Absolutely I Can Help
I was on my way to an important out-of-town doctor’s appointment when I realized I walked out of my office without important documentation from my Internist. With only twenty minutes until I arrived at my appointment, I called my doctor’s office hoping someone could assist me. When the receptionist heard my urgent plea she said, “Mrs. Higginbotham of course I can do that immediately for you.” Relief rushed through my mind.
On the way back from the appointment I wondered how many times throughout the business year we soothe our customer’s minds or requests with the same reply. I’m not sure it’s possible to say – “Absolutely I can take care of it this moment for you” – 100% of the time, but why not strive to say it more often. You never know when that statement could make your customer’s day, create a loyal client for life, or provide an excellent verbal testimonial for your blooming business. At times the quickest action and simplest answers are what our clients need to hear.
Sometimes when we get busy running our companies, checking our task lists and rushing to complete projects, we forget that our customers are the most important part of our business. How we treat them, what we say and how often we deliver on something, can make all the difference in the world to them. If you feel you could use some brushing up on your customer service techniques, don’t miss next week’s Mohawk Valley Luncheon when the program focuses on the best customer service techniques you and your staff should be using this year.
Remember to take time for your clients this week. Slow down. Answer the phone. Respond to requests promptly. Call a few customers you’ve been meaning to call. Remember sometimes a sincere one line statement like “Absolutely I can do that for you” can make your clients feel they are your number one priority. What’s better than that?
Excellent Customer Service Examples
Recently I’ve witnessed some first class companies whose motto, “Absolutely I Can Help You” has burned a big “L” for loyalty in my heart, mind and wallet! Today’s blog features some Success Strategies to illustrate a few examples of how good customer service produced can make a big impact.
On a recent trip to Annapolis Maryland, we had to move our hotel room twice for various reasons that were out of our control including excessive street noise and young children in adjoining rooms. Every time we had a request, the front desk personnel said, “No problem, we can move you. Where would you liked to be moved to?” They never questioned the request. They just did it and did it with a smile. Question: When your clients ask you to do something that seems like it might be their problem and not yours, do you question them or do you accomodate their request and say “Absolutely I Can Help You”
Over the past year, my son and I have traveled to ten different college campuses touring them, asking questions and gaining insight into whether they were the right places for him. We found a distinct difference between the ones who just saw us as “part of the crowd” viewing the campus and others who treated us like “honored guests”. The difference came down to how friendly they were, how concerned they were to seek and answer our questions, and how enthusiastic they were about their job, what they were selling, and their college. Question: Do you seek and answer questions your clients might have to ensure they are content, getting enough of what they need and finding solutions to their issues? If you are, then you are saying “Absolutely I Can (and Want) To Help You”
A year ago our son had a small accident with his SUV we had planned on taking on a scheduled trip that weekend that couldn’t be changed. We needed the SUV fixed and ready to go in three days. The place we took the vehicle promised it would be done in three days and called the night before the third day to tell us it would be ready first thing in the morning. Question: Do you give guarantees you know you can keep and tell your clients so they can count on your promise? Delivering on what you promise and easing a customer’s “pain” is a great example of saying “Absolutely I Can Help You”
Independence vs. Dependence
Independence is not something we are born with. We come into the world relying on doctors to deliver us and parents to care for us. As time passed, we grew and so did our independence as we learned to walk, talk, read and go to school. As we blossomed in age, we kept learning and became more independent each day eventually becoming an adult and venturing out on our own. But even when we were young adults and newly married; and even now in our middle years, we could never be completely independent of others.
Similarly when we conceived, created and walked into our own businesses, it wasn’t long before running them solely taught us to lean on others for support. Whether it was relying on other professionals for business advice, needing our clients to pay the bills, or eventually hiring staff to take some of our work, our dependency on others became crucial to succeeding in business. I don’t believe there is one entrepreneur alive who has done it single-handedly. It’s not possible.
A majority of women entrepreneurs begin their ventures alone. Some began with a partner. Some outsource work. Eventually though the most successful women business owners had to hire staff to help them grow when their business started blooming. None of them could move beyond infancy without human and financial resources. Our dependence on a support network – both internally and externally – is crucial if we want to expand.
Today’s blog entry is to remind you that even if today isn’t the day you want to, or can hire more support, begin conceiving a plan for when that day will come. If you keep doing everything you have been doing right to network, sell and promote your business, that day will come sooner than later. Don’t be too independent for too long.
If it’s been awhile since you leaned on someone to help you, remember back to your parents, teachers, friends and relatives who sustained you from your formative years to now. It was impossible to grow and survive without them, just like it’s impossible to achieve your largest entrepreneurial dreams without support.
Business Trends
At last week’s Women TIES Ithaca Luncheon Sally Berry, Bristol Creek Tourism Consulting (http://www.bristolcreekconsulting.com) success strategies on How to Spot and Use Trends to Help Your Business. These are tips from that presentation:
Trend vs. Fad:
* Fads are short lived and only affect one industry
* Fads burst into the scene and then die out
* Trends affect more than one industry
* Trends grow slowy and then “tip”
Entrepreneurs should be spotting new trends.
* To do this conduct a PEST analysis once a year
* PEST stands for Political (trends), Environmental (trends), Social (trends) and Technological (trends).
* It’s important once a year to take a “50,000 foot view” of what is happening in the economy and in your industry.
* Do this by subscribing to online industry newsletters such as Smart Brief (http://www.smartbrief.com), reading major newspapers like the Wall Street Journal and noticing their headlines, and getting together periodically with other business owners and discussing trends. * Once you gather trend information, it is important to anaylze it, prioritize the information and then make informed decisions for your business development.
Some of the most recent major trends according to Sally are:
1. Twitter hitting the mainstream
2. Globesity – heavy, over weight people
3. Smart Phones
4. Locavores – people wanting to buy their food from local sources
The women in the audience also think other trends are:
1. Women entrepreneurship
2. Online stores
3. Free shipping
4. Shorter work weeks
5. Pet care
Motivation
Last week I picked up the phone to hear the discouraged voice of a woman entrepreneur on the other end asking me for advice on how to get motivated to achieve her business goals in 2010. Watching how proactive our organization is in hosting events, promoting our members and creating sales opportunities for them impressed her. She wanted to know the secret behind the motivation and activity.I told her, the call to action is a daily part of being an entrepreneur. We must wake up every morning ready to hit the ground running to achieve our daily, monthly and long term goals. Fueling this energy not only comes from our passion in our business but also due to the responsibility we have to our customers and staff. Being an entrepreneur takes a great deal of personal motivation and action to follow-through on promises we make to ourselves and others.
Sometimes when we lose motivation it’s because we become consumed with the details and forget the larger picture. Or we lose the excitement that triggered the creation of our enterprise in the first place. Just like running a race, our vigor is strongest in the beginning. But how well we maintain our pace, remain focused on the finish line and involve cheerleaders along the way to encourage us, can make or break whether we cross that line.
If you feel discouraged by your motivation level, there are a couple things you can do. I suggest you go back to your business plan, evaluate it. The business plan is a roadmap to success and shows the benchmarks you need to win the race. You might also want to go to some special business events and see if you can jumpstart your corporate goals for the year by listening to an expert in a business field. Get yourself a business coach or mentor and seek their advice.
Today remember it’s important to recognize when your motivation needs a boost and to do something proactive to get it going again – whether that’s calling someone who understands, taking time to refocus on your passion or attending an event to educate yourself on new business topics.
As I told this woman – you are never alone in this entrepreneurial journey. You are part of a sisterhood of women who have experienced the same emotions and stumbling blocks and have survived. Many of these women have accomplished even more then they thought they could when they took the time and recognized the need for help and sought out support.
Lucky Networking
One of the best ways for a woman entrepreneur to celebrate the beginning of a new business year is to jumpstart her networking. With Women TIES, we believe that networking shouldn’t be just in your own local area but regionally and statewide. We created our company exactly for that purpose.
According to Ray Smilor, author of “Daring Visionaries: How Entrepreneurs Build Companies, Inspire Allegiance, and Create Wealth”, he says luck and networking go hand in hand. He states, “Whenever successful entrepreneurs recount the launch and growth of their companies, they will invariably at some point mention how lucky they were. Certainly the fortuitous occurs but sometimes something deeper is at work.” Here are a few ways luck and networks help entrepreneurs succeed:
Be A Network Builder: Entrepreneurs make their own luck. Rather than toiling away all alone in pursuit of their ventures, successful entrepreneurs work at building and using networks. These networks play an essential role in enhancing an entrepreneur’s luck.
Have An Extensive Network – The more extensive, complex, and diverse the web of relationships, the more the entrepreneur is likely to have access to opportunities, the greater the chance of solving problems expeditiously, and ultimately the greater the chance of success for the venture.
Leverage Resources Through Networks – Entrepreneurs can leverage human, financial, and technological resources through networks. By developing linkages to people with varying backgrounds, broader experiences, and different resources, business owners enhance their luck in finding what they need when they need it to build their ventures.
Knowing The Right People Adds to Success – For the entrepreneur growing a company, it’s not only what one knows but also who one knows that can make a difference in taking advantage of an opportunity, solving a problem, acquiring key information, or gaining access to a needed resource.
For women entrepreneurs looking for strategic networking opportunities, check out http://www.womenties.com and our array of regional events and growing state-wide network aimed at increasing your opportunities to brand your business, expand your marketplace and increase your sales.
Spotting and Capitalizing on Trends
Do you remember a time when the only place you could find news was on television or in the newspaper? Can you think back to an era when smoking cigarettes was a normal part of society? How about when ski resorts only had downhill skiers schussing down the slopes not snow boarders doing a ‘backside 180’? If you were good at predicting trends fifteen years ago, you might have been the one to invent the concept of receiving news on a computer or phone, or started smoking cessation classes for people trying to kick the habit or invented the brightest and coolest snowboarding equipment.
How much revenue did entrepreneurs who thought outside of the box earn predicting and watching new trends and then creating and incorporating innovative concepts into their businesses? Forecasting a trend might not be easy, but how much do we really know about spotting or even starting one? It isn’t a subject taught in school, generally discussed at business seminars or part of an entrepreneur’s business plan. Yet the potential for forecasting and capitalizing on a future trend then placing your company at the right place at the right time, can put your name on the map, designate you as an expert and increase your revenue substantially.
At next week’s Women TIES Ithaca luncheon, we have Sally Berry, President of Bristol Creek Consulting (http://www.bristolcreekconsulting.com), a marketing expert who focuses attention on spotting trends, sharing her knowledge with women entrepreneurs. It’s a fascinating marketing subject I’ve never heard anyone discuss before so I thought it should be the first educational subject of the year.
As entrepreneurs we need to stay on top of trends like understanding baby boomers are getting older and need more senior services, or knowing Generation X spends money on the latest electronic gadgets or how working mothers, who now make up a majority of the work force, are spending money buying home cooked, prepared meals for their families. There are golden opportunities to create, package and market our services and products differently if we understand trends. I strongly encourage you to attend this educational event to start thinking about how to spot future opportunities for your business.Today’s blog is to remind you that we have to always be thinking to the future. Nothing stays the same for too long. We need to stay ahead of the curve in order to capitalize on tomorrow.
Woman of the Week: Lisa Cavallaro, Blue Rose Coaching
If you are like a majority of women in the world, you’ve made some New Year’s resolutions involving weight loss, living a more healthy life through exercise, learning new talents and maybe even training for a triathlon. Okay, maybe the triathlon is something only a few of us put on our New Year’s Resolution list. But today’s Woman of the Week, Lisa Cavallaro, President of Blue Rose Coaching (http://www.bluerosecoaching.com) is someone who helps women achieve these important goals – even the triathlon training.
What I loved about this interview was Lisa’s positive answers to all my questions. Positive energy is what we need to change. According to Lisa if women want to change the way they look and feel about themselves the number one factor to change is, “To first accept exactly where we are right now. Whether it’s our weight, our career, or our relationship…the best thing we can do in this moment is to acknowledge where we are, accept it, and know that we have the ability and the power to change it.”
If losing weight, eating healthier, finding a personal coach or even joining me for triathlon training is something on your New Year’s resolution list, take a few minutes to read this interview. You’ll be inspired by Lisa’s energy and optimism and glad it’s the beginning of a brand new year when anything is possible. Click on the following link to read the interview: http://www.womenties.com/wedwis.cfm#WWID193
2010 Business Advice
The most important advice I have for women entrepreneurs in the New Year is don’t give up because the economy isn’t back to normal. Women entrepreneurs are fortunate because we have created economic opportunities for ourselves where we can combine flexibility, creativity and hard work to sustain our enterprises.
By relying solely on ourselves, and no one else, to make or break our financial future, we face every day with determination and purpose. It’s not always easy but having control of our own economic destiny makes entrepreneurship a “safe” bet compared to other options. Entrepreneurship is not easy; it’s not the simple career path to choose. But it’s filled with opportunities to dig deep, push harder, work smarter, and operate tougher.
Women entrepreneurs can actually create greater economic opportunities if they take even more risks in the New Year. I suggest entrepreneurs get on the road and travel to other cities in New York State to open up new economic corridors; be more aggressive about sales calls; and investigate creative marketing techniques to reach a broader audience. This is Women TIES mission. We believe in helping women entrepreneurs expand their local, state and regional marketplace in New York State. It takes women willing to get on the road, make the drive, take the risk, make the sales pitch and follow-up to increase their sales opportunities and financial bottom line. It takes determination and time.
2010 is the year to capitalize on the solid company you have created. Don’t give up, keep your eye to the sky and push yourself beyond your limits. If you do, I guarantee you’ll have a rewarding business year. Women TIES is here to help you when you need it!
Women TIES 