Where To Start? -Part 3

This post is Part 3 of “Where To Start?” We have been covering being honest with yourself, cutting costs, etc. and now turn our attention of “Where To Start?” to increasing our income, our sales and our profits.

Most people in business want more income and more profits but aren’t sure where to start. In this post we are going to start at the very beginning and we will build on this as we go.

If you have an ongoing business and seem to have gotten stuck where you are, go back to the basics. Think about how you got started, where did you get your first sales come from? Remember the exhilaration of your first sale? You were so amazed that someone said yes and sent you or gave you your first order you were on top of the world! Let’s go back there.

What did you do that made you different from everyone else? What did you do to make yourself standout from the crowd? Don’t think this is a minor issue, it is extremely important. Even if you are a large company now and seem to either have stagnated, gone flat or are losing money.

This exercise will help to clarify where or how you got off track. It may also help you to see how the market has changed since you started and now you may have to adjust your approach. If you have been holding on to an old way of doing things that no longer exists because of changes in the marketplace, now is the time to make the needed adjustments. But don’t put it off, get to work and figure out what you need to do right now.

Maybe you have gotten away from your great customer service or you have raised your prices above others. If you have done this you may want to rethink your approach. Let’s discuss customer service first:

So many businesses believe they give great customer service but aren’t really paying attention to their customers. What may have been great customer service in the past may now seem ho-hum or boring or what most people have to come to expect as normal.

You must get back your enthusiasm, the fire in your belly for taking care of your customers better than anyone else. Check to see how you are doing in the following areas:

How are your phones answered?
How are your outbound calls made?
What is on your voice mail?
When you leave a message for someone, is it carefully thought out from the customer’s standpoint?
When someone calls in or comes in to resolve an issue, how is it handled?
How quickly do you return customers or prospects calls?
Do you thank your customers and prospects for reaching out to you?
Do you consider your customers and prospect’s an opportunity or an annoyance?
This list goes on and on.

Go through every area or touch point in your business and see how it is handled. If it would not impress you or your mother-in-law make the changes now!

We will dig further into this and more in our next post so stay tuned.

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Until our next post – we wish you all success!