Use New Words for New Worlds
In business and life words can make or break a business or situation.
Customers are Ignoring You (Photo credit: ronploof)
Using the right words in copy, make a sale. Using the wrong words mean no sale. Saying the wrong thing can collapse a deal. Misunderstanding what is said can lead to dissatisfaction, frustration and no repeat business.
And then there are the words we say to ourselves or use to describe the terms commonly used in business. Words like value, customer, service, marketing, sales, and many other words mean different things to different people at different times.
The words customer service is an example. Some people call it an oxymoron. If you actually have a customer then you must give service and if you give service then you can have customers.
But what is service?
Service is a noun derived from the verb serve. When you serve, you provide others with what they want. Servants meet the needs of others. So customer service means providing the customer with what they want.
But what is a customer? Is a customer someone who is in the habit of visiting your business? Or is the customer someone who gives your their custom once and you never see them again?
In working with businesses, the challenge is to understand that some businesses can have customers but many businesses have oncelers (people who visit once and each buying decision is independent of the last one).
Building a list of prospects ensures only awareness. Even when they buy once, there is no guarantee that they will come back another time. And yet everyone who teaches or mentors business talks about the value of the customer.
The challenge is how to get customers? And is it possible for you to get customers? Do you have a product or service that people can buy again and again or once bought, will they ever buy again?
When you look at the words you use and what that means to you, you can start to see the obstacles in your thinking. Everyone who says they hate to sell, can reframe the word sell into another word or phrase and suddenly, they are capable of closing the transaction.
In the comment box below, tell me what these two words mean to you and your business. Just write it without much thinking until after you have written your answer and then ask yourself if that is really what happens for you. The words
Cheering your business successes
Roberta Budvietas
7 tips about Business and Time
Time is one thing that either there is never enough of or there is too much.
Funny thing though, there are only 24 hours in each day.
There are only 60 minutes in each hour and there are only 60 seconds in each minute. You and I have exactly the same amount of time each day.
Managing Time
When you are two years old 10 seconds can seem like an hour if you are waiting for something you want and an hour can seem like an eternity when sitting in the waiting room at a hospital waiting to hear about an operation on a loved one. And when you are on a deadline, there never seems to be enough time.
In business we often have only so much time. Time to make things happen, time to get things done so here are 7 tips for managing time in your business.
- Plan your day. Decide what you need to accomplish in a day. Decide who to contact. Decide what you will do and then set up the circumstances to support you in doing it. Do your best to achieve your objectives but should things fail to work out, accept that you did your best and that the world goes on.
- Keep your word. If you tell someone that you will do something, call them at a particular time or complete something by a certain time then set it up so that you will be able to do that. Create alarms for important deadlines. Most diary programs allow you to set reminders. Most mobile phones can be set with reminders and alarms for important things. And if when the warning comes up, you know you will be unable to meet the time frame, then quickly send a message or make contact and tell the other person what is happening. Apologize but no grovelling if you have truly done your best. Stuff happens. It only becomes a problem if you never succeed in keeping your word.
- Do Your Best. People trust people who try hard. You may sometimes miss the mark or fail occasionally but if people know that you did your best they will forgive you failing sometimes.
- Treat People Respectfully. If you treat people respectfully and realize that they have their own opinions which might differ from yours but that the difference makes neither of you wrong or right. Take nothing personally.
- Remember that sh*t happens. And because it does, always have some contingency plan in place. Oh and remember to ASK for help when things look like they are going wrong.
- Work out your time frames and then double them before committing to a client. Because stuff happens, work out your time frames, double them and then deliver well in advance of the promised time frame. Your clients will be delighted.
- Only take on work you know you can do. One of the greatest challenges for many people is to say NO. If you know you lack the resources, the energy or the time to take on a project or meet a client’s expectations, then say no. In the long run everyone wins and you have less stress.
In business, when you can be on time, on budget and deliver as promised then you can sleep easy, your stress levels go down and opportunities open for you.
When you fail to manage your commitments of time then you will end up stressed, anxious and upset and your business will suffer the consequences. The best way to manage time is to make commitments that you know you can keep. And if you make the commitment, then keep them.
If you have any other time tips, please share them below and if these tips were of value to you, please share them with your friends
Roberta Budvietas
Passionate and Purposeful about your success.
Keep it Simple
One challenge every business owner faces is keeping their systems simple. Many people set up their systems to deal with
all the what ifs.
What if s we deliver the service and then we don’t get paid?
What if a customer returns the item and wants a refund?
What if the customer does …..?
There are statistics that indicate that less than 20% of your dealings with clients will be exceptions to normal business practice. But when people write systems, train staff and create terms of trade, they concentrate on the exceptions rather than what normally happens.
We make our own business lives complicated when we look at the ways we could lose. Yes you need to be cautious but not to the point that you concentrate on the exceptions only rather than what normally happens.
And what you do about the non-normal – you deal with them immediately. And more importantly, you empower people at the coalface to deal with the problems and support their dealings.
“S**t” happens.
But only a small fraction of the time.
So develop the way you will deal with people in your business as simply as possible.
Use your buyer experience map and create each experience simply. Create the experience so that the normal is easy to deliver and when something happens that is out of the norm, create an environment that says handle the situation immediately and as simply as possible.
Oh and always create the system so that there is lots of acknowledging the buyer, accepting the buyer without assumption or judgement and appreciate that they buyer has choices and chose to deal with your business.
Have a simply wonderful time today and every day.
Roberta
Simplifier, Presenter, Mentor
Maven Connect
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Guest Blogging with Jon Morrow
