projects had happened only because we had developed a working relationship with the local sales representative. Over time though, the impact of our performance on these small projects began to get noticed at higher levels of the organization.

Perseverance

As luck or perseverance would have it, we were finally invited into the inner sanctum of Kodak’s head office to pitch our services. This was monumental. For the record, Kodak was a very conservative company and for them to even contemplate outsourcing some of their retail sales/merchandising services was an enormous opportunity.

I don’t quite remember how many hours I had put in preparing for the presentation, but I do know it was significant. Aside from the general overview of our company, I also prepared summaries of performance with other similar sized organizations as well as a summary of our performance on the numerous small Kodak initiatives. The time spent on this was well worth it, as it could result in a six or seven figure annual contract.

At this point in the company’s evolution, we were no longer trying to prove our concept, as we, along with some competitors, had firmly established the viability of an outsourced sales and merchandising force to the industry players. So, needless to say, I had developed a high degree of confidence in our ability to win over Kodak, much as I had with other clients.

As I entered the board room at my scheduled time, I was taken aback to find 10-12 very senior managers sitting around the table. Typically, a presentation of this nature would only involve 3-4 managers at most companies, but apparently, Kodak worked differently. Although surprising to see such a gathering, this didn’t really phase me as I had presented our services often enough and was feeling confident and in hindsight possibly a little too relaxed.

I knew all was lost

The presentation unfolded as usual with all major questions and objections handled deftly. As we moved into the Q & A session of the presentation, I was feeling pretty good and possibly a little cocky at this point, as I felt I was winning them over. Questions continued to be asked and I continued to answer them confidently. Then came a perfectly natural and expected question that ultimately derailed any hope we had in ever getting them as a client.

The question was simply, “How would you quantify or authenticate the merchandising activities or display building reported by your field force?” As soon as I heard the question, I knew I had the answer and without missing a beat, I answered it with three little words that before I had finished uttering them, I knew all was lost. What were those three little words? “We take Polaroids!” The silence was deafening.

Whatever goodwill I had generated or convincing argument I had put forth, I was done. Competition in the film category was fierce and Kodak was the leader in those days and just arrogant enough to let you know. So being stupid enough to mention a competitor’s product by name was not one of my brightest moves.

Yes, it was an innocent mistake, as Polaroid was the generic name for any instant developing film much like Kleenex is for facial tissue, but they certainly did not take it that way. I did try to lighten the mood a little but to no avail. It was clearly evident that there was very little chance of regaining any lost ground as the questions dried up and a meeting was concluded.

It was like a ground ball trickling through your legs

I’ve never forgotten this Kodak Moment. Being over confident and letting your guard down when so much is on the line, is a rookie mistake. It was a hard learned and expensive lesson much like letting an easy ground ball trickle through your legs that allows the winning run for the other team to make it home.

To make matters worse, was that we had opened their eyes to the potential of outsourcing this area by executing those smaller projects on a local level. The business eventually went to a competitor and the size and scope of the assignment was as I had thought.

From that point on, I always tried to add a small preamble before answering a question like “Being able to quantify the display activity is something we all care about…”. By doing so, it gave my brain a couple of seconds to consider my answer instead of blurting out something stupid like “We take Polaroids!”

Copyright © Greg Weatherdon 2018

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Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Greg Weatherdon has been there, done that. As an entrepreneur, he learned not only how to get a business to the point of running smoothly, but also how to reduce the number of hours he worked, delegate more responsibility to his employees, and take longer vacations while his business chugged along like a well-oiled machine. And now he is providing the secret to success.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

ORDER HERE

SBM #61 Training Your Team

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Reading Time: 5 mins

We all have our own definitions of training for our team, but in all honesty, most of it sucks. Sure, for customer facing team members, we do the mandatory, how to acknowledge a customer stuff, with all the expected please and thank you’s.

It also goes without saying that we spend time teaching them “the system”, whether that be a retail POS or other software necessary to capture and order or process payment. Add to that the mandatory workplace safety and theft prevention training, we usually feel pretty good about our efforts.

This whole area of training, has been a sore point for me for quite some time and two situations minutes apart has made me want to revisit this topic. The extreme difference in the size of these two retailers served to reinforce how deficient product knowledge training is compared to the above mentioned items. One is a local franchise retailer whereas the other is part of a global department store chain.

Let’s begin with the local retailer. This is a specialty store whose main business is selling coffee pods and teas. Judging by the inventory, it would appear that the majority of their sales are Keurig pods. As we were looking for a specific brand of coffee we found on a recent trip, I used the opportunity to ask a couple questions regarding the availability, compatibility and difference between the original Keurig machine and the 2.0 machine. Theses are machines that they sell along with the coffee.

One in three

After and few hums and haws, the answer I received, and I paraphrase, was “I think so”. What made this so noteworthy was that another gentleman was in the store ahead of us and was asking some, what I thought, basic questions and the clerk was only able to answer one of his three questions.

Seriously, this is a specialty store and people were asking about the products in the store. Aside from basic pricing information and availability of some products, the individual had limited knowledge. As a specialty store, the staff should well versed on all products in the store. Why should a customer even bother to make a special trip to this store, when many of the brands they offer are available at the local grocery store?

The thing is, people usually frequent smaller stores in anticipation of receiving something, whether that be service or knowledge, not available at mass merchants and most will pay a small premium for it.

The sad part is, this is a store that I had been meaning to visit more than once and frankly I had expected more. Future trips, if any, will be very infrequent. What a missed opportunity.

Within 30 minutes of the previous experience, I headed to a major department store in search of some new luggage. My current bags had been run over once too often by airport baggage handling equipment and in dire need of replacement.

After spending 20 minutes in the department checking out their offerings a staff member finally showed up. With such a wide assortment of brands available, it’s difficult to determine which ones are quality versus value.

Looking for answers

As my interest was in purchasing a quality product that would last, I proceeded to ask the clerk which were the best brands for durability. She responded by saying Samsonite and Travelpro. So I asked why Travelpro? The answer I got was that they invented the roller wheels and that an airline pilot came up with the idea. It’s one of those replies that leaves you thinking, so?

My next question, was what makes them, Samsonite and Travelpro so good? Is the construction better? To which the respondent said they have a better warranty and yes, they’re better made. Again, it left me wondering how are they better made?

What I had expected was a little more in-depth answer along the lines of, they use a higher quality of materials or maybe they have greater structural support. This would have been an ideal time to show me the difference by opening comparable size items and point out the differences. But no, I was told that if I had any more questions that she would be right back!?

Clearly, this person had no idea what the product differentiators were and no doubt only sells based on price, or worse what the customer brought to the counter to purchase. The point is, I was fully prepared to purchase had I received the information I needed, but unfortunately, they were ill prepared.

Training should be mandatory and ongoing

Acquiring product knowledge is not difficult. The internet is a treasure trove of information on individual products and services. Better still, reach out to your suppliers and find out what they can do to help. Lunch and learn by manufacturer reps is just one way to get free training. Maybe the manufacturer has in-house data that they can share?

The point of all this is to say, that product knowledge training should carry, at minimum, equal weighting as processes. Taking the time to prioritize product knowledge and encouraging employees to do so on their own, will positively impact sales. The reality is that there are just too many alternatives in our hyper competitive environment, not to do so.

Yes, there has always been and always will be “tire kickers” who research products everywhere they can and then buy online or from a lower priced competitor. But that’s nothing new.

To counter that point, people are also very busy. Many just want to be served in a professional manner, by knowledgeable individuals. They are more than willing to buy from a company that will provide them the help and information they need to make an informed decision.

Training can be formal or informal, but it should be a priority, made mandatory and of course ongoing. Part of that training is to instill with the individual the desire to learn and explain the benefits of expanded knowledge, not just for the company but for the individual as well. People need to understand “what’s in it for them” and once they do, they’ll become self-motivated and everybody wins.

It’s no wonder the Amazon’s of the world are shipping more and more product everyday. Businesses of all sizes must realize that training is paramount, if they’re going to survive in this new age.

Copyright © Greg Weatherdon 

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Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Greg Weatherdon has been there, done that. As an entrepreneur, he learned not only how to get a business to the point of running smoothly, but also how to reduce the number of hours he worked, delegate more responsibility to his employees, and take longer vacations while his business chugged along like a well-oiled machine. And now he is providing the secret to success.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

ORDER HERE

SBM #60 Be Visible for More Sales

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Reading Time: 6 minutes

Be visible is really nothing more than the opportunity to get in front of the customer in some meaningful way. Unfortunately, it is proving far more difficult to do so. B to C or B to B businesses are equally challenged in getting through to their customers, because there are just many more roadblocks.

In the time before voicemail, a phone call to a customer’s home resulted in one of three outcomes; no answer, a busy signal or someone actually answered, pretty predictable outcomes. Along comes voicemail and call display, so now people could just ignore the call. Voicemail was supposed to be a tool to communicate information in one’s absence, however it morphed into a call screening tool when call display arrived on the scene.

The voicemail call display duo

Calls to a business customer pretty much followed the same path, however businesses usually had an additional layer of screening in place, namely the receptionist. As telephony automation increased, direct dial to customers was initially more productive, however with the advent of the voicemail call display duo, making contact quickly became more difficult.

Email on the other hand,quickly replaced the telephone as a primary communication device between business and customer. And why not? It was an easy way to send your thoughts or proposals to a client at any time of the day and unlike voicemail, you retained a written copy. Although this did create a challenge for some individuals to up their writing skills as, until this point, even the smallest companies had admin personnel who edited and finalized the final correspondence.

A response was expected

The initial upside to email was that it was a novelty and individuals promptly responded to any item that hit their inboxes. Maybe it was the novelty of this wonderful, empowering communication tool, but times have changed. Once upon a time, proper etiquette wouldn’t allow you to ignore personally addressed correspondence, but today it’s common practice. No, it didn’t matter, if the former was hand written and sent via a postal service and the latter sent digitally. In both cases someone took the time to compose the communication and therefore a response was expected

The problem today is mostly driven by the bombardment of unnecessary CYA’s or cover your ass, cc’s, bcc’s emails and let’s not forget the biggest culprit of them all, spam! It’s overloading peoples inboxes.

Average office worker receives 121 emails per day

It’s no wonder, when it is estimated that the average office worker receives 121 emails per day and sends out 40 per day. At that rate, they would easily fall a month behind within 10 days if they had to reply to every one they received.

With every technological advancement, we drift farther and farther apart from our customers. Social media and SMS are all being layered on and hyped as customer connectors, but they’re not. Just imagine what will happen when AI (Artificial Intelligence) goes mainstream? We’ll never have to talk, correspond or meet again. It’ll all be done for us. I am hopeful that the combination of Alternative and Virtual Reality might right the ship, but I won’t hold my breath.

Maybe I’m old school, but I’ve always pushed for a face to face meetings. No matter how far I had to travel or how inconvenient it was, getting in front of new or existing clients was a major sales and marketing tactic for me. Nothing beats face to face customer interaction. It allows you to see the customers reaction to your comments, thoughts or proposal. It gives you the opportunity to be in the moment to correct any misunderstandings or expand on key points. You can’t do that effectively via email.

Stickiness

The other added benefit of to be visible, was stickiness. It’s a term I have used for years in support of my need to get in front of clients. This approach is directly responsible for more than a few million dollars of revenue that I generated.

In a nutshell, stickiness is the art of being visible within client’s businesses. I’m not suggesting setting up a desk in your clients premises, although not a bad idea if the client is big enough! Being visible within a client requires effort and patience. Effort, because with all the built in screens I mentioned earlier, it’s a challenge to get a client to respond to your requests. Patience, because with everyone running flat out, meetings are now scheduled weeks in advance and not days.

The payoff though, is the more frequent you are in a clients place of business, the more people will come to recognize you. The more they see you, the greater the odds that you’ll have the opportunity to talk with them. Of course, the more you talk with them, the more you have a chance to let them know what you do.

Opportunities to be visible

A typical scenario, for me was to arrange a meeting with a client and as time went on, I got to know or at least recognize other people in the business. As we made our way to the meeting room or the person’s office, I’d make a point of saying hi to anyone I knew. It was more of an opportunity for me to let them know I was in the building.

Over time this little acknowledgement led to someone telling me to stop by when my meeting was over as they either had a question or wanted to talk with me about something and that something was usually a potential opportunity. My estimate is that this happened 50% of the time. Again, the size of your clients will impact these numbers but don’t underestimate the potential of even in the smallest of companies.

Another opportunity to be visible is upon completion of a project. Make an appointment with the customer to review the engagement. Too often, I see owners just send off the summary report and an invoice and that’s the end of it. What a missed opportunity! This is exactly when you need to be visible. Generally speaking, the client is happy with the results and are open to other suggestions you may have.

On those occasions when it’s just physically impossible to be visible on a client’s premises, there are other ways to stay front and center. For instance, the client has asked for a quote. Far too many owners email the quote and hope for the best. Instead, once the email has been sent, call them to let them know you sent it, especially with the number of emails that end up in the junk folder. Alternatively, finish your cover email with a statement, such as “I’ll call you tomorrow to discuss”. Then make sure you call.

Looking for ways to be visible to your customers pays greater dividends to the small business owner than most of their social media activity.

You may also enjoy The Fear Of Decisions

Copyright © Greg Weatherdon

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