As an extension of the Not To Do List I suggest you try turning off your emails on Friday – it could become National No Email Day.
And this is what you should do.
1) Create an automated reply. Mine said: “I am not able to collect emails; I will reply on Monday or in case of emergency contact Tricia on +44 (0)1225 851044”
2) Phone your Top 10 clients for a chat and ask them - “What do you love about our product/service?” - “What do you hate about our service? What drives you mad?” - “If you were in our shoes, what would would you do to provide a better product/service?” - “What do we need to do to get more business from/with you?"
I guarantee this tactic will generate sales both in the short-term and in the long-term.
Being in business is all about knowing what your clients/customers want and need. This is not something that you can guess… unless you like gambling. It is much easier to ask and get the answer .
So when did you last ask your target customers what it is that they actually want and need?
So, my pitch to you: “What do you want and need?" Please email me at rc@directorscentre.com.”
And my promise to you (possibly a high risk strategy): I will personally read and answer every one of your emails (as long as you send it within 14 days of this being published!)
In my travels I regularly hear words to the effect of: “I am tired of being hacked off with mediocre service from the big companies and next time I am going to buy local and pay more so that I get what I want.”
You don’t want customers who are buying on price/cost/features – in the long run they will do you no favours. Low price means that people buy on price.
High prices mean that people buy on VALUE.
So, how do you create value?
When people buy from you, what is the value that you are offering? Most of us obsess about selling the features but please stop and reconsider. What is the value that you are giving the client?
You must think value… value… value. What is left AFTER I am gone?
How am I able to add value to the customer/client? What can I do to do more than simply deliver the product/service?
I got flamed recently on BusinessZone for saying that businesses go bust because either they are not able to, or they are not capable of, surviving.
I was accused of being negative, cynical, dissing the unemployed and their families and so on.
Meanwhile on my own blog I got heralded and congratulated for my honesty in the comments (www.robert-craven.blogspot.com). So what’s going on?
There seem to be two stereotypes of entrepreneur co-existing in the world (yet they are treated as one homogeneous group).
The first group is what I call the “Blameless Poor Me SME” – always using the word “they“ to describe the reasons for their difficulties: the banks, accountants, customers, staff – they are always the problem. Not that “I” am ever the problem. Curious that one!
The second group is the innovative and inspiring “can do” entrepreneurs.
The conundrum is that we talk about ‘entrepreneurs’ and choose the relevant definition to fit the circumstances. So, the whinging helpless, complaining business people who feel that they are owed a living just because they run their own business co-exist in the Government's and the Press’s eyes with the other group who are also described as ‘entrepreneurs’.
The other group are the new wave of innovative and creative thinking who challenge the boundaries of current thinking to come up with new and different ways of satisfying customer demand.
