Saturday, October 8, 2011

The Benefits of Following Up with Your Customers

Author: Annetta Powell (Your Professional Success Coach)

In today's aggressive marketing techniques, the act of following up with a customer is perhaps the most desperate attempt to win over a disappearing client.

Although many small business owners and entrepreneurs still use this marketing technique to increase their sales, it turned out to be that this method remains to be very effective.

For many successful businesses, however, their focus is on customer retention rather than allowing them to disappear only to be followed up at a later time.

In fact, in other business sectors, acquiring a new customer is actually five times more expensive than maintaining an old client. That is why as business owner or entrepreneur your main objective is to retain customers by giving them satisfactory services.

The following are three of the most important benefits of following up with customers:

1. Customer satisfaction is the name of the game, if you want to have a solid clientele. In fact, it is actually cost effective to follow up on old clients than to scour for new prospective customers. Once you lose a customer, it will take you time, energy and resources to look for new customer.

That is why is crucial in every business to satisfy the clientele from customer service to product satisfaction. It is also good to maintain a healthy relationship with existing clients by showering them with all the necessary attention that a customer needs.

In fact, when you lose a customer, you will also suffer from revenue loss. You many not feel the pain when one or two customers are leaving, but when you are talking about a magnitude of customer loss it may have a bad impact on your business.

To maintain a good and solid customer following, it is important to give them what they need as it is cost effective to maintain customers than look for replacements.

2. The second most important benefit of following up with a customer is that it reduces customer dissatisfaction. In reality, however, customer dissatisfaction occurs right at the very moment you are having a business transaction with a client. That is why it is important to develop a personal relationship with every client, not just seeing them as potential sources of revenue.

As a business owner, it is your duty to develop a personal interest in every client rather than seeing them as mere numbers on your balance sheet. It is also good to remember that when a client is dissatisfied, it is more likely that he will share it with other customers which may cause a problem for your business.

To prevent this from happening, it is always wise to view your customers as people that have helped your business grow and not just as profits to you.

3. The last (and certainly not the least important benefit of customer follow up) is that it makes them feel very important. This is one of the most of effective strategy of customer retention. When they feel that they are treated very well, they will return a very good favor, and that is, by continuously getting your services or products.

There are countless tricks to do an effective follow up, such as by giving your customers 'Thank You Cards,' follow up calls or surveys, Thinking of You' cards.

Look at one cost effective (FREE) way of doing this

Try It Before You Buy! It's Fun and It's FREE

Finally, it is good to know that little acts of appreciation can make your clients feel very special. These are actions beyond your duty as a business owner, but it can give you countless opportunities to maintain a long-lasting relationship with your customers that will ultimately be a great success to your business.

I appreciate your efforts for reading this post.

Thank you.


SOURCE: ANNETTAPOWELL

Saturday, August 6, 2011

WOULD YOU DO IT FOR FREE?

 The world’s most successful people also have another very noticeable difference from ordinary people. They obviously enjoy making money however, they usually didn’t get involved in their business for the money.

Sting, the famous British singer and songwriter, was quoted in an interview with Michael Parkinson saying he would ‘do this [singing] for nothing’.

This is not unique to Sting. It is common to many of the world’s most successful people. They do it because they love it. Find any rich or successful person and I’ll show you a person who absolutely loves what they do. It is impossible to achieve long-term success otherwise.

Every person I have met, interviewed, read about or listened to that is rich, famous or successful, all sing the same song. They would happily pay to do what others pay them to do! They find it quite amusing that they get paid to do a job that they would do for free.

If you don’t absolutely love what you do, if Monday mornings are not a positive experience for you – well, perhaps you’re in the wrong business. You can’t fake this! If you love what you’re doing, it’s obvious, it’s infectious.
If you’re just going through the motions, people notice. You’ll be flat, have no energy – it flows on to your staff, to your customers and to your profits.

Sure, not every day can be an over-the-top fun day. But if you are inspired to make a difference, get a kick out of serving your customers, helping your staff to grow and achieve, you are enjoying the things that are essential to business success.

Life rewards excellence. You can never be excellent or rich unless you absolutely, passionately, love what you are doing.

Here’s a question that you should ask yourself each day. You have one life - why would you want to spend one minute of it doing things you don’t love doing?

SOURCE: How to make money out of thin air by Brian Sher

Saturday, July 16, 2011

THINKING FOR A CHANGE

“The successful people in industry have succeeded through their thinking. Their hands were helpers to their brains.” Claude M. Bristol

Dear Dr. Maxwell,

I discovered the importance of “thinking “ my way to success during my career as a bull rider. I started bull riding with the amateur bull-riding circuit. Not long after I moved to the top of the amateur circuit I yearned to join the professional bull riding association, so I looked to the top for a teacher.  I met and started a relationship with a world champion bull rider who lived in my area. His name was Gary Leffew.

Gary invited me to his professional bull-riding arena at his ranch. After it became clear to Gary that I had committed myself to a career as a bull rider, he agreed to help me. He told me that the first thing I would have to do is quit the amateur rodeo circuit. Gary said, “As long as you are hanging  around amateurs, you will think like an amateur, and you will not improve your skills.” That day I went from the top of the amateur bull riders to the bottom of the professionals.

After getting my professional cowboy association permit, I went back to Gary's rodeo arena, and I was ready to get on some bulls. Much to my surprise, Gary met up with me that day, gave me a book, and sent me on my way. The book was Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz. Now, you have to understand that for a cowboy, this was a major paradigm shift. All of the other seasoned bull riders were telling me, “If you want to ride bulls, the secret is just getting on as many bulls as your body can withstand in terms of the pain.” But they were not World Champion bull riders like my mentor was. So I took Gary's advice instead, and I went home and read the book.

When I finished, I went back to Gary, and I couldn’t believe what he did next: he gave me another book on thinking! A few more visits to Gary’s ranch netted me more books. I read every one.

Now, some people might think this is crazy, but I yearned to ride a bull. On one visit to Gary’s, I finally told him that I had read every book that he gave me. But now I wanted to get on some bulls! Gary explained to me, “Rich, before you ride bulls,” and pointed to his head, “you’ve got to ride BULLS!” [meaning that the process of visualization had to come first]. Now I understood what he was doing: preparing me mentally for riding bulls! “Okay,” I told him, “so now that I’ve read all those books, I’m ready to get on a bull!” I was wrong. The next step, Gary explained, was cassette tapes. Volumes of tapes!

When Gary finally said I was ready to get on a bull, it was a stationary barrel bull! There I learned how to visualize every bull movement and counter movement.

The next lesson I learned was about association. “Who you hang around with, “Gary explained, “can influence how you think.” As I began traveling in the professional bull riders’ circuit, I learned that it was important to be with the riders who were winning. My mentor told me that if I couldn’t find any winning bull riders to ride with, then I was to travel alone to protect my new winning mental attitude.

Dr. Maxwell, I’d like to tell you that I went on to win the world championship; I didn’t. But I did win a lot of rodeos, and I did make a lot of money riding in the professional bull-riding circuit. This cowboy eventually left the rodeo circuit and married a wonderful woman. We now own one of the largest employment agencies on the central coast of California.
I guess I’m still thinking my way to the top.

Sincerely,

Richard McHugh

SOURCE: Thinking for a Change by John C. Maxwell


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Friday, June 10, 2011

36 Ways to Make a Positive Impression in Less Than 10 Seconds

There are literally hundreds if not thousands of little things we can do to raise the bar in our professional and personal lives. So many of these things are easy to do and can be accomplished in less than 10 seconds.

They just require an intentional effort. What is CRITICAL to understand is that your ultimate success, fulfillment and happiness will come from doing the little things that matter. As entrepreneur and best selling author Harvey Mackay said, “Little things don’t mean a lot. They mean everything.” Here is a short list of 36 things you can do in less than 10 seconds that will make you a better person, enhance your self-image and improve the quality of your life.

1. Make it a point to say the words ”I love you” to the people in your home every single day.
2. Offer a friendly authentic smile- a great smile radiates warmth, puts people at ease and makes you likable.
3. Make comfortable eye contact- your eyes send messages; establishing and maintaining eye contact with people demonstrates confidence, respect, and genuine interest.... READ MORE

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Are you content with your FAILURE?

AGE 7 Worked to support family after they were FORCED OUT

of their home.

AGE 9 Mother DIED.

AGE 22 FAILED in business.

AGE 23 DEFEATED for legislature and couldn’t get into law

School.

AGE 24 Declared BANKRUPT and spent 17 years paying off debt

owned to friends.

AGE 25 DEFEATED for legislature again.

AGE 26 While engaged to be married sweetheart DIED and

heart was broken.

AGE 27 Had a nervous BREAKDOWN and spent the next six

months in bed.

AGE 29 DEFEATED in becoming the speaker of the state

legislature.

AGE 31 DEFEATED in becoming elector.

AGE 34 DEFEATED for congress.

AGE 37 DEFEATED for congress again.

AGE 39 DEFEATED for congress yet again.

AGE 40 DEFEATED for the job of land officer in his home state.

AGE 45 DEFEATED for senate.

AGE 47 DEFEATED for vice-president -got less than 100 votes.

AGE 49 DEFEATED for senate again.

AGE 51 ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES





My Great Concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure. ~ Abraham Lincoln

Sunday, January 30, 2011

25 Tips to Staying Married 25 Years



Yesterday, we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. We can’t believe we are old enough to have been married for 25 years. Recognizing the importance of building a successful marriage, we want to share with you our top 25 marriage tips. The following points are not listed in any specific order. It is our hope that these tips will help you enjoy a more rewarding marriage.

We recorded the podcast version of this post and we’ve added commentary that’s not included in the written post. Click here to listen to this podcast.


1. Marry the right person. There is only one way you will know if the person you are dating is the right person to marry and that is by spending time together. We recommend dating at least one year before getting engaged. We dated for four years before getting married. Once we got married, there were no surprises.

2. Make your marriage your top priority. If you are married, there is nothing that should take precedence over your marriage and that includes your children and career.

3. NEVER say the word divorce. If you are committed to building a long-term healthy marriage, make a vow to each other that you will never say the word divorce or anything else that would leave the other person to believe you are not 100% committed to your marriage.

4. Don’t argue over petty things. When we first got married we argued over every little ridiculous thing. It made our lives miserable. We then made the decision that we would no longer argue about meaningless things. Now when one of us bring up an issue, the other person takes it seriously.

5. Make a weekly date a priority. This is HUGE! Dress up, get out of the house and enjoy a special time together. During these times together show an interest in the things that are important to each other and avoid talking about subjects that could create tension.

6. Find at least one 30-minute block of time to spend together each day. It could be in the morning before work or in the evening. During this designated time, discuss what’s going on in each of your lives. We all have a lot going on, but if your marriage is a priority, spending time together should take precedence over all other activities.

7. Serve one another. Be intentional. We are both very thoughtful about the little things we do to serve each other. This is about putting the other person’s needs before your own. The more your serve and meet the needs of your spouse, the more your spouse will serve and meet your needs.

8. Communicate. Effective communication is critical for any marriage to last. This is especially important during difficult periods. Learn your spouse’s communication style and the way he or she needs to hear what you have to say.

9. Freedom in intimacy. You know what we mean. Make it a priority.

10. Take care of yourself. This includes everything from your physical appearance to the clothes you wear. Do your part to be an attractive mate.

11. Don’t use absolutes. This means not saying things like, “You always…” and “You Never…”

12. Be considerate. This means everything from cleaning up your mess to specifically avoiding doing or saying things that you know irritate your spouse.


13. Understand it takes hard work. Building a marriage of 25 years is not easy. We have had some very difficult periods. We have even had to go to marriage counseling to work through difficult periods. Know there will be challenging times and when they occur, work through them with a genuine desire to improve your marriage.

14. Be Encouraging. When your spouse is going through a hard period of time, starting a new endeavor, or working on an important project, be there to encourage and support him or her. You should be your spouse’s number one fan.

15. Always show respect to each other. This includes the way you communicate to each other, they way you talk about your spouse to others and the way you treat your spouse.

16. Make family decisions together. We are a team and we make all family related decisions as a team.

17. Leave your work at work. When you come home from work, resist the temptation to talk about work, unless your spouse wants to hear about it. Instead, focus your time together on subjects of interest to everyone.

18. Be the best parent you can be. We make all parenting decisions together. We are intentional about our parenting. Your spouse’s love and respect for you will grow when he or she sees you loving and parenting to the best of your ability.

19. Give your spouse freedom. We give each other the freedom to do things that give us pleasure independently. Of course, we don’t take advantage of it, but giving your spouse the opportunity to do the things he or she enjoys is important.

20. Stay out of debt. Financial stress is the number one cause of divorce. Sit down together and create a budget that you will both stay committed to and don’t allow yourselves to justify spending more money than you make.

21. Continue growing as people. We are both committed to learning, growing and achieving our personal best. This includes growing as a spouse, parent and individual. As one of us gets better, it helps the other person get better, just as iron sharpens iron.

22. Love your spouse according to his or love language. Read Joy’s post titled, Loving People the Way They Need to be Loved to learn more about the significance of love languages.

23. Show your appreciation. In a marriage, it’s easy to take things for granted. Tell your spouse how much you appreciate the little things he or she does for you. Cleaning the house, picking up the dry cleaning, walking the dog, doing the laundry, cooking dinner for the family, and fixing the leaky faucet are just a few examples. Don’t let one good deed go unnoticed.

24. Be honest with each other. Once trust is lost, it is difficult to regain and this adage is especially true in marriage. Being honest also includes being honest with your feelings.

25. No holding grudges. After you work through an issue, move on and don’t harbor ill feelings. We also strongly encourage you to not bring up past challenges. The past is the past. It’s been years since either of us has brought up a negative issue from the past.

For those of you who are married, we want to encourage you to review this list with your spouse and discuss the steps you can both take to make to improve your marriage.

If you are reading this post and you are not yet married, we strongly recommend pre-marital counseling. We suggested this to both of our married children and their spouses and they will readily tell you that it was valuable, enlightening, and set the foundation for the marriage they now enjoy.

How long have you been married? Do you have some tips you can share with the LTM community? Please tell us in the comment section below this post.

You can enjoy an amazing marriage, if you will focus on the little things that go into building a successful marriage.

SOURCE: LITTLE THINGS MATTER