“Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality overcomes everything.” ~ George Lois
I am currently working on an article series for Furniture World Magazine on CREATIVITY (I’ll keep you posted on when it comes out) . I have been thinking a lot about the topic over the last few weeks. Since I am in this mode, I thought I would share with you a small booklet I put together a while back on some of my own thoughts about making the creative leap.
I’ll warn you, the booklet is a bit long (much longer than an article). Still, I hope you invest the time to read it.
What I share in the booklet is very different from what I will share in the article coming out on Creativity, so if you want to develop your own creative process, read both (again, I’ll let you know when the other article is out in the Furniture World Issue).
The future belongs to the creative right-brainers and left-brainers who use their right-brain skills. If you don’t believe me, do a little research. The world is changing, and how we do business must change too.
Get a head start on thinking about your own business and how you can tap into developing new ideas, new products, new services, and new ways of doing things as you move passionately into a profitable future.
“Whatever you say, say it with conviction” ~Mark Twain
Whether you are a sales consultant, a speaker, a PR professional, a coach, or a designer, confidence and connection are a must for your business and sales success. With them you have nothing to tie you to your prospects and customers in an emotional way (that’s right, emotion is always a part of the process).
This 9 minute and 38 second audio (an except from my business training for Certified Interior Environment Coaches) will help new as well as seasoned sales consultants and a variety of other professionals from just about every filed of endeavor.
Listen when you have a chance, and if you don’t have 10 minutes, then play it on fast speed and listen that way (I do that all the time).
This audio is especially good for new sales consultants, so business owners, let your employees and sales staff take a listen, too.
“Great things are only possible with outrageous requests.” ~Thea Alexander
WHAT DO YOU WANT?
It’s so mind-boggling that we work our tushies off, stay up late, get up early, take courses, attend seminars, get degrees, and run around like our heads are down the street and we have to hurry and get them, but we often ignore doing the simplest thing to get what we want: We don’t ASK!
We have not, because we ask not.
Sometimes we ask not because we are too busy playing games. Sometimes we ask not because we are tired. We may ask not because we are too proud (the bad kind of pride) or because we don’t want to look needy. Sometimes we ask not because we are stubborn. We may ask not because we think we are being humble and thoughtful of others.
As much as we ask not, you’d think it would pay off. Instead, we have not.
What if you suddenly made a decision to do things differently?
What if you decided that you would begin to ask?
This may help…
You already know you are a good person, right? You already know you are kind. You already know you are hard-working. You already know you are intelligent and skilled. You already know you would not take advantage of others. You already know you are fair. You already know you would do for others if they asked you (in most reasonable cases anyway). So stop over-thinking what you think other people will think. WHAT do you have to lose by asking? The truth is, you have nothing to lose, but only new and exciting experiences and benefits to gain.
I’ll tell you, false humility and ego have kept more people down than lack of money, lack of education, or lack of any kind of resources. NOT ASKING KILLS US! It kills our relationships and our businesses, it kills our friendships and our bodies, and it kills our spirits, too.
Not asking means we do everything ourselves. Not asking means we don’t get the sale. Not asking means we don’t get what we want in friendships and marriages. Not asking means we are passed up for the raise, the promotion, the new product line (that our competitor ends up getting because they asked first).
Not asking means we get a higher interest rate. Not asking means we pay a higher percentage to the real estate agency. Not asking means we eat alone (hey, even if we get turned down, we would have eaten alone anyway)!
We ASSUME other people know what we want. NO, NO, NO, THEY DO NOT. They are busy, they are consumed with their own day, and no offense, but they are not thinking too totally much of you throughout the day. You have goals, needs, tasks, and desires that others can help you meet, yet you do not ask.
But, ASKING…AHHHHHHHH, ASKING!
Asking means we get more love and snuggles. Asking means we get to hold someone’s hand. Asking means we get more sales. Asking means our commission just went up. Asking means we get to work with amazing people. Asking means we become part of THAT team, asking means we get to pick our date up in that really cool car. Asking means we get what we want that wasn’t on the menu. Asking means we are so much less tired because now we have the proper amount of help. Asking means we make a lot more money, and a lot more profit, too!
Asking means we let ourselves be human. Asking means we allow others to have the joy of sowing into our lives. Asking means someone else gets an opportunity to function in more responsibility while we get some needed rest. Asking means we are happier. Asking means we are warmer and more connected. Asking means we don’t burden others by expecting them to know what we want. Asking means we become grown-ups and take responsibility for our lives, giving up the tendency to complain about what we don’t have.
Go ahead: Ask for the sale, the raise, the special product. Ask for the backrub, the conversation, the love. Ask for the interest rate, the promotion, the price. Ask for the help, the nap, the puppy. Ask for the chicken sandwich with the sauce that normally goes with the roast beef dip.
You have not because you ask not, and I promise, you can have more, and be happier, if you will simply ask for—VOICE—what you want.
”All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work” ~Calvin Coolidge
Some say this is a “down” economy. Some say it’s not so bad. Regardless, if YOUR business is slow (and even if it’s not) you MUST stay active in your marketing activities if you want to stay in the game long-term.
Your continued business growth and profits mean you have to be consistent and diligent to stay active. If you place your efforts towards proven strategies, your time and resources will pay off well.
This week, I am entrusting you with 3 Secret Weapons to Gain Sales in a Questionable Economy (or in any economy). Put them into action immediately and over the next couple of weeks as you reach out to your local community. They work! You will be pleasantly surprised at how many people reach back out to you for your help and expertise.
1. Tie Your Offer to a Better Life
A slow economy does not mean a STOPPED economy, and although a lot of people are thinking more about saving instead of spending thoughtlessly, those with even a little discretionary income will still purchase, but they will make much more meaningful buying decisions. This is actually good news for business owners who themselves see the value in their products and services, and the improved quality of life their offerings can bring to potential clients.
As you put together your marketing materials for the weeks and months ahead, find a way to solidly tie what you offer to a better way of life for others. Focus on the facts of how your products and services are meaningful purchases with a payoff for a better future. Skillfully capture their attention as you express your e xcitement about what this purchased can mean for them. Be thrilled for them and with them.
If you run a furniture store, share how a new sofa and coffee table with storage will bring the family together for family game night or how home movies of the grandkids look best on one of your TV’s. If you are a fitness professional, paint the visual picture of how your expertise will translate into an active, fun life, and if you are a designer, excite people with color facts that point to a more purposeful, empowered life.
2. Offer services you would not normally offer—to get your foot in the door
If people seem to be spending less during this time, then offer them a few products and services that are cost effective for them and that also provide them with much needed help, time savings, or money s avings. FIND A REASON to get them to allow your foot in their door initially—even for a simple product or service that is much lower in price than your main offerings. Then, once you establish a relationship of trust, you will find it much easier to “sell up”.
Even though customers may start off with small purchases because of real or imagined budget restraints “at this time”, planting “simple seeds” with them now will help you to close other, more substantial sales later. Considering an advertised lead can cost you hundreds of dollars (just to get an appointment), anytime you have the opportunity to actually get paid to talk directly with a potential customer, it’s money in your pocket and an incredible opportunity for you to connect and “shine”, imprinting your caring attitude into the customer’s mind.
Here are a few examples of special products and services you can focus on for a short time:
Designers and sales consultants who sell furniture or custom window treatments can offer a Two Hour Redesign or Life Colors Design Coaching, a fitness or wellness pro can offer a Holistic Wellness Assessment or an Exercise Form Critique. Regardless of your business, you can offer an interesting product or service that people want or need with a smaller commitment on their part (for now).
You might even host a SPECIAL EVENING EVENT where you offer great advice that can help new prospects get focused in an area that is important to them as you establish the beginnings of quality relationships.
3. Contact Past Customers
This is one of THE BEST AND MOST EFFECTIVE ways to make a sale. It costs next to nothing, and past cu stomers already know you. Contacting past customers is so much easier than creating new customers, and once you connect with people again, their friends come into your circle, too (birds of a feather flock together) making way for new referrals.
Don’t call past customers to sell them anything. Just call and say hello, or let them know you were updating your Client Reference List and wondered if you could continue using their name as a reference for other clients, or something to that effect. You may even create some sort of simple and free “Great Tips” Booklet, and call past customers to see if they would like their copy mailed or emailed!
The best way to contact past customers is by phone, going back first to the customers you have served over the past 6 months. After you have done that, go back one year, then 18 months. If you have never done this, you may be able to go back even farther.
My experience with calling past customers has been exceptional. Most were thrilled to hear from me, and a surprising number had projects they wanted immediate help with. Once you make the effort to contact your list, you’ll see that some past clients have thought to contact you but had forgotten your business name or number (don’t be offended, people are busy and they sometimes forget).
So now you have a simple but powerful charge from me and 3 Secret Weapons to Gain Sales in a Questionable Economy (or in any economy). Put them into action immediately. JUST DO IT. I promise, you’ll be so glad you did.
“The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It’s your mind you have to convince.” ~Vince Lombardi
This week I will share with you My 8 Proven Business-Building Tips that you can apply to your business (store-front or home-based) to build it to success. Most have to do with your mindset first, which in turn will direct your actions towards precisely focused effort to get you where you desire to be.
These practical and very doable tips are research-based and have been proven over and over again. They lead to success for the business professional who will practice them.
These tips are easy to put into action.
1. When you are not selling, MARKET your business
If you do not have an appointment on any given day, market yourself during the time you would normally be on an appointment. Think about a person who is seeking full time employment. To be successful in finding a job quickly (which would in turn generate money quickly), a person seeking a job should make their full time job the task of getting a job. Similarly, if you do not have a client or a lead, make your full time (or part time) job the task of marketing to get leads and appointments. Before long you will have a steady flow of clients.
Create Awareness (market) by doing events related to your industry or niche, writing articles, or getting your materials out there in your community. A few examples from my previous decorating business include distributing flyers, doing decorating seminars for the public, partnering with a builder and putting over a dozen sample treatments in his showroom, and writing a decorating advice column every Sunday in the Home Section of an area newspaper in conjunction with a local real estate company, to name just a few. I got many exceptional leads and sales as a result of doing these tasks, and it did not take long at all.
2. DON’T pre-judge who you think will buy from you: Target your marketing but be good to EVERYONE
Market to your target groups, and then serve every one who comes to you from these activities. NEVER be hasty to judge a book by its cover (especially when that book approaches YOU)!
Get out there in your local community and network. At events, strike up conversations and be polite and kind to everyone that you meet. Even if someone is seemingly not your potential client, remember that people have bosses and acquaintances and relatives. People tell people, and people who cannot afford your services right now tell people who can. Someone who cannot afford your products now may be in a position to purchase them later, and they will remember how you interacted with them when they couldn’t buy.
One time, when I had a storefront design studio, a woman came in dressed in ragged jeans and a t-shirt, and from her appearance I absolutely assumed she was someone who could not afford my products and services. She just did not look the part AT ALL. I thought she was someone who was waiting for the bus or had missed it, and was just coming into my shop to cool off from the hot Texas summer heat. However, I treated her the same way I did any other prospect (or any person): I was kind, courteous, and gave her my undivided time and attention. Little did I know she lived in one of the biggest homes in the most “well-to-do” subdivision in our area. I ended up doing custom cornices for her very large family room and it was a wonderful job with a very nice profit.
3. “Losing” a sale is still a positive thing
When you lose a sale, you are a step closer to your closing rate goal. Remember that in order to have an optimal closing rate (60-80% for most industries), you will have to lose some sales. Even a lead that did not become a sale can lead to a referral sale if you remain professional and courteous. Think about it in a positive light. Hearing one “no” means you are much closer to the “YES”!
4. Our futures and fortunes are in the follow through!
Follow-up on ALL of your prospects, even the ones you KNOW (or rather, think you know) will not buy. Through your follow-up they will see that you care, and through your sincere communication, you may get the real reason for the lost sale. This gives you another opportunity to actually make the sale by helping the prospect to overcome any fear, misconception, or obstacle that was standing in the way for them.
Suppose you did not follow-up with a prospect because you just assumed they were not going to buy, so “why bother”. Then, that prospect suddenly realized that they could make the extra room in their budget after all. There is a very great chance that the prospect WILL NOT CALL YOU after the initial sales presentation even if they figured out a way to broaden their budget. Instead, they may just go forward until another buying opportunity presents itself, and someone else will get that sale. On the other hand, if you simply follow-up—perhaps a week later and then maybe again in a month or two— they may interact with you and give you their business. Our fortunes are certainly in the follow through.
5. Invest in your business
Make room in your business budget to invest in your business so it can grow. Allow resources for the development of new products and services, for education for yourself and your associates, for interesting projects, and for advertising and marketing. Perhaps you could invest in a joint venture with another business owner, or spend a little cash to delegate tasks. You could put resources towards things like search engine optimization for your website, a regular “advice” column in a local community magazine, some yard signs and door hangers, or .towards a company vehicle.
Having my car fully wrapped was a good investment for me when I ran my decorating business. I got a lot of attention with my bright and attractive colors, and many people stopped me in parking lots and garages for my business card even though my phone number was clearly visible on my car wrap. I think people just wanted to say hello and strike up a conversation because the wrap was so extensive, so colorful, and so interesting. It was always a lot of fun, and it definitely led to business and great profits, meaning it was worth the investment.
6. Know your competition, but do not obsess over them
Understand basically how your main competitors function, and have an idea of their products, services, and prices. Then, find what you do that they do not, and brag about it. Know your competition, but never be obsessed with them or give them even one minute more thought than is necessary to serve your clients. FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS on what you do well and who YOU are, and shout it out in your wonderful, unique voice! Do not get sidetracked and caught up in the kind of negative energy that comes from fixating on another person or business. Focus on your customers instead, and you will enjoy amazing freedom and greater success.
7. Give your business time to grow
Do not be pulled off sides by get-rich-quick schemes, and do not expect instant sales and referrals just because you are in business. You must nurture and grow your business, each day doing something positive and meaningful towards your short-term and long-term business goals (which means you must have them and know what they are). This type of effort will definitely pay off, perhaps a little at first, but be patient and faithful in the little and you will see exponential and expedited growth once it all starts to take effect.
8. Have fun and be the kind of person people LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to be around
When you leave the presence of others, they should feel better for having spent time with you. Who wouldn’t want to do business now and in the future with a fun, positive, fair, and caring individual? You cannot separate “real life” from “business”. We are who we are, and know assuredly that your business success will reflect the kind of person that you choose to be. It IS a choice!
Here is a Fabulous Opportunity for You: This is a gound breaking coaching service that Interior Decorators, Designers, and Life Coaches can offer to clients—to individuals and to homeowners.
This gives an awesome opportunity to design professionals and life coaches to become a Certified Interior Environment Coach (CIEC).
There is also an opportunity for you to get 12 weeks of total business support after the training! This way you can build your Interior Environment Coaching business right away—with total business and marketing support.
Let me know if you have any questions or if you want to be included. Margo@DeGangiGroup.com
“The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.” ~Vince Lombardi
This week I want you to take a little bit of time to think about the activities you spend your time on throughout the days and weeks in your business.
What are you good at? Probably a lot of things for sure, but if some of the things you are good at are things that lots of other people can be good at too, then you should likely delegate these tasks, and focus your business efforts instead on things that are not easy for others to do or not easy for you to delegate. The things YOU personally use YOUR time on should primarily be activities focused at growing your business.
I have a short video (about 4 ½ minutes) for you to listen to sometime this week about the ORGANIZATIONAL CHART. This is a tool that you can use in a VERY SIMPLE WAY in your business.
An organizational chart will give you a good visual and a good basis for knowing what YOU should be doing to make more profits, and what OTHERS should be doing to totally support that.
With a simple and powerful organizational chart in place, YOU feel amazingly focused and empowered, and others on your team do too, because they know they are supporting you in your efforts to have a phenomenal business.
By the way, as a natural compliment to talking about YOUR own simple but powerful organizational chart, I have included some tips on DELEGATION— on when, how, what, and to whom to delegate tasks. The tips are listed after the link to the short video on Your Organizational Chart (about 4 ½ minutes).
Learning to release certain tasks and even projects to others can free up much of your time for more important tasks. As a business owner, it is imperative that you spend your time (work time) on the activities that will bring in more revenue, grow your business, and increase your profits. The other activities should be delegated out.
Many people think they cannot delegate for several reasons:
• They feel they are too unorganized to show another person what to do
• They feel they do not have the funds to be able to delegate jobs
• They feel they are just too busy to stop and take the time to delegate
Each of these reasons reinforces the need to delegate. As long as we hold onto doing the jobs that keep us from growing our businesses, we will fell frustrated, overwhelmed, unproductive, and behind on our goals.
Delegation will free you up. It will allow you to focus your personal efforts on those things that will make you more productive. Delegation is a skill like any other. It must be learned.
Which Types of Tasks to Delegate
The types of tasks and projects to delegate are the ones others can do without negatively affecting your business, or the ones where delegating them will positively affect your business. Delegate the tasks that free you up to grow your business.
These include:
• Tasks that require low skills (such as filing, cleaning, running errands).
• Tasks that someone else is especially proficient at (this would include companies that offer services in a specific area like book-keeping, tax-preparation, newsletter service, etc.
• Tasks that tie you up and keep you from working on your personal and professional goals.
• Tasks you dislike and are not those that MUST be done by the business owner-those which will not negatively affect your business if you delegate them.
Begin to delegate by choosing low skill tasks that most people can do. As you get used to the idea of delegation, you can begin to release other jobs that require more skill.
To be successful at delegation, you must find, and sometimes train, someone who is responsible and competent. You must make clear to that person what your objectives are. Be specific about the results you expect. Write down these goals and the results you are looking for. Make certain that the person is sure of what is expected of him/her.
Give a time frame or date for completion. Check in occasionally to monitor the process, but do not spent too much time here. The point is to find someone who is capable of the task so it will free up your time. Refrain from trying to control the situation, which is actually a type of procrastination and will waste time. Allow the person you delegated to the freedom to do the task—even if they do it a bit differently than you would. If the results are what you want, it will not matter how you got there.
Set up a basic organizational chart for yourself and your business, and learn to delegate, and you will begin to see changes in your business that you once only dreamed of. It is not difficult to have a successful business, but it does take time, effort, and commitment. Follow the road that other successful people have traveled before you. The results will amaze you!
Have a Wildly Organized, Focused, and Profitable Week,
“The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.” ~Norman Vincent Peale
We all want to be more disciplined in life. We know that certain routine practices will help our businesses to grow and our personal empowerment to “appear”. What we may not understand though, is that some actions are simply things we do to get to a certain goal or benefit while other actions are actually a part of who we are at our core. In other words, some actions are driven only by the desire to reach a goal, while other actions focus on the process itself— which is seen as a valuable experience and benefit—as well as on the goal, which is also seen as a benefit. One is a DISCIPLINE and the other a PRACTICE.
• A DISCIPLINE is a willful chore (sometimes looked at as a rigid chore) that you dutifully do to get something done or because you know it will yield certain benefits.
• A PRACTICE is a transformative action done with awareness and with a purpose in mind that resonates with who you are. It is an extension of what you truly believe and it yields certain benefits. Here are some more ways of looking at the differences:
A discipline is extrinsic
A discipline is born of something that must be accomplished
A disciple is often rigid
We may have to remind ourselves to do a discipline
A discipline is something we do because we know it will bring desired results
We usually do a discipline in spite of what we “really” want to do
A disciple is seen as a task
We often “white knuckle” through the discipline, looking for the moment it ends
We often do a disciple robotically, almost unconsciously
During a discipline we often focus on the end result
A disciple is driven by a GOAL
A practice is intrinsic
A practice is born of a belief system that truly motivates us
A practice is fluid and dynamic
The process of a practice is seen as transformative
A practice is something we do because is in line with our core beliefs
A practice is something we do because it gives us satisfaction
A practice is a belief
We are driven to do a practice because it is what we really want or love to do
We often are very away during a practice
During a practice we often focus on the process (the experience itself)
A practice is driven by a SENSE OF PURPOSE
Examples of Disciplines vs. Practices
Discipline: Calling past customers to keep your name out there and to drum up sales.
Practice: Calling past customers because you appreciate that they have put their trust in you to do business with you, and because you really do care about them. You want to know how they are doing and you want to see what’s going on with them, and see if they have any thoughts or questions you can help them with.
Discipline: Eating a salad because you think it will help you maintain your weight
Practice: Eating a salad because it is rich and healthful. Enjoying the process of cutting the cherry tomatoes in half, and slicing the purple onions, and smelling the fresh herbs. Then enjoying tasting each and every different flavor and appreciating the freshness of each ingredient.
Discipline: Doing regular customer events because it is a good business practice for increasing leads, sales, and contacts.
Practice: Doing regular customer events because you are a leader and an innovator, and you can’t wait to share good news and interesting findings with your customers and prospects. You look forward to the wonderful connection and ongoing relationship that your customer events create.
If we want to see real changes in our lives and in our businesses, we certainly have to do some things differently. That means we must take on new behaviors. At some point along the way though, if these new behaviors are not seen as exciting tools for change, and if they do not become a part of new core beliefs, the behaviors will either be dropped, or they will be continued but with a reluctant and resistant energy source pushing them. That’s no way to live.
You may have to start out some new behaviors with a discipline, but a discipline can become more. During the activity or task, be in the moment and appreciate what you are doing—really appreciate it, whatever it is. If a discipline is looked at through the eyes of our core beliefs, enjoyed as a process, and embraced as a powerful act of transformation, it will become a welcome and enjoyable practice.
Attitude is everything.
I’m sure you get the picture. Much of the difference between a discipline and a practice is in our attitudes and our sense of purpose. Many of the disciplines in our lives can be changed to practices simply by changing our attitudes and examining why we do the discipline in the first place. We can decide to function out of a true sense of purpose, attaching meaning to everything that we do. This makes for a far better business and a more enriched life overall.
Think about the disciplines you now engage in that can easily become meaningful practices in your life. Decide to create the self-awareness and the self-dialog to put you in a totally different arena with the activities you do on a regular basis.
“We learn simply by the exposure of living, and what we learn most natively is the tradition in which we live.” ~ David P. Gardner
When I was in early elementary school (early seventies), the school nurse had a poster in her office featuring Children Learn What They Live by Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph.D. (Originally published in a newsletter of the Torrence Unified School District in Torrence, California, Copyright 1959. A revised version was copyrighted in 1972).
I loved to read it. I would pretend not to feel well so I could go to the school nurse’s office and look at the poster again. I barely knew what some of the words meant, but I knew instinctively that there was a very powerful message and lesson there (and that was way before anyone was using the words personal power or empowerment).
I have included the poem here for you to read and reflect upon (the earlier version which is shorter than the revised, later version). Following it, I have included a very recent blog post from my virtual mentor and friend, Seth Godin, entitled Expose Yourself. In my opinion, Seth’s post is the adult version of Dorothy’s Children Learn What They Live.
Bottom line: We are what we continually allow into our lives, and we become what we continually expose ourselves to. We OWN the power to make this a better universe, one person at a time. We also OWN the power to make our businesses GREAT!
Children Learn What They Live
If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn . . .
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight . . .
If a child lives with fear, he learns to be apprehensive . . .
If a child lives with pity, he learns to feel sorry for himself . . .
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy . . .
If a child lives with jealousy, he learns to feel guilt . . .
BUT
If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient . . .
If a child lives with encouragement, he learns to be confident . . .
If a child lives with , he learns to be appreciative . . .
If a child lives with acceptance, he learns to love . . .
If a child lives with honesty, he learns what truth is . . .
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice . . .
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith in himself and those about him . . .
If a child lives with friendliness, he learns the world is a nice place in which to live . . .
WITH WHAT IS YOUR CHILD LIVING?
Now, compare that to this:
Expose Yourself from Seth Godin’s blog
With so many options in media, interaction and venues, you now get to choose what you expose yourself to.
Expose yourself to art, and you’ll come to appreciate it and aspire to make it.
Expose yourself to anonymous scathing critics and you will begin to believe them (or flinch in anticipation of their next appearance.)
Expose yourself to get-rich-quick stories and you’ll want to become one.
Expose yourself to fast food ads and you’ll crave french fries.
Expose yourself to angry mobs of uninformed, easily manipulated protesters and you’ll want to join a mob.
Expose yourself to metrics about your brand or business or performance and you’ll work to improve them.
Expose yourself to anger and you might get angry too.
Expose yourself to people making smart decisions and you’ll probably learn how to do it as well.
Expose yourself to eager long-term investors (of every kind) and you’ll likely to start making what they want to support.
“I do not waste my time in answering abuse; I thrive under it like a field that benefits from manure.” ~Henry Labouchere
Call it customer care, customer service, customer connection, or customer love. We can’t approach this topic too often. Regardless of the name, it’s the heart and soul of your business. Without it there are only waning sales, reduced profits, angry vendors, and mortgages that don’t get paid. No one gets away with bad customer service for long.
Today, all before 1pm, I make a number of important calls to four different businesses that were well-known names and very “reputable” companies. In each instance (multiple calls to some of them), as I waited for a company representative to assist me, I heard a nice pie-in-the-sky phone-hold message with lovely music in the background, and a confident and friendly pre-recorded voice bragging about how much their customers mean to them. One went so far as to say “our customers are the lifeline of our business”.
It was all great until a representative from the company (take your pick) got on the phone. From their end, there was no service, no patience, no friendly demeanor, no customer care or support, no connection with me, and positively certainly not a lick of going the extra mile for the customer.
What I did get were uninspired, monotone, almost lifeless voices of people who must hate their jobs and who work for companies that must not love their customers very much (since they allow this). On my end, I didn’t get even the slightest feeling that I was a valued asset or an individual whose business was appreciated, even a little. I certainly was not treated as if I were the “lifeline” of the business. I got treated like goop, poo, crap, by all of them (oh, and I was nice). I was an inconvenience to them, it was clear. This kind of interaction is frustrating at best and maddening at worst. I am getting to where I cannot stand doing business with most companies anymore.
I was definitely not impressed with how long I had to wait on hold for anti-service, or with how many ridiculous “if you’d like to” options I had to wade through on their elaborate phone systems to get to the choice I actually needed (which was customer service and which should have been the first choice offered. I think they can just delete “If you are calling to do a fundraiser…”). By the way, these lengthy monologues are strategically implemented tactics to get people to hang up so they do not have to deal with them.
Experiences like this are not only common today, but they are the unfortunate norm. When a business becomes just systems, efficiency, convenience (for them), profit centers (or what companies THINK are profit centers), things have already gone horribly wrong.
Whether a service or product is sold online or off, each and every customer MUST not only be valued, but they must be SHOWN that they are valued. Appreciation HAS TO BE COMMUNICATED. It cannot be just an idealistic “line” in your mission statement. Fancy phone systems sporting lovely voices dripping with elegant verbiage and well-spoken syntax won’t cut it. In business, what you say MUST be congruent with what you do. You are never so big, so much a household (or local community) name, so unique, so craved, so much the cat’s meow, that you cannot hit rock bottom in sales and profits and suddenly become history. Pride (not the good kind) goes before a fall.
I’ve said it a million times. This is the day that it matters—LIKE NEVER BEFORE. You may not see it mattering right this second, but the landscape and infrastructure of how we do business with customers is TOTALLY changing, and WAY MORE than 98 out of 100 people realize, and companies both big and small that practice customer crap instead of customer care will be gone before you know it—no matter how clever, how innovative, or how popular they are today.
Do you think droves of us we will never get fed up with being taken for granted? Don’t you know that thousands of us are already deciding to purchase our $4 cups of coffee from a different place, and many of us are driving a brand of car we never would have driven because we want a better experience? Do you think we will not sound the alarm in any way we can through our elaborate networks if we are treated disrespectfully?
Businesses must ALWAYS earn your business. In the same way YOU must always earn your customers’ business, too. People work hard for their dough. More and more we are no longer in a forced position to do business with any particular entity (except MAYBE the U.S. Post Office and even that’s changing). Hey, I am not saying things won’t go wrong, or than in your own business you have no room for making mistakes. Of course you do, we are all human, and your customers understand this. What I am saying is that there must be enormous substance behind the RELATIONSHIPS you have with your customers. That way, even if something does go wrong with a customer’s experience, you and the customer have an opportunity to connect and make things right.
It’s time that we as customers AND business people become willing and diligent to STOP doing business with companies who don’t deliver respect and meaningful connection. Price should NOT be the issue. We cheapen our society when that is all we look for. There’s more than one type of currency or savings. We need to be willing to lose a little bit of cash in the short term to support companies that provide us with a value relationship. This will actually save us time, stress, and money in the long term (less stress alone is currency enough for me).There are places I simply do not shop at any more. It is an inconvenience not to, but I don’t care. I will not throw my hard earned money away and purchase stress. I will only support business people who show me that they really want my business.
That’s my roll going forward. I hope you will join me. I also hope you’ll take this to heart and apply it to your own business. Are you wiling to invite people to leave you if you’re not connecting and doing your very best for them, always? You ought to be.
I think I will also start doing something new when I have to call a company, giving borderline businesses one more chance to make it right with me before I hit the road. I think I will start recording the call from MY end. I will say, “This call may be recorded and then uploaded to my server and linked on social media networks for quality assurance”. At that point I will begin the dialog. That way no one can sue me for slander when I actually blog about my experience, call the company out by name, and post the link to the “Customer C-rap” call! Remember, I’m not seeking perfection or companies who never make mistakes, I just want my business to be valued and appreciated! What do you think?
Have a Wildly Appreciative Week,
Margo
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Be One of Only 50 People to Become a Certified Interior Envirnment Coach. May 17-21 Online Training Event (1.5 hrs per evening. Event will be recorded for registered participants).
You can also Listen to this full length audiosession of me sharing the entire program with a group of design and life coaching professionals!
(Give the audio 18 seconds to begin playing.)
If you had a magic tool that could help you to be more productive, help you to be a better saver, help you connect more meaningfully with clients, help you to overcome specific fears, help you to focus on activities that bring in money, and help you to “slow your roll” when you get a little crazy, would you use it? You might say “yes” pretty quickly, but droves of people overlook or dismiss the power of this incredible tool each and every day. That tool is COLOR !
Color is not just something pretty to look at. If that’s all we think about when we think color, we are really selling our opportunities short.
Color is a powerful motivator. Different colors work to trigger different parts of our brain and stimulate various types of thinking and behavior. Color also has a role in how our bodies respond on a physiological level.
Color can actually become a tool that you strategically use to grow both personally and professionally if you know how to leverage it.
For example, if you tend to be very critical of self and others, which gets in the way of sales and customer connection, you need more exposure to magenta. If you want to be better at saving money to ensure a more solid future, pull some rich blues into your life. If you tend to accept what everyone else says and blindly obey, then lime green will help you ask yourself “why” and take on more personal power? Combining blue, red and yellow will cause you to get serious about accomplishing your goals, and basking a little more in the tandem of gold and indigo will infuse you with innovative thinking that can help you launch new and exciting products and services.
Purple will bring out your creativity, and orange will help you to facilitate change. Whew! I am on a roll, but I’m just getting started. There is so much to know about the world of color and its many delicious benefits that we take for granted every day. It is an amazing asset that has been given to us and we truly under rate and under use it. I hope we will simply stop doing that soon and become better business people by embracing color and its appropriate applications.
If you ever want to have a stimulating dialog about color and how it can totally change your life, give me a call. I’d love to brighten your understanding.
It pays to associate with people of good character and good energy. This is an email I got today from a friend and colleague from Boston named Joe Barnett. Joe is the owner of The Reflective Designer, LLC, serving the greater Boston area. This man is AMAZING! He has been an Interior Designer for more years than many designers combined. He has so much knowledge of the industry, and he is also quite successful. He sent this note in reply to my latest Monday Message from Margo, National Pet Day & My Business Pet-Peeves. I am posting our back-and-forth emails with his permission:
I went into a ski shop in AZ and wanted to buy a parker and ski pants. I told the sales clerk that I was willing to spend at sale price $300 to $400 hundred on the parker and a couple of hundred on the pants. She was terrific. She upgraded me to almost $1200 for the outfit. I asked if there was an additional discount, and if I could put it on lay-a-way. She came back and told me her boss OK’d another 10% if I bought both pieces.
When I got to the register I told the manager that I would give them my charge account number and asked them to put a couple of hundred on each month until it was paid. She told me that they couldn’t do it as their system didn’t allow for it. I asked if they could over-ride the system and was told NO. They let me walk from the store without the purchase, and probably next year the outfit will be marked down again as new inventory arrives. By the way, my next purchase is for a great ski boot. Guess who just lost that sale?
I went into a self serve yogurt place – did all the work and had a cashier just collect money. People in front of me were leaving the change— up to $1 for a $3 purchase for this person just ringing up the register. I don’t believe she could have given the right change had it not been for the register telling her the amount. Every day I go into Dunkin Donuts and see the same thing happening.
(As interior decorators and interior designers), how many times do we give great advice and pick out the best choices in fabrics— that takes us hours? Do we ever get tips? We even loose the sale to someone who takes our suggestions and great advice, and (goes to someone else who) lowers the cost by a few dollars. Does this all make sense? I am having trouble with it.
Anyway, I feel better and reading your wonderful pieces always makes me relax for a little bit.
Thanks,
Joe Barnett
My reply to Joe 4-20-2010:
WHAT ARE PEOPLE THINKING, Joe?
Are they insane?
If you were coming into my store, I would have frothed the milk for the cappuccino I was about to serve you on a silver platter.
It goes back to brains and thankfulness. Brains to know how to run a biz, and an attitude of thankfulness that people want to do business with us.
I think people’s pride and ego get in the way of the sale, i.e. “He’s not going to tell ME how to run this sale”. So they lose it, and all of the future sales, too.
I know what you are also saying about the tip thing! You will not believe this, but a few weeks ago I drove through a local Starbucks early in the morning, to find a HUGE stainless steel PITCHER–the ones they heat the milk in–sitting on the ledge right smack in the middle. They should have been greatly embarrassed to put it there, but their desire to pressure us to put money in was greater than their sense of embarrassment.
Where does the tipping end? Now, when you get a burger, they want a tip. The ice cream parlors now put their 2 scoop-sized paper bowls out for money. The local pita shop has a cup for tips.
Hey, maybe we should tip our spouses for letting the cat in, or our kids for cleaning up after themselves.
No wonder the economy is wacked-out. We have no more value for money.
I used to pass a penny up whenever I saw one on the ground. Now, I pick it up, put it over my head, and say “abundance”. I have decided to fully respect money.
Anyway, the whole world is NOT going nutty. There are still plenty of wonderful people and business-folks out there who respect your money and theirs too, and who value our business and don’t feel that WE owe THEM something. Those are the business owners (like you Joe) who will be the WINNERS in the new THANK YOU economy. The rest of the folks will be closing their doors.
I sure miss visiting with you Joe. You are an amazing soul!
(Oh, and can I use your email to share with a few peeps? It hits the nail on the head—I can leave your name out. I understand if you want me to not share it, in which case of course I won’t. No biggie.)
Margo
Joe’s reply to me4-21-2010:
Margo,
For 30 years I have been conducting my business in towns north of Boston. These are affluent communities, but are heavily concentrated with competitions, and servicing people who have little regard for dealing with full service, but rather who make all decisions based on the lowest price that they can squeeze out of a dealer.
I just bought an existing business that I am partnering in with my present partner and a wonderful woman who has natural skills that are about as good as I have seen anywhere. What is so amazing is that in this new location people are buying on a first visit because they value the service and advice given to them by Beverly. They are smart enough to know that someone capable of guiding them through the initial stages will be capable of addressing any issues that might come about— or even better— be able to avoid any issues from the start. This is refreshing and negates all the Pet-Peeves that I offered to you earlier.
REAL Soda Jerks!
Some time ago I went into an ice cream shop to purchase a Frappe. There were two employees behind the counter. When I asked the first to help me he said that he just checked out. I looked at the second person and the last hope of my getting the Frappe that I drove some distance to enjoy, and his reply was that he had another 10 minutes before he was to check in. This left me in limbo and I didn’t wait the short time for this person to begin his work day.
What is so amazing is the number of people in our business who run their businesses for themselves with little concern about the well being of their customer. I am so grateful that I have finally had the opportunity to be in an environment where we get the tips (figuratively speaking) by just doing what is good business practice— by making the client the most important person before us— and to realize that all the good things that we do actually do come back to us many times over what we invested in the first place.
Yes, you can use whatever I wrote that is useful to you and if you want to use my name I have no problem with you including it. After all you put your name out in everything that you write and there could always be someone who doesn’t see things the same as you do. Actually, there are more people than we could ever imagine who would probably have a difficult time understanding what wise words you present and those are the same people who are in business and make sales by accident.
I look forward to hearing from you and miss the friendship that I feel we made during the conferences that we both attended.
Joe
My reply to Joe 4-21-2010:
WOW Joe, you are amazing. You are a very special person, and I am so very fond of you, I can’t even tell you.
I will use your words-they are inspirational. PLUS, you have just confirmed for me an idea that has been brewing in my brain for a long time. I sat down a few minutes ago to write my ideas out and that’s when I saw your email.
I love design, but my deepest passion is business development and empowerment for business owners. Somehow I feel I can make my mark by being real and honest, and getting people off the train of mediocre business practices, bad marketing, and horrible (or even just “flat”) customer service.
It is after 3:30 am and I cannot sleep, because I am driven. I have seen so many “Leaders” in our industry alone, who not only fall short on true leadership, but who think duping the people with their authoritative voices will take the place of they themselves treating others with dignity and respect.
Maybe it’s just the wee morning hour and maybe I’ll have come to my senses by tomorrow, but right now I feel I am on a vendetta to get this country (or at least the part I can influence) moving in the great customer service direction. In today’s social media driven world, no one can afford to be a lazy and uncaring business owner if they want to be in business 5 years from now.
I’ll keep you posted on my idea, and let you know when I start it. It’s nothing profound, just another way for me to share my voice and my desire that we all become better people.
September 3, 2010 1913 Alan Ladd 1916 Memphis Slim 1934 Freddie King 1936 Elizabeth Dawn 1940 Pauline Collins 1940 Rachel Welch 1942 Al Jardine 1950 Nicky Horne 1965 Charlie Sheen
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Monday Message from Margo 
in this mode, I thought I would share with you a small booklet I put together a while back on some of my own thoughts about making the creative leap.
This gives an awesome opportunity to design professionals and life coaches to become a 
