Running your business There are four primary components to running a successful business Sales Sales have always been considered a difficult task, because sales can very easy become an expensive task. While this has always been true, there are some simple strategies that really do still work. Some have tried to separate sales from marketing, and while that concept may work in bigger organizations, this is just not effective in smaller businesses. Sales and marketing go hand in hand. The most fundamental component of sales and marketing is to have your customers know who you are. If they do not know who you are, they will not look for your details to call you. And even if you have a full team of sales reps, their revenue will not be what they could be. Putting a sales team together is costly, and sometimes you know that you will not be getting the best sales guys that are willing to work for commission only, but of course sometimes you do – there is certainly a risk there. The most important concept remains… sales is about getting your name out there, in a personal way. Get to knock on doors – you need not say much when you get there, just dropping your business card off is very often all that is needed (as long as your business card tells what you do), or perhaps a booklet… but now it is becoming expensive again, and you know what people do with those fancy booklets you had printed… the same thing you do with them – NOTHING! We have included a dedicated article on a very good strategy for Sales by Business Card, click here to get it.
Another strategy on getting sales is integrating your different advertising points. The Internet is an intricate web (yes, the proverbial web, and it is called that for a reason), of information. Let’s put it this way, what would a web look like with just the rings, and none of the strands that connect the rings, well, it would not look like anything, because the rings will fall to the ground. The internet is the same thing, having a website out there will hardly help you anything, well, it will only help your clients that already know your company name, and perhaps your web address. You need to get your name out there. You need to get your company name on different website, and different places… but then here comes the kicker, you are just creating the rings! Now you need to start creating the strands in between, those are what gets everything connected… and those, are the links. There is a whole strategy about this as well, and once you have the little pieces to that puzzle, you will see how things start plugging in and coming alive. See our reviews on Internet Marketing here [Top] Customer satisfaction Wow, why do companies find this so difficult – it really is not? All that any customer or client ever wants is: - To be in the loop and to get feedback
- Not to have to repeat information they provide
- To get was they asked for, at the very least.
- To get some form of “Thank you” for trusting my business to service your needs.
Now, if you would like to add to any of that, go for it, but those are 5 pretty simple concepts, that are EASY to put into everyday practice, and here’s how: Firstly, the killer of systems that make the above work, is primarily laziness – people (you and your staff included) often just want to move on, and are either just too lazy, or just don’t feel like making a note. Here is some role play… Customer: “Hi, my name is John Smith, last month I bought a $50 000 truck from you, and I am missing a spare key” Your staff (Mary): “Sure, let me get our technical manager to call you back, what is your number?” Customer: “818 555 3020, thank, good bye” The Technical manager (Peter) calls Johan back… Peter: “Hi John, this is Peter from XYZ Motors, I was given a message to call you” Customer: “Yes, thanks, last month I bought a $50 000 truck from you, and I am missing a spare key” Peter: “What truck was that? What was the VIN number? What color was it? Who was your sales rep?”
OK, so right from the beginning you could see the problem right, right from when Peter called John back, and did not even know what he was calling him back for. Look at this version: Peter: “Hi John, this is Peter from XYZ Motors, I was given a message to call you. Apparently you bought a truck from us last month, and you are missing a spare key” Customer: “Hi yes, thanks for calling” (Client does not need to repeat anything) Peter: “Was that the white Dodge RAM, VIN number: 234yyy, and your sales rep was Travis?” Customer: “Yes, that’s it” Peter: “Well, I have spoken to Travis already, the key was broken, and he forgot to tell you, but we will have a new one cut for you, and give you a call as soon as it is ready. Is that OK?” Customer: “Sure, thanks. Good bye”
Now, having all the information about the client on file, has taken him by surprise, he did not have to tell you anything, you knew who he was. Now a $50 000 truck is a large item, and the fact that he raised that in his call, obviously meant he was already annoyed that he had spent that amount on a truck and did not get all the parts. BUT, because you knew what was going on, and had everything under control, did not have to ask him what color his truck was after he gave you $50 000 for it, he did not mind that the sale rep actually forgot something, he is just happy you know what is going on. You might be saying, easy to type, not so easy in real life… try it, I dare you, you will see how well this works. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes – how much less angry would you be, if you called your credit card company and they did not ask you for your credit card number after the automated system requested you to key it in – why do they even bother??! OK, enough with the role play – how do we do that? Customer Relationship Management! There is software that can do this for you – and guess what, there is even free software that will do this for you – you will just need to take the time to install it, or get a company to install it for you… just do it already, you will not regret it! This is what CRM (Customer Relationship Management) does. It keeps a database of all your clients, and all their information, from their names, telephone numbers, date of birth, what color they like, where they live, what they bought, when they bought it, why they bought it, how they bought it… and as much other information you would like to put into the system. Most of the information you punch in is searchable, so, when John Smith calls, you just type John Smith into the system, and it will give you all the John Smiths, and you can ask John which one he is. Of someone can call in, and say he bought a white Dodge Ram, if you search for that, it will bring a list of all the white Dodge Rams sold – you get the idea. Now, if you have taken the time, and made your staff take the time, all this information does what for you: · Gather and store all information about clients · Set a reminder to call a client about something · Send a client an eMail about something · Automatically send a client an eMail or schedule a phone call at certain intervals, like 1 week after he/she bought something. Or even better, 4 years after they bought their last car, so you can now sell them a new one! · Make notes of what problems the customer had, and all of this is kept in history so you can go back as far as you like. So, what has just happened… remember these four points: - To be in the loop and to get feedback
- Not to have to repeat information they provide
- To get was they asked for
- To get some form of “Thank you” for trusting my business to service your needs.
Problem solved right? Now, would you not go back to a vendor or service provider if they had everything you needed, why would you select a new vendor, if the one you have already has your details, and history, and profile. It is a proven fact, that it costs less than 10% to retains an existing client, and an existing client, even if only 75% happy will rather buy from you again, then look for another vendor. LOOK AFTER YOUR CLIENTS, it is easy, and it really does not need to cost you much. Go to iSOGO, or send them an eMail they will be able to provide you with great information on this topic, and provide you with help to get it all set up. They can show you how to set this up for a fraction of the cost. Honesty This should really be the first point to be covered, but we kept for last in the hope that it will be the point you remember best. Why is it necessary to mention this – well, quite simply because business owners forget about it, and forget to ensure their staff live by it too. Clients are far more intelligent than they used to be. They are more often well read, and have spent time researching the product or service they are looking to buy, in some cases they may know more than your own staff. This means, that if you try being even slightly dishonest about your product or service, or trying to “ramp” one aspect of it up, they might well catch you out, and then you have no chance of turning that prospect into a client or customer. It is no longer worth it… no disrespect meant to these guys, but can you remember the olden day vacuum cleaner salesman that came round to you house, the promised you the world about that vacuum, or the car salesman that, let’s say embellished the truth a little… they are no longer successful at all, they are no longer believed, and that tactic does not let them retain any clients – clients see right through it. Just be honest, don’t try sell a client double what he needs, just be fair and honest, and prospects will pick up on that and become clients, and remain clients. [Top] Management Here we go… Management = planning, planning for what you want, and planning for what could happen, and hopefully getting what really happens as close to what you want, obviously as long as your wants are right, legal, and practical. That is really what management is all about. There are some basic things to focus on: - Set goals, and break them down to get them into bite size chunks. This may sound so cliché, but it remains very valid.
o For the year o For the month o And each week - Keep your operations manual up to date
o This manual tells you, and your staff how they should be doing things, and the only way to deviate from it, is if you change the manual. o Keep an eye on it, to see if you cannot shorten any processes to save costs and make the process quicker without sacrificing quality. o Carefully look at how much each processes costs, and whether it is worth it, and whether it could be changed – possibly consider outsourcing, it is not always a cost saver but sometimes only a time saver, but do not ignore this option. · Look at your operations manual every 6 months – look at it with your financials and any other reports you have. Look at all of these as objectively as possible, and try to spot the trends. You may find that some vendors have become more expensive, and you may find that some have remained the same. You should use this information to reconsider processes, or reconsider vendors. Be cautious of just blindly continuing with the same processes, sometimes you could be causing your own downfall. Again, re-evaluate your vendors every 6 months and if possible every 3 months, and don’t be shy to tell them that you are re-evaluating them, and tell them what your problems are including that they are becoming too expensive. Remember you are their client, and they would like to retain your business just as much as you would like to retain the business of your own clients. · As your business grows, you will certainly need to hire more staff, and the immediate fear that comes to mind is not unfounded “I am too scared to delegate functions to other staff because they will not do it as well as I would”. While you are probably right, you will need to understand that you are becoming a manager, and growing out of a “one man band”, and without staff, your business will not grow. o Your primary function in your business is to grow your business, and this is discussed more in the Growing your Business section. o You need to delegate functions to your staff to ensure stability and growth. If you try do everything yourself, you will certainly start dropping the ball in some areas. o If you train and coach your staff to perform enough of your functions to a degree of excellence, you can start sending more time on managing the company, finding new clients, managing the processes to make things work better, and look for areas to reduce costs. Just be careful to not lose touch with your clients, as you are the glue that sticks your clients to your business. This is also discussed further in Growing your Business. o The best place to start replacing your functions is in the repetitive tasks, such as accounting and updating data – you will easily see this in your own business. Consider these people as the ant to the colony. For example, you cannot continue being the first person to answer the phone every day, or the one to send out invoices, or the one to enter stock; you will never get anything else done, you need to delegate, and learn to trust, and if you manage the process right, you will be able to trust. o Again, consider outsourcing, as mentioned before, it is not always profitable, but for instance it might be cheaper in comparison to your own time, and/or in comparison to hiring an in-house accountant to handle your accounts. Of course, spending money on a decent accounting package, and using it properly may eliminate this need to a certain extent – too many businesses ignore this o Also consider hiring part time or half day staff – there are many people looking for these types of jobs, especially morning jobs to keep busy while their children are at school, but want to keep the afternoon to spend with their children. · Stay in contact with your accountant, there are often changes in law and legislation as far as company structure, tax laws and tax levels and percentages are concerned. It is very important that you stay abreast with these changes, but it is not worth taking time out of running your business to try keep up with these changes. Let someone else keep up with these trends and you keep focus on running your business. · We all realize that legal assistance and advice is not cheap, but do realize that it remains important. It is highly advisable that you elect an attorney for your business, and try sit with him or her for at least an hour every 3 months. Let him or her just go over some of the forms, operating agreements, terms and conditions and so forth that you may use, and just give you some pointers on changes you might need to effect. The risk of not protecting yourself could possibly expose you to far more than what an hour every 3 months could cost. o Also consider that some legal firms will have a retainer based offering which is often very attractive. In some cases as little as $100 per month could give you access to unlimited document reviews – you just send them your documents and they will review them and send them back. This will not get you the fastest turn-around times, but if you keep up with the trend getting your documents back in 3 or 4 days will not matter at all. o It is also highly recommended to get as many “fill in the blanks” forms from sites such as LegalZoom. These forms and templates are more often than not all you need, and you can tweak them a little to suite you. You can then just send them through to your appointed attorney or legal firm to just make sure all is good. o When making tweaks to “fill in the blanks” forms, be sure to mark your changes in a different color and tell your attorney that it is a “fill in the blanks” document – if he or she knows this, and can see your changes, it will speed their process up dramatically, and at the end of the day cost you far less money – they certainly have seen these documents before. · Keep your insurance policies up to date – so many business owners do not keep up to date with this, only to find that they have a problem with their insurance when they need it most. · Keep an updated asset register – this is so important, not only for insurance but also for tax purposes. Keeping an asset register is not that difficult – if you have a decent accounting system it would take the pain out of a lot of it, or you could simply keep one updated on a spreadsheet. · Make sure you keep all your business forms for your business type up to date, and if new versions of forms are required to be submitted, make sure you do so. When it comes to company acts and tax law, the onus always remains on you to ensure you have this all up to date and complete, and ignorance is never considered a valid excuse. Again, online resources such as LegalZoom and others (please see our Vendors and Suppliers page for legal service providers) will help tremendously, but also, consider calling your accountant every 3 to 6 months to ensure there are no changes he or she is aware of – they have to keep up to date with this, so use that. There is one final point that cannot be stressed enough KEEP YOUR DATA. Copies of forms, contracts, invoices, receipts, etc. Law does require you to keep company information for 3 years and in some states 5 years, but you should not only be keeping it because law requires it. Also scan copies of documents to computer, and keep backups of this and all your other data. This is the single largest risk a company can take. Computers do crash, get viruses and simply just break – MAKE BACKUPS, get a decent backup strategy together – there is free, cheap and more expensive software available, and there are various strategies – see our article on Backup Strategies for more information on this topic. [Top] Red Tape Everyone considers Red Tape to be the “Production Killer”, but in fact that there is a very good side to red tape. The area that red tape is appreciated the most is when you as the business owner is concerned about staff not doing things as well as you would do. Well, red tape is the forms and documents you put in place to make sure they do. Every company needs forms, and documents, and these are what result in red tape. Of course too much in this area really is a bad thing, so keep it useful and to the required minimum. For example, you should not let anyone in your business; including yourself allow any prospect to become a client until a client registration form has been completed. This should be a form with all the clients’ details such as names, address, banking details, preferred method of payment, etc. But also, this form should ask the client who you should contact for technical, accounting and general purposes. This information should then be entered into your CRM application. This will reduce huge amounts of stress in future when you need to contact your clients for specific reasons. You should have your clients complete application forms for services, and you need not have them printed, this is the 21st Century, you can send them via eMail, and your clients can return them via eMail. Consider doing your forms in PDF that can be “fillable” forms – this does not take long to learn how to do – and Adobe Acrobat  is the leader in this arena but you can also find other options on our Vendors and Suppliers page. BY making use of "fillable" forms you have a copy of what the client asked for, and you again work at that customer satisfaction component of giving a client what he asked for. Do not be tolerant of staff (or yourself) of not completing the required forms, do not consider this as bad red tape, consider it as good red tape, it is vital to the running of your business. You do not have to have them all on paper, let’s all try save some trees while we are at it, but at least get them on computer. With your forms, always remember to send out regular customer satisfaction survey’s – and let clients and customers fill them in by eMail, and if you have the ability, include them on your website. And remember, never consider anything you get as a complaint, consider it as feedback – if a client or customer has taken the time to complete your survey, it means he or she is willing to point out what needs to be fixed, and hang around as a client or customer while you do fix it – of course if you don’t you will lose the client or customer. Feedback is good; not asking for it is BAD! Look in our Business Resources page to find a host of templates available and also visit our Vendors and Suppliers page to find suppliers of other templates and forms. Also, don’t forget to look at the options on CRM applications and packages, and if you need any more information on CRM, please
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Productivity
