This is a list from Brian Tracy...
Using time effectively is one of the main keys to success. Remember the old saying.. “If you need something done, ask a busy person to do it!” Why is that? Well in many cases it’s simply because they are usually organised.
Here are 21 ways that will get you going.
1. Be decisive
2. Set clear goals and objectives (using SMART)
3. Set a daily work plan (the night before)
4. Prioritise tasks using A,B,C,D,E (consider the consequences in setting priorities). Reprioritise A tasks using 1,2,3 to identify the most important A tasks and so on
5. Separate the urgent from the important (what are the long term potential consequences of doing not doing tasks?)
6. Use the law of forced efficiency (what is the highest value use of your time, right now?)
7. Use the 80/20 rule to identify the 20% of tasks that will have the greatest benefit and just do those
8. Develop stamina and high energy through proper exercise, diet and rest
9. Develop single-handling skills to concentrate on one task at a time
10. Eat that Frog (do the hardest task of the day first – don’t sit and look at it or procrastinate – just DO IT!)
11. Organise your work workspace (don’t work in a mess). Use the acronym TRAF – Toss, Refer (delegate), Action, File to help you
12. Use travel time effectively (listen to CDs, prepare a work schedule for flights/rail journeys)
13. Develop expertise in key tasks through practice and repetition
14. Work in ‘real’ time (pick up the tempo, develop a sense of urgency, do it NOW!)
15. Learn to make decisions quickly; don’t carry ifs, buts, and maybes around
16. Reengineer work processes: map them out and identify what needs to be done to reduce the number of steps by 30% minimum
17. Reinvent yourself at least once a year: identify what you need to do to become more productive, because everything changes (90 day plan)
18. Ask yourself this on a regular basis: knowing what I know right now, would I be doing this/be in this relationship/working with this client etc
19. Identify what tasks to procrastinate on, i.e. the lower priorities that can wait, the 80% of tasks that have less value and only contribute 20% of the output
20. Decide to work to live, not live to work. This means working towards a balanced life. It’s the quantity of time on downtime and the quality of time at work to aim for.
21. Be Intensely Action Orientated. It’s acting and executing that generate results
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Keep Cash Flowing
IF YOU’VE DONE THE HARD WORK AND BILLED YOUR CLIENT, THE LAST THING YOU NEED IS SLOW PAYMENT playing havoc on your own cash flow. Setting up a system to ensure your debts are paid on time should start before a contract or terms of trade even begins.
Putting these controls in place from the start and taking the appropriate steps in a disciplined manner shows customers you mean business, so they’re more likely to pay on time. Here’s a few pointers for settings up credits controls, managing debtors and improving the chance of payment when things go wrong.
SETTING UP CREDIT CONTROLS
Systems: Have a system and process in place and stick to the process.
Automatic payments: Encourage payments to be made automatically to your bank account.
Credit checks: Use references and reports to check credit rates for new customers, in particular those placing significant orders from the outset. Such checks should identify any new customers with bad credit experiences in their past, so these can be monitored.
Stick to terms: Set terms of trade at the outset and enforce them. It’s much easier to follow up on slow payers if your trading conditions have been clearly laid out from the beginning.
Rank debtors: Debtors should be ranked by value and risk, and their accounts monitored accordingly. This is particularly important for new customers.
MANAGING DEBTORS
Follow up: Follow up on all slow players.
Decision- makers: Those responsible for the transaction should deal directly with your customer’s decision-makers. Monitor collections and follow up if payment schedules are not met.
Reminder letters: Automatically send 30, 60 and 90 day reminder letters. Insist on your trade terms being met.
Personal contact: Go and see them if payments are not made on time, and don’t leave the premises without having a commitment for payment.
Keep in touch: Don’t rely on one visit. Follow up, including regular telephone reminders, if necessary. Again, don’t finish the call without obtaining their firm commitment to make a payment. And follow again if it is not paid on the promised date. Or better yet, undertake to pick up the cheque on the day promised.
Review: Review credit ratings and available reports regularly to check any changes in buying habits and increasing levels of debt. Customers with whom you have done business for years are often the greatest credit risk, because no one thinks to check on them.
Check your systems: If you don’t get invoices out promptly it encourages customers to delay payment. Delivery systems should also be checked. For instance, do you keep signed delivery dockets so you can prove delivery? Efficient systems avoid arguments later.
Check growth: As part of the monitoring and review process, keep an eye on customers undertaking fast expansion. An expanding customer may help your sales, but rapid growth also puts pressure on the customer’s management and may increase risk. Make sure they continue to pay promptly.
Special arrangements: Be careful when handling any request for extended credit. Check out the customer‘s ability to survive, and make a commercial decision based on the available information.
PROBLEM CUSTOMERS
Warning signs: Look out for warning signs of customers that may be experiencing difficulties. Sometimes they are not easy to recognise. For example, while the sales team may want to claim credit for any increase in a customer’s ordering, the new business the customer is giving you may be the result of other suppliers removing credit facilities. Industry gossip about a company’s financial position is often surprising accurate.
Commitment: It’s important to get difficult debtors to admit they have problems in paying and to then obtain a firm commitment for an amount. When possible, get this in writing, or write to them confirming their confirming their commitment.
Stop supplies: If accounts are not being paid, supplies should be stopped. This should be part of your credit system. You can then discuss the situation with your customer, and perhaps reach an understanding regarding payment for past supplies and conditions for new customers.
Legal action: Don’t put off sending professional demand letters or threatening legal action.
Collection program: Discuss your policy and the credit limit you are applying up front so customers know you are serious about your collection program.
Debt Collectors: If necessary use a professional debt collector and be prepared to go to court.
Some business owners are concerned about taking such a disciplined approach to debt collection as they are afraid of upsetting and losing the customer. But if customers are not meeting their payment obligations, they’re not worth having. You should be using your debtors to fund your own business, not your customers’.
Putting these controls in place from the start and taking the appropriate steps in a disciplined manner shows customers you mean business, so they’re more likely to pay on time. Here’s a few pointers for settings up credits controls, managing debtors and improving the chance of payment when things go wrong.
SETTING UP CREDIT CONTROLS
Systems: Have a system and process in place and stick to the process.
Automatic payments: Encourage payments to be made automatically to your bank account.
Credit checks: Use references and reports to check credit rates for new customers, in particular those placing significant orders from the outset. Such checks should identify any new customers with bad credit experiences in their past, so these can be monitored.
Stick to terms: Set terms of trade at the outset and enforce them. It’s much easier to follow up on slow payers if your trading conditions have been clearly laid out from the beginning.
Rank debtors: Debtors should be ranked by value and risk, and their accounts monitored accordingly. This is particularly important for new customers.
MANAGING DEBTORS
Follow up: Follow up on all slow players.
Decision- makers: Those responsible for the transaction should deal directly with your customer’s decision-makers. Monitor collections and follow up if payment schedules are not met.
Reminder letters: Automatically send 30, 60 and 90 day reminder letters. Insist on your trade terms being met.
Personal contact: Go and see them if payments are not made on time, and don’t leave the premises without having a commitment for payment.
Keep in touch: Don’t rely on one visit. Follow up, including regular telephone reminders, if necessary. Again, don’t finish the call without obtaining their firm commitment to make a payment. And follow again if it is not paid on the promised date. Or better yet, undertake to pick up the cheque on the day promised.
Review: Review credit ratings and available reports regularly to check any changes in buying habits and increasing levels of debt. Customers with whom you have done business for years are often the greatest credit risk, because no one thinks to check on them.
Check your systems: If you don’t get invoices out promptly it encourages customers to delay payment. Delivery systems should also be checked. For instance, do you keep signed delivery dockets so you can prove delivery? Efficient systems avoid arguments later.
Check growth: As part of the monitoring and review process, keep an eye on customers undertaking fast expansion. An expanding customer may help your sales, but rapid growth also puts pressure on the customer’s management and may increase risk. Make sure they continue to pay promptly.
Special arrangements: Be careful when handling any request for extended credit. Check out the customer‘s ability to survive, and make a commercial decision based on the available information.
PROBLEM CUSTOMERS
Warning signs: Look out for warning signs of customers that may be experiencing difficulties. Sometimes they are not easy to recognise. For example, while the sales team may want to claim credit for any increase in a customer’s ordering, the new business the customer is giving you may be the result of other suppliers removing credit facilities. Industry gossip about a company’s financial position is often surprising accurate.
Commitment: It’s important to get difficult debtors to admit they have problems in paying and to then obtain a firm commitment for an amount. When possible, get this in writing, or write to them confirming their confirming their commitment.
Stop supplies: If accounts are not being paid, supplies should be stopped. This should be part of your credit system. You can then discuss the situation with your customer, and perhaps reach an understanding regarding payment for past supplies and conditions for new customers.
Legal action: Don’t put off sending professional demand letters or threatening legal action.
Collection program: Discuss your policy and the credit limit you are applying up front so customers know you are serious about your collection program.
Debt Collectors: If necessary use a professional debt collector and be prepared to go to court.
Some business owners are concerned about taking such a disciplined approach to debt collection as they are afraid of upsetting and losing the customer. But if customers are not meeting their payment obligations, they’re not worth having. You should be using your debtors to fund your own business, not your customers’.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Friend or Foe - The Importance of Creating Great First Impressions.
We often refer to the brain as having two hemispheres, the left, and largely responsible for logic and the right, predominately responsible for creativity. This description fits what we know to be the cortex or new brain, however there is a third dimension, the hypo-thalamus or pre-historic brain which is in fact the brain stem and is solely responsible for instincts.
Bruno Catellani of the Institute of Communication, Management and Sales in Switzerland refers to the pre-historic brain as the ‘Guard’ or ‘Gatekeeper’. The ‘Gatekeeper’s’ sole function is to decide whether you are a friend or a foe, it is incapable of thought or rationalisation and reacts purely on instinct by how it perceives your approach.
If your initial approach stresses the ‘Gatekeeper’, it will switch on the fight/flight response and part of this process includes shutting down all other message receptors which means any opportunity you had to communicate has just been totally closed off.
It’s absolutely true that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Building the language of trust is the first step to successful customer service, which translates into building sales.
So, if the ‘Gatekeeper’ doesn’t think, does the initial ‘Language of Trust’ have to be verbal? No, the first impression you deliver is based on instinct alone. The signals that you need to give out in the first 10 to 20 seconds are instinctive, eg. your body language translated by your movements, gestures, facial expression and eye contact are open and relaxed. Your voice modulation and tone are calm, the speed of your speech is controlled and gentle and finally, you must not invade the customer’s space.
Other factors, which will influence the ‘Gatekeepers’ decision whether you are friend or foe, are, your appearance, clothes, smell, enthusiasm and posture. Once you’re past this initial first impression you can get on with developing a relationship with your prospect.
Professor Albert Mehrabian of UCLA broke communication down into three V’s as follows:
• Verbal; The message itself eg the words you use
• Vocal; The sound of your voice, intonation, projection, pitch and speed of your voice
• Visual; The posture and gestures, facial expression and eye movement that people see
The Thomas Gordon Institute added another dimension to this research and came up with:
• Words; Verbal
• Voice; Vocal
• Face; Visual
• Body; Visual
Both Institutions measured the effectiveness of each component of communication and it’s contribution to believability, here are the results of their respective research:
UCLA Thomas Gordon
Verbal 7% Words 7%
Vocal 38% Voice 23%
Visual 55% Face 35%
Body 35%
100% 100%
So, the first step in delivering Great Customer Service to Create Great Sales is:
• Approach and greet your suspect/prospect with open, friendly body language coupled with soothing, gentle voice modulation.
Our total focus in this step is to get past the ‘Gatekeeper’ so that we develop and build rapport and open the prospect’s message receptors. The words themselves are not that important, a simple “Hi, how are you today” is a good ice breaker.
Bruno Catellani of the Institute of Communication, Management and Sales in Switzerland refers to the pre-historic brain as the ‘Guard’ or ‘Gatekeeper’. The ‘Gatekeeper’s’ sole function is to decide whether you are a friend or a foe, it is incapable of thought or rationalisation and reacts purely on instinct by how it perceives your approach.
If your initial approach stresses the ‘Gatekeeper’, it will switch on the fight/flight response and part of this process includes shutting down all other message receptors which means any opportunity you had to communicate has just been totally closed off.
It’s absolutely true that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Building the language of trust is the first step to successful customer service, which translates into building sales.
So, if the ‘Gatekeeper’ doesn’t think, does the initial ‘Language of Trust’ have to be verbal? No, the first impression you deliver is based on instinct alone. The signals that you need to give out in the first 10 to 20 seconds are instinctive, eg. your body language translated by your movements, gestures, facial expression and eye contact are open and relaxed. Your voice modulation and tone are calm, the speed of your speech is controlled and gentle and finally, you must not invade the customer’s space.
Other factors, which will influence the ‘Gatekeepers’ decision whether you are friend or foe, are, your appearance, clothes, smell, enthusiasm and posture. Once you’re past this initial first impression you can get on with developing a relationship with your prospect.
Professor Albert Mehrabian of UCLA broke communication down into three V’s as follows:
• Verbal; The message itself eg the words you use
• Vocal; The sound of your voice, intonation, projection, pitch and speed of your voice
• Visual; The posture and gestures, facial expression and eye movement that people see
The Thomas Gordon Institute added another dimension to this research and came up with:
• Words; Verbal
• Voice; Vocal
• Face; Visual
• Body; Visual
Both Institutions measured the effectiveness of each component of communication and it’s contribution to believability, here are the results of their respective research:
UCLA Thomas Gordon
Verbal 7% Words 7%
Vocal 38% Voice 23%
Visual 55% Face 35%
Body 35%
100% 100%
So, the first step in delivering Great Customer Service to Create Great Sales is:
• Approach and greet your suspect/prospect with open, friendly body language coupled with soothing, gentle voice modulation.
Our total focus in this step is to get past the ‘Gatekeeper’ so that we develop and build rapport and open the prospect’s message receptors. The words themselves are not that important, a simple “Hi, how are you today” is a good ice breaker.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The True Measure of Marketing Success!
It’s called testing and measuring. Most people hate it. That’s because it Means ‘there is a chance, however remote, that every marketing strategy you try will not work the first time’. In other words, it’s possible you’ll spend money without seeing any returns.
But consider this – you’ve probably been testing and measuring all your business life. Remember the newspaper advertising you tried that ‘didn’t work’, and the radio spots that ‘did OK’.
That’s all testing is… Testing what works and what doesn’t…
The next step is to do it properly, here’s the five steps to successfully working out what ‘works’ and what doesn’t…
1. Start asking people where they heard about you.
Start right NOW, immediately. If there’s one thing I stress to business owners when consulting with them, it’s this – if you don’t know what’s working and what’s not, you can’t possibly make informed decisions and you’ll never know which ads to run. You may keep running an ad that never brings a sale, and accidentally kill a good one.
Customers usually come from so many sources, it’s impossible to judge how an ad is working on sales alone. You need to find out for sure. Create a tally sheet, including the ways someone could hear about you – newspaper ads, direct mail, fliers, phone directory, referrals, walk-by traffic etc
Every time someone buys, ask them this question – “By the way, can I just ask where you heard about my business’.
Make a mark on your tally sheet in the relevant column. Keep track, and ensure every member of your team does the same. At the end of 14 or 28 days, tally up and get the figures.
Now you can start making decisions…
2.Prune, modify and increase.
The first thing to do is see what’s not working. If you ad is getting a very low response (which means the profit margin from the sales is not at least paying for the ad), kill it straight away.
Now you only have one option – improve your ad to ensure you get a great response.
There’s a couple of things you can do to make the task simpler.
First, go back over your past ads and think about how well each one worked. Pull out the best couple and see if you can pick what gave them their edge. Next, read a couple of books, or at least flick through them. Last, look at what your competitors are doing. Do they have an ad which they can run every week? What can you learn from it?
Go through this process with each marketing piece that you are currently using… Kill, examine, modify… Kill, examine, modify…
Remember – the true test of a marketing strategy is whether it pays for itself. If you run an ad and it costs you $600 and makes you $1300 in profit, it’s a good ad.
Also run through each of the strategies you know are working in depth, examining why these are producing results and the others aren’t. See if you can pick the one important attractive point about each. This in itself will teach you a massive amount about your business.
Next, think of a way to use each strategy that is working on a larger scale. If it’s fliers, the answer is simple – drop twice as many fliers. That should bring twice the sales. If it’s an ad, run it in more papers, or increase its size. If it’s in a phone directory, book a bigger space next time.
But whatever you do, don’t meddle – just do the same thing on a larger scale.
3.Test and measure for another two weeks.
Measure the enquiries with the new revised strategies. Also compare this with how much you’re spending on marketing.
You’ll probably find you barely miss those dud strategies and the ‘larger scale’ working strategies are paying out nicely indeed. If it’s not, return to the original size.
4.Check your conversion.
Conversion is the number of enquiries that become sales… So many times when analysing a business, I discover that poor marketing is not the problem – it’s inadequate sales techniques. There are stacks of businesses that have ample leads, but no skill to make them sales.
Be honest with yourself – how many leads do you convert into sales? Is it possible to increase this ratio, even just a little?… In almost every case, it is.
You just have to give the customer a reason to buy from your business. Price is not the only reason a customer spends with your business. What if the salesperson at the more expensive shop actually took an interest in your needs? And what if they were that little bit friendlier? And what if they were willing to back their product with a guarantee? And what if they offered free delivery? All of these ‘what ifs’ add up, and can tip the sale your way.
5.Consolidate.
Leave it for a month or so, just working on converting the supply of leads you have. A better conversion technique, plus more leads from bigger scale successful marketing strategies should give your business a boost.
6.Branch out.
Remember all those marketing strategies you examined and modified? Now is the time to pull them out of the drawer, and give them a run.
Do one at a time, and track the result meticulously. Note down exactly how many leads it brings you, and how many of those turn into sales. Compare that with the marketing cost, and judge whether it has been a good strategy.
If so, add it to your list of ongoing strategies. If not, try it again – testing a different headline, medium, offer, look etc… If it doesn’t work again, give it another try…Very soon, you’ll develop a collection of marketing strategies that work, and weed out all the costly ones. Now that’s a business success formula!
But consider this – you’ve probably been testing and measuring all your business life. Remember the newspaper advertising you tried that ‘didn’t work’, and the radio spots that ‘did OK’.
That’s all testing is… Testing what works and what doesn’t…
The next step is to do it properly, here’s the five steps to successfully working out what ‘works’ and what doesn’t…
1. Start asking people where they heard about you.
Start right NOW, immediately. If there’s one thing I stress to business owners when consulting with them, it’s this – if you don’t know what’s working and what’s not, you can’t possibly make informed decisions and you’ll never know which ads to run. You may keep running an ad that never brings a sale, and accidentally kill a good one.
Customers usually come from so many sources, it’s impossible to judge how an ad is working on sales alone. You need to find out for sure. Create a tally sheet, including the ways someone could hear about you – newspaper ads, direct mail, fliers, phone directory, referrals, walk-by traffic etc
Every time someone buys, ask them this question – “By the way, can I just ask where you heard about my business’.
Make a mark on your tally sheet in the relevant column. Keep track, and ensure every member of your team does the same. At the end of 14 or 28 days, tally up and get the figures.
Now you can start making decisions…
2.Prune, modify and increase.
The first thing to do is see what’s not working. If you ad is getting a very low response (which means the profit margin from the sales is not at least paying for the ad), kill it straight away.
Now you only have one option – improve your ad to ensure you get a great response.
There’s a couple of things you can do to make the task simpler.
First, go back over your past ads and think about how well each one worked. Pull out the best couple and see if you can pick what gave them their edge. Next, read a couple of books, or at least flick through them. Last, look at what your competitors are doing. Do they have an ad which they can run every week? What can you learn from it?
Go through this process with each marketing piece that you are currently using… Kill, examine, modify… Kill, examine, modify…
Remember – the true test of a marketing strategy is whether it pays for itself. If you run an ad and it costs you $600 and makes you $1300 in profit, it’s a good ad.
Also run through each of the strategies you know are working in depth, examining why these are producing results and the others aren’t. See if you can pick the one important attractive point about each. This in itself will teach you a massive amount about your business.
Next, think of a way to use each strategy that is working on a larger scale. If it’s fliers, the answer is simple – drop twice as many fliers. That should bring twice the sales. If it’s an ad, run it in more papers, or increase its size. If it’s in a phone directory, book a bigger space next time.
But whatever you do, don’t meddle – just do the same thing on a larger scale.
3.Test and measure for another two weeks.
Measure the enquiries with the new revised strategies. Also compare this with how much you’re spending on marketing.
You’ll probably find you barely miss those dud strategies and the ‘larger scale’ working strategies are paying out nicely indeed. If it’s not, return to the original size.
4.Check your conversion.
Conversion is the number of enquiries that become sales… So many times when analysing a business, I discover that poor marketing is not the problem – it’s inadequate sales techniques. There are stacks of businesses that have ample leads, but no skill to make them sales.
Be honest with yourself – how many leads do you convert into sales? Is it possible to increase this ratio, even just a little?… In almost every case, it is.
You just have to give the customer a reason to buy from your business. Price is not the only reason a customer spends with your business. What if the salesperson at the more expensive shop actually took an interest in your needs? And what if they were that little bit friendlier? And what if they were willing to back their product with a guarantee? And what if they offered free delivery? All of these ‘what ifs’ add up, and can tip the sale your way.
5.Consolidate.
Leave it for a month or so, just working on converting the supply of leads you have. A better conversion technique, plus more leads from bigger scale successful marketing strategies should give your business a boost.
6.Branch out.
Remember all those marketing strategies you examined and modified? Now is the time to pull them out of the drawer, and give them a run.
Do one at a time, and track the result meticulously. Note down exactly how many leads it brings you, and how many of those turn into sales. Compare that with the marketing cost, and judge whether it has been a good strategy.
If so, add it to your list of ongoing strategies. If not, try it again – testing a different headline, medium, offer, look etc… If it doesn’t work again, give it another try…Very soon, you’ll develop a collection of marketing strategies that work, and weed out all the costly ones. Now that’s a business success formula!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
How long have you got?
Wow... I just got off the phone with a friend that I hadn't spoken to for about 6 months. When I asked how he was, he replied with "great now that I am back on my feet"... I asked what had happened?
What he told me next knocked me for a six. At the age of 38, he was diagnosed with high grade prostate cancer, 1 month before his latest addition to the family was due to be born!
Amazingly, he has been given the 'all clear' now and is getting on with life. The Dr told him if it wasnt picked up and surgically removed, he wouldn't have made it to fourty!
So why am I sharing this with you? I think it's a nice reminder that we shouldn't take any day for granted. What have you done today to get yourself closer to your goal? It certainly made me stop and think!
What he told me next knocked me for a six. At the age of 38, he was diagnosed with high grade prostate cancer, 1 month before his latest addition to the family was due to be born!
Amazingly, he has been given the 'all clear' now and is getting on with life. The Dr told him if it wasnt picked up and surgically removed, he wouldn't have made it to fourty!
So why am I sharing this with you? I think it's a nice reminder that we shouldn't take any day for granted. What have you done today to get yourself closer to your goal? It certainly made me stop and think!
Friday, June 12, 2009
Market Share or Wallet Share?
Did you know it's 6 times easier and cheaper to get an existing customer to buy from you again than it is to get a new customer.
Let's face the facts! Generating new business is risky, and can be expensive if your marketing isn't effective and statistics say 80% of marketing fails!
And why would you work on generating new business when you're not maximising your return from your current clients, in other words, maximising your share of their wallet!
Here's a couple of tips to get you started towards making sure you are getting a good wallet share.
1. Does every one of your customers know 100% of everything you offer? If not, then get on the phone, send them an email and send them some direct mail. Let them know about everything you do, chances are they're buying something you offer from someone else!
2. Think about what else your customers need, for example, if I were a removalist then I could offer a packing service, a storage service, a carpet cleaning service and the list goes on. I don't even need to provide the services, I could align myself with a business that does and get a commission!
3. Set up a regular form of communication, this could be a newsletter, a direct mail piece or as simple as a monthly call, this will ensure that when your customer has a need you're likely to be the first they think of!
So there you go... focus on maximising your return from your current customer base, it's a guaranteed way to grow your wallet share and your profits!
check out my website for more info on how to grow your business!
Let's face the facts! Generating new business is risky, and can be expensive if your marketing isn't effective and statistics say 80% of marketing fails!
And why would you work on generating new business when you're not maximising your return from your current clients, in other words, maximising your share of their wallet!
Here's a couple of tips to get you started towards making sure you are getting a good wallet share.
1. Does every one of your customers know 100% of everything you offer? If not, then get on the phone, send them an email and send them some direct mail. Let them know about everything you do, chances are they're buying something you offer from someone else!
2. Think about what else your customers need, for example, if I were a removalist then I could offer a packing service, a storage service, a carpet cleaning service and the list goes on. I don't even need to provide the services, I could align myself with a business that does and get a commission!
3. Set up a regular form of communication, this could be a newsletter, a direct mail piece or as simple as a monthly call, this will ensure that when your customer has a need you're likely to be the first they think of!
So there you go... focus on maximising your return from your current customer base, it's a guaranteed way to grow your wallet share and your profits!
check out my website for more info on how to grow your business!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Can you really manage time?
If you can stop the clock or add an extra hour to the day then give me a call... you have a very special talent!
The reality is that time management is all about self management. Time is a LIMITED resource and once a minute, hour or day is gone you can never get it back! So you need to make sure you make the most of every second.
If every one of us has the same amount of hours in a week, how is it possible that people like Donald Trump, Bill gates and Richard Branson have become so wealthy?
It's what they do with their time that matters the most. Stay focused on the activities that are going to get you closer to your goal. identify when and how you get distracted and work on reducing these moments!
A great way to get focused is to write a daily to do list every afternoon for the next day and prioritise your tasks to make sure you're completing the most important things each day!
The reality is that time management is all about self management. Time is a LIMITED resource and once a minute, hour or day is gone you can never get it back! So you need to make sure you make the most of every second.
If every one of us has the same amount of hours in a week, how is it possible that people like Donald Trump, Bill gates and Richard Branson have become so wealthy?
It's what they do with their time that matters the most. Stay focused on the activities that are going to get you closer to your goal. identify when and how you get distracted and work on reducing these moments!
A great way to get focused is to write a daily to do list every afternoon for the next day and prioritise your tasks to make sure you're completing the most important things each day!
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