Listen To Your Customers

When is the last time you listened to your customers?

Everyday in our business we our servicing our customers and listening to them. Either listening to their concerns, issues, or their appreciation for our service. But are we really hearing what they are saying?

Are we acting interested in what they have to say?

==> Well, we should be!

In order to stand out in front of our competitors, we need to be different. And, in this case different is good!

Take a doctor for example. When we are sick and not feeling well, doctors tend to ask a lot of questions. They are asking these questions in order to properly diagnose our condition. Can you imagine being sick, visiting a doctor and without checking your symptoms they just decide to give you a prescription? No, I can't imagine! They ask questions and listen to our answers.

We as business professionals/owners, need to be just like that doctor. Ask questions, listen, and create a rapport with them. Find out what their interests are, what they dislike, and what they do like. By listening to your customers, you're essentially creating a relationship regardless if they use your service or not. You never know who they may speak to and refer you to.

The next time you are in situation where you are confronted by your customer that is dissatisfied with your service, try listening to them and ask questions.

Some things to mention:

• Introduce yourself and ask them their name. (Create rapport)
  
• "I'm sorry you were unhappy with our service, can you tell me what you were unhappy with?" (Listen to them and you may actually get to the root cause)
• "How can I make your experience more enjoyable?" (Ease their pain by relating to them)
• Make a recommendation. (Subtly relate their experience to a past client and what you did for them)

These are obviously high level solutions, but they demonstrate the need to truly listen to the customer.

Make their experience something they'll never forget, and you'll have a lifetime customer.

So, the next time you talk to your customer, What Will You Do?

Jerome Ratliff
Independent Associate
Discover your way to riches

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Patience and Persistence - The Secret!!!

As you are building up your business it takes a lot of ...

Patience and Persistence

These two elements are no secret, but most are not aware because today we see so many claims about people who are becoming an instant success. What they are not sharing with you is the great deal of patience and persistence they needed during that time.

It starts by constantly doing the same thing (promoting your business), tracking the results, and repeating the process. Be sure to review your tracking results to determine if what you have done was successful or in need of some tweaking. If you aren't getting the results that you wanted, try doing some simple tests with your advertising like...

1. Play with the colors of the background
2. Use large bold letters or highlighting key words you want to draw attention to
   
3. Interchange friendly looking icons/pictures
4. Change the format of the information

By doing these simple things, and tracking the results you may determine that you were already on-track and just needed some minor adjustments. By persistently repeating these steps over a period of time, you'll start to see changes in your business. However, this is where patience comes in. Because you are repeating the same thing over and over again, you must be patient. Below are some ways to remain patient during the process...

1. See the big picture - Understand what you are doing today is for the success of the company tomorrow
2. Review tracking results - By staying on top of this and monitoring the results, you will see the impact your advertising has had on the business
3. Communicate with other business start-ups - Interview other businesses to see how they were able to maintain patience
4. Desire - Have a burning desire for your business, this way failure is not an option.
5. Join entrepreneur groups - Deal with like minded business owners

By being patient and persistent success will come to your business. Once you've mastered this, share what you've learned with others so they can benefit.

Jerome Ratliff
Independent Associate
Discover your way to riches

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Promote Your Business

How do we promote our business? Do we pay for advertising? Do we tell friends? How about the old word-of-mouth philosophy?


Well, all of them are very successful techniques. As a business owner, your best bet is to start off with free advertising. Some examples of free advertising are:

• PR in magazines, e-zines, or newspaper articles by working with the editor to post your unique story
• Word-of-mouth by telling everyone about your business and what you sell
• Free online advertising (careful on this one, sometimes not always the best sites)
• Create online profiles on forums that pertain to your industry
• Join free online clubs with similar interests to share your business
• Join affiliate programs

As you master the technique of free advertising and as money begins to flow into your business, then that is when it's time to promote your business via paid advertising. Some examples of paid advertising are:

• Newspaper classified ads
• Online paid classified ads
• Pay per click ads via Google or goClick (you will have to test this out or learn more about how to effectively use pay per click advertising)
• Sponsor organizations to promote your business

Bottom line, when promoting your business you start with the cheapest and easiest (unless you have some funds set aside as a start-up business). This is where you will learn a lot about advertising. Then, afterwards promote your business via paid advertising.

Sooner or later you may get to the point where you may need to reach out to Advertisement companies to help promote your business.

In addition to the examples listed above, you must become the brand of your company. Believe in it! Love it! Share it! Promote your business!

Jerome Ratliff

Independent Associate

Discover your way to riches

Keys to Networking

Networking! This term is often used as an ice breaker to business conferences to get everyone to meet each other and feel comfortable with one another.

So, what is networking after all? Networking is an art of building and maintaining relationships. Mastering the art of networking can usually have a great impact on your success. The complete opposite can happen by not properly networking.

Let's discuss some key ways how NOT to network at a business conference.

1. Don't get involved by introducing yourself to others.
2. Don't participate in discussions, or the meeting topic.
3. Choose not to display your name tag so others can see who you are.
4. Select a seat in the conference where others aren't.

These may seem not all that bad, but they could impact your success.
Now, let's discuss the keys to networking the right way and why they work.

1. Get involved by introducing yourself to others. - This will allow you to learn about others and potentially lead to doing business together.
2. Participate in discussions, or the meeting topic. - Not only is this good practice, but it shows how engaged you can be and how you do business.
3. Display your name tag so others can see who you are. - This a perfect ice breaker for those that are new and are searching for someone to talk to. By displaying your name, you invite others to come and talk to you.
4. Choose a seat in the conference near the front and by others. - By choosing to seat in an area where you can be recognized, you therefore become approachable. You are saying to everyone, I'm ready to participate and learn.
   

As you can see, networking can be so vital to your success. Keep enhancing your networking skills everyday by practicing and trying them out. I recommend the following book:
Little Black Book of Connections: 6.5 Assets for Networking Your Way to Rich Relationships by Jeffrey Gitomer.

Jerome Ratliff
Independent Associate
Discover your way to riches