Becoming A Solution To Your Customers Problems

Those of us in home based and small businesses are in effect selling our product. So becoming an effective salesperson is very important. Remember, however, that selling is not the only thing you do. Don't forget to use your time wisely.

What you want to do to help you move forward is to:

Plan and prioritize. If the majority of your day is spent with your customers, you will need some down time. You need to have time to look at the trends in your business. By this I mean go over your customer records, see where patterns are, what changes you need to make and then set up a plan to implement those changes. If you spend a little time at the end of each day going over what transpired during the day and set up your plan and schedule for the next day, you will be much better prepared for the next day and the subsequent days.

At the beginning of each week, take a look at where you want your business to be and make plans on how to get there. If something you are doing isn't working, make changes. However, then you need to give those changes time to work. If they don't work, change them again. Most important is that you spend the time each week to figure out what your business needs are and what your needs are, till you come up with what works best for you, your business and your customers.

As many of our long time readers know, I am a big proponent of To Do lists. Make up a daily to do list, a weekly and a monthly. Remember to consider your goals when making up your To Do list. Where do you want your business to be in five years, ten years? When you ask yourself these questions, you focus on the direction you want your business to take and the income you want to make.

Remember, after you have determined what your goals are, then take your goals and figure out the steps you need to take to get to that particular goal. Do this with each of your goals. Since we are concentrating on sales in this article, ask yourself: Do I need a new product? Do I need to look for other ways to sell my products? If I make these changes will I need additional funds? If I need funds should I get a parnter or find an investor? If I increase my business will I need to hire someone? Once you have answered these questions, then take the steps you have come up with and put them on your To Do list.

It is very important that you have a calendar and that you set deadlines. Your calendar can be paper or electronic. The most important thing is that you use it. Put all your goals, the steps needed to get to your goals, and deadlines to meet those steps in your calendar. Remember, if you use your calendar wisely it will help you accomplish what you need to and help you to get things done efficiently and on time.

To show you how your calendar can work for you, let's set up a marketing campaign. First, you want to schedule deadlines for everything that needs to be done before you can even start the campaign.

First set a deadline of September 4 to re-price all your current products. By the 12th of September contact the media you will be using for rate information along with their readership information, and what their ad copy requirements are. In our example the media would be newspapers and magazines. However, you can also do the same for television, billboard, etc. By the end of September (the 30th) make up your ad budget for the year. You will want to determine how much it will cost you on a monthly basis, so you can have an accurate determination of your monthly expenses. By the middle of October (let's say the 15th) set a deadline for your ad copy and any art so that you can meet their deadline. Let's say in our example it is the 1st of the month. So that would be November 1st.

The above example illustrates how to take a large project and break it down into smaller projects and to set deadlines for them so that you can get the whole project done.

As any successful business owner will tell you, of paramount importance is to keep in touch with customers. You can call your regular customers often, perhaps every six weeks or every month. Or if calling is not feasible in your business, keep in contact by sending post cards, flyers, or a special announcement. Be sure to keep track of when you last talked with each individual, or were in contact with them. Also, if possible, make some comment that personalizes the call, or written contact. For example, ask about new developments in their business or mention the spouse or children by name. Know your customer. Make your customer feel important.

A great way to keep in touch with your customer is after you've made a sale, send a thank you note. If your business warrants it, if your customer will probably run out of supplies in three months, send a reminder note.

As we all know catalogs are great, however, they are very costly to mail. Rather than send a catalog why not just send a postcard to your customers announcing the new items you have added to your catalog. If they use a particular product, mention that on the post card. The holiday is a great time of year to contact customers. If your business warrants it, a birthday card is a nice touch. For example, my insurance company sends me a birthday card every year, along with a calendar.

Some other ways to stay in touch is to send them an article about your business or a catalog sheet (these usually focus on one or a couple of items) or start a newsletter and send it to your customers on a quarterly basis or more often if warranted.

Another excellent way to keep in touch with your customer is to become a resource for your customers. Remember, many times when you make a sale, you provide a solution to a problem. Lease purchasing is a solution for those who need to move their home quickly. A repair service is a solution for wear and tear that comes with time. Tax preparers provide a solution to those that dread tax time and all the paperwork involved. Newsletters are a great way to become a resource. You could have a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) article on a particular product you sell. Make your customer aware that you can provide them with solutions for a certain type of problem. If your customer has a problem that you can't solve refer them to another expert. If you are not sure of something when your customer asks, don't bluff your way through it. Tell your customer that you will get back to them with an answer.

One of the most important things is to deliver what you promise. If you say something will go out on a specific day, be sure it does. If you say you will get back to them with certain information, be sure you do so. Never let your customer down.

When your customers and others think of you, you want to be thought of as a problem solver. Someone who is reliable, organized, and cares. If you do all of the above you can accomplish this and customers will call you, and more importantly, refer others to you.

Copyright 2003 DeFiore Enterprises

Interested in having your own successful, home based creative real estate investing business? Chuck and Sue have been helping folks start successful home based businesses for over 19 years, and we can help you too! To see how, visit http://www.homebusinesssolutions.com for the latest FREE tips and tricks, educational products and coaching in creative real estate investing and home based businesses. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to our "how to" Home Business Solutions Digest, it's like having your own personal coach: subscribeHBS@homebusinesssolutions.com

---

Moments That Matter

Many years ago, I was a first year apprentice assigned the task of pressure washing a set of condensing coils on the roof of a grocery store... Read More

Small Business Customer Service Can Work Against You

Is the special treatment you designed specifically to keep customers coming back working against you?A local jeweler offers free lifetime battery replacement for any watch he sells.... Read More

Making Customer Satisfaction Surveys Work

Why bother? Good customer service is the life blood of any business. Although new customers are important good customer service will help generate customer loyalty and repeat... Read More

Losing Angry Customers

This article offers five ways to help you deal with angry customers. While the goal of all businesses is to have only happy customers, we also have... Read More

From Disgruntled to Champion - How to Turn an Unhappy Client Into Your Best Customer

It's a salesperson's worst nightmare- the phone call that comes in from a disgruntled customer. Not only does it create extra work for you, but it cuts... Read More

How To Build a Profitable Business

It's never too soon to start saying thanks to your clients, vendors and referral sources for what they contribute to your business. Everyone loves to be appreciated... Read More

Identify Your Silent Customer Service Message

With the growing number of people in every business sector, doing business requires creativity and ingenuity. The entrepreneur that understands the importance of thinking differently is the... Read More

If Everyone Thinks They Give Good Service, Why Do We As Customers Think Its Poor!

First of all let's look at what customer service is all about.If you go into a shop and talk to anyone who works there you expect to... Read More

What Exactly is Customer Relationship Management?

The defintion of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) that I favor is "CRM is the business strategy that aims to understand, anticipate, manage and personalize the needs of... Read More

Your Voice Print

"Mountains are built one pebble at a time and climbed one step at a time." This is a quote of mine that I personally put into practice... Read More

Create a Positive, Upbeat, Can-Do Workforce and Dazzle the Customer with Your Caring!

Given the choice of dealing with a positive, upbeat employee with a "can-do" attitude or dealing with a disgruntled, distracted, uninterested one, which would you choose? No... Read More

First Contact: The Source of Customer Loyalty

With customers being smarter, more cost conscious, more product knowledgeable and more demanding, improving customer service has become a major focus within many businesses. In Customer Satisfaction... Read More

Provide Exceptional Value - Grow Your Business

The primary objective of a business is to get and keep customers. Growing a profitable business requires providing exemplary customer service and products or services of exceptional... Read More

Proofs of Delivery and Logistics: Speeding Throughput and Avoiding Pitfalls

It should be a straightforward business scenario: making sure that the delivery documentation from the supplier or haulier matches up with the documentation at the target destination.However... Read More

Over Deliver - The Key to Customer Satisfaction

Client satisfaction starts with meeting or beating the contractual obligations of the relationship. There are also some intangibles that can help you to over deliver to a... Read More

The Added Value - Is YOU!

If there was a restaurant in your town that was physically attractive and clean, had a pleasant variety of entrées on the menu, served food that was... Read More

Tips for Curing Bad Customer Service

Bad customer service is everywhere these days - unmanned front desks, surly servers, clueless staff, employees talking on the phone, and managers who refuse to acknowledge a... Read More

It Is All About Customer Service!

In this day of terrible customer service, it should come as no surprise that serving your customers, also known as visitors to your web site, must be... Read More

How to Retain Your Customers the Dish Network Way

Customer retention is vital to a business. If you cannot retain your customers you will be continually losing current customers and always on the search for new... Read More

4 Things Your Clients Want From Your Company

Sure, all clients are different. They have different kinds of strengths, weaknesses, cultures and goals. Even what blocks their efficiency and growth (blind spots) is different. Davis,... Read More

Top 10 customer service tips

1. Hire people who have a service attitude. Some people simply enjoy serving others, their organizations, and even their communities. The spirit of service dominates their personality.... Read More

Are You Satisfying Your Customers?

The latest report from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (Michigan School of Business) reports the following:Customer dissatisfaction with the quality goods and services offered in the marketplace... Read More

Should I Have My Company Mystery Shopped?

I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said to me, "Oh, you do Mystery Shopping; I always wanted to do that!" I think most... Read More

How to Transform Your Voicemail into an Effective Medium of Communication

"Hi this is Randy. Leave me a message after the beep and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks and have a great day."Garbage.This... Read More

Dealing with People - Words to Avoid

You probably realise how the wrong tone of voice and negative body language can cause problems when dealing with other people, particularly customers and staff. However, using... Read More

Five Tips to Calm Cranky Customers

1. Tis the SeasonRecognize that everyone is frazzled during the holidays- you and your customers. Give everyone, including you, the benefit of the doubt when it comes... Read More