Follow-Up With Your Customers November 29, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, marketing, management , add a commentIf you’re interested in finding new customers, you might want to start with the ones you already have. How many of your existing customers are repeat customers? Of the ones who are not, WHY NOT?
If you don’t know the answer, it’s probably time to find out. Most salespeople don’t like to follow-up after the sale, as many seem to think it’s akin to asking for problems. “No news is good news,” they reason. Of course, no news is really no news.
Following-up with your customers makes sense for a number of reasons:
- It’s an opportunity to fix any problems that might exist. This could potentially turn an unhappy customer into not just a happy customer, but a fiercely loyal one
- It’s a chance to get feedback on your product or service. This amounts to practically free market research. After all, there might be some critical opportunities for changes that will take your product from run-of-the-mill to extra-ordinary.
- There’s a good chance, of course, if you have a quality product or service, that your customer will have nothing but praise. And let’s face it—couldn’t we all use a few minutes of listening to positive feedback? Best of all, by following-up, you’ll have planted a seed that tells the customer you care.
Finally, you might just find a customer who’s willing to send you more customers. As Seth Godin suggests:
If you really want to generate those referrals, don’t ask for a referral, ask if everything was great. Offer to help. Do it in a gentle way, with no strings, no additional addons, no sales pitch. If you really and truly care, why not ask? Not a form, not a survey. Just one caring person, asking. Not that hard, actually.
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What’s Your Story? November 27, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, marketing, management , add a commentAs Seth Godin points out, “Every organization tells a story, want to or not.” And every member of every organization contributes to that story, want to or not.
The best advertising in the world will not be able to overcome members of your team who aren’t on the same page or are working against the message. For example, the bureaucrats at the TSA:
“No Cake!” the screener yells. “No pie either!” and they make the person traveling to her family throw out her home-baked cake.
We got up to the line. I had an ounce of gel left in a five ounce
bottle. They made me throw it out because the label said 5 ounces
(though it was clearly more than half empty).The story?
- We don’t care. We don’t have to.
- We don’t make judgment calls. We’re not allowed to and we don’t care that management treats us this way.
- Don’t you dare say anything.
- Be afraid.
- Bothering everyone is smarter than hiring talented people to find the .0001% of the population that’s harmful.
No Cake!
What story are your people telling?
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Wages Rise for U.S. Workers November 20, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, construction, real estate, retail, finance, management , add a commentFor the first time in years, paychecks in the U.S. rose faster than the cost of living. The pay increase amounts to four percent over the past twelve months, a gain that hasn’t been seen since 1997.
From Christian Science Monitor:
“The striking feature of this expansion has been that … real wages for the typical worker haven’t risen that much,” says Richard Berner, US economist at the investment bank Morgan Stanley in New York. But with real incomes rising, he says, “you get a picture of an economy that can weather this housing storm.”
The risk of recession hasn’t disappeared, he and other economists say. But with a fairly tight job market and low unemployment, many expect that paychecks will keep rising solidly in 2007.
Add fewer layoffs this year and the economy might just have something to be thankful about this Thursday.
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Start Now November 14, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, management , add a commentJust before beginning the search for my first home, many well-meaning friends advised me that with interest rates so low (hovering around 5 percent at the time), “Now is the time to buy.” After about the tenth time I heard this, and having been frustrated by the soaring prices of the houses in my area of interest, I began to reply, “No….five years ago was the time to buy. Now is the time to refinance.”
Of course, that didn’t stop me from buying a home. Unfortunately, it stops many of us from accomplishing other things—projects, goals and even simple to-do items.
Seth Godin touches on this very point with a list of the best time to start, which finishes with this simple truth:
Actually, as you’ve probably guessed, the best time to start was last year. The second best time to start is right now.
Don’t wait. Start now!
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U.S. Gets Back to Work November 3, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, management , add a commentThe unemployment rate dropped in October to its lowest in nearly 5 1/2 years. to 4.4 percent from 4.6 percent in September. It was the lowest since May 2001, while average hourly earnings rose 0.4 percent to $16.91 and the average work week was up slightly from 33.8 to 33.9 hours.
The U.S. Labor Department said 139,000 more jobs were created in August and September than it had thought and set October’s new jobs figure at 92,000.
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Worlds Oldest Company Closing Its Doors October 23, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, construction, real estate, finance, management, architecture , add a commentFounded in 578 in Japan by Koreans from the ancient kingdom of Baekje, the oldest company in the world, Kongo Gumi, will go into liquidation in January. The company dates its foundation from the year when carpenter Shigemitsu Kongo built Shitennoji (the temple pictured at right).
The firm’s 40th president, Masakazu Kongo, will end 1,400 years of history as a family-run compan when the operation is handed over to a subsidiary of the Takamatsu Corporation.
Kongo Gumi had purchased land in the 1980s whose price nosedived. The firm chose to liquidate due to heavy debt.
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Eighteen Business Killers October 19, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, marketing, management , add a commentThough writing about the mistakes that kill startup businesses, Paul Graham could easily be talking about any small-to-medium-size business. There’s a lot of insight here, gleaned from years of experience and the post is definitely worth a read, though it does lean to the computers and programming world (while you’re reading, substitute “programmers” with “employees” and “users” with “customers” and the advice will work for just about any business).
Here’s the eighteen mistakes:
- Single Founder
- Bad Location
- Marginal Niche
- Derivative Idea
- Obstinacy
- Hiring Bad Programmers
- Choosing the Wrong Platform
- Slowness in Launching
- Launching Too Early
- Having No Specific User in Mind
- Raising Too Little Money
- Spending Too Much
- Raising Too Much Money
- Poor Investor Management
- Sacrificing Users to (Supposed) Profit
- Not Wanting to Get Your Hands Dirty
- Fights Between Founders
- A Half-Hearted Effort
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Make Something Happen October 13, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, marketing, management , add a commentOnce again, Seth Godin gets the blood pumping and encourages us all to get out there and make something happen.
If I had to pick one piece of marketing advice to give you, that would be it.
Now.
Make something happen today, before you go home, before the end of the week. Launch that idea, post that post, run that ad, call that customer.
The old saw, “today is the first day of the rest of your life”, has been used so many times it barely has meaning to anyone anymore. And that’s unfortunate because it’s true. Now is the time to begin improving your marketing plan, your business and your life.
Every day is the beginning. Every day is a potential “do over”. Every day has a chance to be the “red letter day” in the history of you. Make today that day.
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Single-Tasking October 4, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, management , 1 comment so farEver since the release of Microsoft Windows and Apple Macs, multi-tasking, it seems, has been all the rage. Last night, however, I had an epiphany. I think multi-tasking is the worst thing to ever happen to society.
Last night, a friend of mine brought my wife and me to Game One of the American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium (don’t worry…this isn’t about the Yankees, though they did win).
During the game, I was amazed at the number of people that were doing everything but watching the game. A couple sitting nearby was involved in such a good conversation, I’d be shocked if they could even tell you who was playing. The gentleman in front of me had a pocket PC cell phone and checked his e-mail at least 10 times during the game:
I have no complaint with ringing cell phones or anywhere e-mail or technology. In fact, I’m something of a gadget freak. I don’t have a problem with people enjoying good conversation, either.What I couldn’t help thinking, though, was, “Do we all have attention deficit disorder? Why are we unable to simply do one thing at a time? Even when it’s leisure time?” Of course, in thinking this thought, taking the picture and planning this article, I wasn’t focused on the game, either.
How many conversations have you had this week while you were thinking about something completely different? The result is often that neither the conversation nor the idea gets your attention and therefore is a waste of time and energy.
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And a Child Shall Lead Them… October 3, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, management , add a commentWhat can the children around you teach you about business, marketing and life? Steve Olson thought about it and came up with 10 things he learned from his 4-year-old. Among them:
A new synonym for persistence
Santa Claus brought my son a white board and a set of dry erase makers for Christmas (can you tell I’m in IT). My son learned to write very early. He spent months obsessed with writing letters on the white board. One day I looked at the board while he was writing and I saw this combination of capital letters - SHHANDSHOWBO. He also knows how to sound out words, so I asked him what it was. He said, “It’s a word I made up - Sha-hand-show-bo.” I asked, “What does it mean?” He said, “To keep trying even when it’s hard.” Now when I get frustrated I think - Sha-hand-show-bo.
To accept mistakes
Watching my son grow and learn, it became clear that all learning is based on trying something new, making a mistake, adjusting your actions, trying again, repeating until you get the results you desire. That is how he learned to walk, speak, read, write, build lego walls, set up train tracks, jump, run, and pedal. I can’t think of one thing he did right the first time. It is a good thing he has an abundance of sha-hand-show-bo.
To pay attention to little details
When my son was 2, he was pointing in a box and saying, “ate, ate, ate, ate.” I said no you don’t want to eat the box. He said, “no, ate, ate, ate.” I looked in the box and it was empty. I looked at him puzzled. He stuck his face in the box and said, “ate, ate.” I looked again closely. On the bottom of the box, in the corner, printed in a small font was the number 8. He sees things I don’t see, because he pays attention to little things everywhere, like the tiny red dot on the white sheetrock wall he called an “owie.”
As a relatively new father (my son is now 13 months old), I can attest to the sheer joy of watching my son and seeing the world anew through his eyes. But actually learning from him and applying those lessons was something I hadn’t considered until now.
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