Do you really know your NON clients?
Much has been written in the lines of “do you know your clients” or “get to know your clients” but we tend to forget those that chose not to do business with us after a long negotiation or simply were not even interested in doing business from the beginning.
DO dedicate more of your time to this issue. Analyse why did X company chose a competitor over you. Was it price? Was it support? Or was it just trust?
Every time you do not close a deal just take sometime to go over it and draw conclusions.
Maybe you learn more from NON clients than from your actual clients.
Image source: Piotr Bizior – www.bizior.com
Get your employees involved with transparency
Lately, as I am sure you all know, things in Greece are not booming. Families are finding it difficult to reach the end of the month and businesses are struggling too.
A friend of mine, working for a catering company, here in Greece, was telling me how their main competitor had recently closed down the business. His company (where he works) is having difficulties also, as corporate clients are cutting down on events and private parties as going for less expensive options. They are struggling to the point where the company is letting people go, causing various employees to start leaving in search of a more “in theory” secure job. Imagine being the business owner watching your people abandon in times when jobs are scarce. What have I done wrong? he must be asking himself…..
Answer: your employees are just not engaged and they do not feel part of the same project.
Transparency is essential. I believe numbers should be shared openly with all employees if you want them to be engaged. Shared during bouyant times and shared when the company is going through a low in sales. Everyone needs to understand the costs involved in running the business and what is the company’s net profit at the end of the day. The better understanding they all have, the easier they will understand when you ask them for a sacrifice, when you ask them to hang in there. They know the numbers and they can see this extra effort is needed.
Transparency is essential. And you need to get everyone involved, absolutely all of them, from the administrative staff to middle management all they way to the top. Everyone has to feel that they have a common objective. You shouldn’t create class structures within a company if you want the right culture to grow.
The same way as you will ask for that extra commitment during hard times, you will compensate in times of growth, all of them. Not only management or sales teams, they all need to feel it.
Going back to the example of my friend’s catering company, a small company around 50/60 employees, do you think the situation would be different in you had all of them engaged since day one?
Image source: www.sxc.hu
You should know when to quit
Knowing when to quit is so important and still some people do not even contemplate the option.
Whatever you do in life, whether in business or not, it is essential not to give up on your dreams. To pursue that great job you want, to try and reach financial freedom, to buy that dream house you always wanted.
As an entrepreneur it works the same way, you need to be stronger than the rest and not be afraid of failure. Get up the next morning and keep on going with the same passion as the first day.
All that is true and necessary, but don’t be blinded by it and learn when to quit!
I personally started various online projects, some with more success than others, but I have always pulled the plug when I feel I cannot pay the attention necessary to the business or I simple realise it is not going to happen. It is not a nice feeling after investing your money and time, however I prefer to cut the losses and focus on something else.
This subject has come up during a conversation I had with my wife last night. We were actually commenting on a couple we see every summer. They have a printing business and every time it is the same story, things are not going well, the economy is bad, etc. May it all be true, but you cannot go through all that for 3/4 years and not realise that something is wrong with your business. Maybe you are not capable of finding new clients or there is simply too much competition, but…
Don’t you think you should just quit the business and do something else?
I understand its not easy, you have been doing it for years and you have the skills. However the point is that it is not working any more. Even worse, both of them work in the same business. So basically all the family income depends on it. It is a shame.
The best advice you can give: quit, cut your losses and find a new path.
image source: Google images
Do not scare your clients away
Today I just passed a fish taberna in Halandri we used to go to very frequently a year a go. Suddenly I realized we haven’t been for a very long time.
The reason: I was scared away
The place wasn’t very popular until it was featured in a Sunday paper. All of a sudden people started going. It is small 10 tables, family run and really good food. I even ate there one night next to Giorgos Papandreu, yes you know who, I am not joking.
The owner got to know us, but strangely enough the more often we went the higher my bill was getting. We could say that because we were already a repeating client they felt they could push and push no matter what, that we will still come back. It was a mistake, I never went back again.
This is just an everyday example to demonstrate that your clients do have a limit and if you push too much you may loose them to the competition.
You should always study your client learn about him, what he can and cannot do. Always try to do business but don’t forget that the client always has to feel that he is getting a benefit from the partnership. As soon as he feels pushed he will look for alternatives.
That’s how life works, I look for alternatives, you look for alternatives, we all search if we feel we can get a better option.