15 Minutes Could Save you …..
By · CommentsIf you watch any amount of TV, it’s hard to miss the commercials for the auto insurance companies; everyone claiming to save you hundreds of dollars if you switch to them.
Why is this important for your home based business?
Because you may be making the same mistake they are.
Let’s assume for a moment that all the companies are using valid information. That is, if you switch, you’ll save lots of money.
Where are all the people who switch coming from? Other companies.
So what that means is companies are focused on getting new business, not keeping the business they have. If they were focused on their current customers, then other companies couldn’t be attracting them away. Right?
Years ago I heard it cost 7 times more to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one. If you’re not paying attention to your existing customers, you may have new customers coming in the front door while existing customers are going out the back.
For your home based business to be successful, you need to pay at least as much attention to your existing customers as you do attracting new ones.
Written by Philip CohenHome Business Branch Office
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For a home business owner, a branch office is a must. There’s a Starbuck’s on every corner. Not to mention Barnes & Noble, Borders, ans, and, and….
The Rest of the Story……
By · CommentsYour home business start up will thrive or die based on how you treat your customers.
I finally got in to see the Doc 1 hour and 45 min after my scheduled appointment. After complete the necessary medical stuff for my pre-op requirements (And that’s a whole other story.) I had the hard talk with him.
Prefacing my commentx with how much we liked his as a Doc and the time he spends with us and the compassion he shows, I needed some help with minimizing wait time.
We’ve had conversations about being self employed before and shared war stories about trading time for money and how, if we didn’t show up, there was nobody else to do the work. He gets it because he’s there, too.
His solution wasn’t one. He said all he can do is suggest I schdule my app’ts to be eith firsth thing in the morning, or right after lunch.
But what if I needed to get in quickly, like for my pre-op stuff?
Oh, well. I guess you wait.
I went into the conversation emotionally attached to him as my primary Doc. His “I don’t care; there’s nothing I can do about it” attitude changed that in a moment.
I walked out of his office ready to look for a new physician.
The cost to him?
Two patients immediately ( me and Philip) and all the referrals we’d make in the future. PLUS we will retell our story when it’s appropriate to anyone who will listen.
If he had even given the slightest indication that he’d work with us so we wouldn’t have to lose 4 hours for what coud have been done by FAX or phone, we would have remained loyal to him.
Bottom line to you as a home business owner: Take care of your cutomers. Make sure you control the experiences they have of you so they’ll want to keep coming back. Your home business depends on it!
Behind Closed Doors …
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Seems quiet here BUT behind that door is a waiting room full of angry people. One patient’s app ‘t was for 11:30am and I’m here for a 2:00. Guess that’s not going to happen.
This is a great example of really bad customer service and it’s high cost – this Doc is going to lose 2 patients PLUS all our referrals.
No business can afford to lose customers. Worse, they can’t afford the associated bad press.
Pay attention to the details and your customer’s experiences. It matters!
Looks Can Be Deceiving …
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Differenciate Your Home Business From Your Competitors
By · CommentsIn the past when the economy was going strong it often seemed easy to make money, no matter what business you were in or whether you were were a home based business or not. There may have been lots of competition, but there were also lots of customers. Companies with poor customer service or bad products still made money and for many it was in spite of themselves.
That was yesterday. Now it’s today and it’s totally different.
The customers that are still buying are being much more choosy. They’re looking more closely at the products, pricing, terms, and customer service.
This is actually good news for you.
Why? Because it means if you focus on being excellent at what you do, you can attract and keep the customers that are buying.
It also means that competitors who’ve given any particular type of business a bad name, or caused other troubles, won’t be around much longer.
We’re already seeing this: In the housing market, the brokers who are still active are the ones who know what they’re doing. They know the market and are providing great customer service.
Brokers who didn’t return phone calls or find homes for clients are mostly gone and that trend is true for other industries, too.
Right now is the time to review your home business.
- Are you providing what your customers want?
- Is your customer service at the level that would make you want to do business with your company?
- Are you finding ways to connect with your customers so you know what’s working and what’s not?
Home based businesses have an advantage.
Most of us are small and that means we have close contact with our customers and work well with them.
It also means we can make whatever changes are needed … no layers of management.
It also means that if we don’t give customers a reasons to buy from us, then blame is on us alone. The buck stops here.
Give your customers a reason to do business with you and make them want to keep coming back. You can be the best and eliminate the competition simply by giving your customers what they want.
NOW is the time to make your home business stand out!
Written by Laura HessTaking Short Cuts in Your Home Based Business
By · CommentsDocumentation.
Paperwork.
Policies.
Procedures.
Do those words make you cringe?
That’s the effect they have on lots of home business owners. You got into business to do what you’re good at, right? And that’s usually delivering a product or service.
But don’t take any shortcuts when it comes to doing the paperwork or you could be creating a future problem you don’t really want to have to face.
There are several problems with not doing the paperwork, many of which you probably already know. Here’s one you many not have thought of:
What happens if you’re sick for a while and your spouse or someone else needs to run your business?
Without having written instructions, how will they know what to do? Who do they need to contact? Are there things that need to get done on a specific day? How do they process your credit cards?
It may not be a fun part of your business, but it’s an important part.
This doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Just create some written instructions of the things that need to happen to keep your home business running if you happen to incapacitated. And be sure you update any instructions when something changes.
Written by Philip CohenHome Business: The Refuge of the Downsized
By · CommentsThere was an article in the business section of our paper yesterday. Nationwide there are about 3,000 attorneys who have lost their jobs. These are people who never thought they would be out of work because there was a sense the law profession was recession-proof.
Now what?
Afterall, these are people who were earning good salaries and most had good benefit packages. Suddenly they need to find a new source of income.
Since few law firms are hiring, they need to find other sources of income. For many, that means starting their own law firm and in many cases that will be a home based business.
One of the biggest challenges they face is learning new skills. Now they need to know how to market and run their business. They need to find ways to balance their time between all of their responsibilities.
Why is this important to you? This story may be about attorneys, but it’s true for many segments of our economy. People getting downsized and having few options for a new job.
Consequently, more and more people are starting their own home business, but just like the attorneys who have great job skills, many of these people don’t have business skills.
If you’re one of them, be sure you give yourself the best chance for success. Learn what you need to be successful. Surround yourself with good advisers. Get trained in what you need to do to run your home business or hire people to do what you don’t know how to do (or want to learn).
We do have a Home Based Business Starter Kit that is available. Certainly not a have-to-have, but it provides a solid foundation for all you need to know make your home business a success. You can read about it at Home Based Business Starter Kit.
Written by Philip CohenHome Business Math: How Much is 2+2?
By · CommentsThis is a variation of an old joke. However, there’s also an important lesson here for all home business owners. I’ll have a comment after you’ve read this version.
The Accountant
There once was a business owner who was interviewing people for a division manager position. He decided to select the individual that could answer the question: "How much is 2+2?"
The engineer pulled out his slide rule and shuffled it back and forth, and finally announced, "It lies between 3.98 and 4.02."
The mathematician said, "In two hours I can demonstrate it equals 4 with the following short proof."
The physicist declared, "It’s in the magnitude of 1×101."
The logician paused for a long while and then said, "This problem is solvable."
The social worker said, "I don’t know the answer, but I’m glad that we discussed this important question."
The attorney stated, "In the case of Svenson vs. the State, 2+2 was declared to be 4."
The trader asked, "Are you buying or selling?"
The accountant looked at the business owner, then got out of his chair, went to see if anyone was listening at the door and pulled the drapes. Then he returned to the business owner, leaned across the desk and said in a low voice, "What would you like it to be?"
Cute, huh? But what’s the message I was referring to?
I like this because it demonstrates how people will look at a situation based on their perspective. Each of the answers is correct, and each is very different. You might even say some are more relevant or useful than others. But that would be from your perspective.
The point is, each of us sees things differently. When you include advisors in your strategic planning and in the running of your home business, you often get ideas that may be even better than what you would have come up with on your own.
Beware of being the Lone Ranger. All successful home business owners have some kind of help. None achieves their success alone.
We have a ritual for doing our weekly shopping and make a game of it. It’s a way for us to be out together, not doing business, having fun, and getting an errand done at the same time.
There are 6 different stores we shop in and they are all in an easy route around us so we’re never going out of our way to get to one of them.
Part of the game is finding the deals on what we need for the week. It’s all about spending less. This is a strategy to use for your home business as well as your weekly household shopping. Most stores send out weekly fliers so you can pre-shop for almost anything.
I go through the fliers first and find which store has the best prices on what we need. Because of the way we shop, eat, and live, my list of needs is usually pretty short but the fliers always steer me to the store we’re going to visit.
One of the stores on the route always has a clearance section in the meat department; the meat they need to sell that day. There’s nothing wrong with any of it. They just have to move it that day or it will go to the trash as spoilage.
We don’t go into this particular store just to look at the clearance meat but when we’re do stop there we always look at what the butcher has put on clearance.
One day we were there and found a number of packages of chicken wings, all identical except that two were marked at 50% off and the rest were marked at 30% off. Naturally we asked the butcher about the difference.
His comment? Laughing, he told us, and this is the whole point of the story:
"I ran out of 50% discount stickers. I even had to pull the ones I found off other packages. I had hundreds of the others so I just used them. I had to make it work so I used what I had. Just tell the cashier to give you the 50% discount on the ones you buy and she can call me if she needs to."
No matter what you home business is, what your office set-up is, or how you manage your time, things always happen to create less-than-perfect situations. You will have to do whatever it takes to achieve the results you want.
Like the butcher who used a lesser discount to move his clearance inventory, you will need to refine the skill of improvising and sometimes using what you have on hand to achieve your results. It may not be the best solution for you, but it will keep your home business moving forward.
Note: Our postal worker isn’t happy with us. He wants us to stop the junk mail but we actually welcome it. So, oh, well. He’s going to have to keep delivering.
Also, remember that asking for additional discounts is a habit you want to acquire. If you don’t ask, you certainly won’t get. And if you do ask, all they can do is say, "No!"
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Written by Laura Hess