22 Tips for Running an Exceptional Small Business

  No matter what level you are on, this comprehensive list of tips can provide a foundation for running your small business in a growth-minded fashion, as well as help you to avoid many of the pitfalls on the road to success.   1. Get a Premium Domain Name Of course, “.com” is the most recognized, and this is the extension that you need. If it comes down to a face-off between “yourbusiness.net” and “yourbusiness.com”, the first click will almost invariably be the “.com”.   2. Utilize A/B Testing The next time you decide to change the font of your subject line, the color of your landing page background, or the position of your comments section, run an A/B test.   3. Content Marketing is a Powerful Tool You could be drawing huge traffic to your website through content, but none of them are converting because they were not your …

Inside the Mind of Your Customer: Why They Lash Out

The first step to improving relations with your customers is to understand where they are coming from. This article isn’t necessarily about customer service, but at the same time, improved service is a byproduct of knowing what motivates your customer. If you think about it, the majority of the times when you are speaking to a customer or an existing client, they need something from you—and that is a vulnerable position for someone to be in, under any circumstances. That vulnerability can cause people to react unpredictably sometimes. How Much Should You Tolerate? Before we get into the reasons why customers tend to lash out, it’s important the draw a line in the sand. When do you say that it’s enough, and end the conversation? A good rule of thumb is to stop serving them when it becomes abuse; you just need to recognize when that is what’s happening. Here …

What They Don’t Tell You About Running a Home Business

It seems pretty straightforward, right? You start a business, do all the business owner stuff, set up your home office, and run everything just like you would if it were housed in a separate building. Yes, that’s exactly right, but the problem is that the simple change of venue and environment can make it difficult for you to approach it as a normal business. The following points are some invaluable cautionary tips that you may not have considered before starting a home business. It takes a special kind of person. There isn’t really anything that can prepare you for the experience of running a small business from your home; you simply have to dive in and see how it affects you. Everyone thinks it’s a professional dream come true to work from home, but you quickly find that it is, in a way, very emotionally and mentally taxing. It actually …

Top 5 Questions You Should Ask Your Job Applicants

To make your interviews a little more potent and find the right people more quickly, you just have to ask the right questions. You’ll see below that some of these are pretty straightforward, but to gain real insight about an applicant, you have to direct your questions a little left-of-center. 1. Can you describe your level of communication skills? You need to know how well someone communicates because it’s the foundation of working with a team in every capacity. If someone can’t explain themselves clearly and easily understand where coworkers are coming from, then getting any work done will be laborious and ineffective, eating up excessive amounts of time. 2. Why do you want this job? It’s important that someone has the ability to perform in the position for which they are applying, but possibly even more important is why they are doing it. You will get infinitely more output …

What to Do When You Make a Mistake with a Client

  No matter how careful you are, mistakes will be made from time to time. Whether it’s a low-level representative of the company or upper management, someone will eventually make an error that affects a customer, and there should be no reason why you cannot retain their business and make them happy again. All you really need to do is jump on the situation quickly and manage it in a conscientious way.   Contact Them A.S.A.P. The first action you want to take, of course, is to get in touch with the customer. Whether your people catch it first, or the customer brings it to your attention, contact them as soon as possible to make it right. And you should naturally make sure that they get an apology before you begin to deal with the mistake, no matter how minor the problem is.   Don’t Sweep it Under the Rug …

6 Things You Should Never Say to a Customer

  Any professional who works with customers on a regular basis is bound to say something off-putting or not quite appropriate to a customer, sooner or later. The difference between a normal statement and one that is offensive to a customer is subtle, but you can see how clear it is in the examples below.   We’re all out. (without offering alternatives) It won’t be the end of the world if you have to tell a customer that you’re out of something because if you’re out, then well… you’re out. Don’t just leave it at that, though. There is an opportunity in that moment to sell them something else. As a matter of fact, you would be surprised at how many people would be willing to settle for an alternative product from you, rather than going out and getting it from your competitor. It’s just less of a hassle.   …

How to Resolve Customer Issues in One Email

Serving customers by communicating through email is one of the most common channels for customer support today, as well as the generally preferred method of companies. While it is a great way to answer questions and solve issues, the nature of email requires a degree of strategy to be sure that your customers come away satisfied with the experience. Probably the most helpful skill for a CSR to have when utilizing email support is the ability to resolve someone’s issue in a single response. It’s Not Always Practical One-response email solutions can be tough, and sometimes they are just not practical or even possible. For one thing, we all know that the customer sending you the request might not understand what the problem is, how to write the request clearly, or they may not include sufficient information. In addition, solving their problem might require their active interaction to troubleshoot the …

Proactive vs. Reactive: Which Strategy is Better?

There are two kinds of people in this world. There are those who are perpetually motivated to act in real time as things happen to them; and there are those who pay attention to what’s coming and act accordingly. The consequences of this are far-reaching because it touches every aspect of how you do business. People who are not natural planners already know that it’s a disadvantage, so awareness is not the issue. They just might not believe that it’s worth the energy to change their behavior, which is what this post aims to persuade. Acting Only When Forced Generally speaking, people who stay ahead of the game are significantly more successful than those who don’t. Yes, it seems like an obvious point because we all understand that we’re better off if we see things coming than we are if we don’t even pay attention to what’s coming. Apparently though, …

Too Much, Not Enough: How to Manage Your Inventory

The problem business owners run into with inventory is simple: As the demand for each product rises and falls, it can be difficult to order just the right amount of product, especially if it’s perishable. This drives owners mad because it’s so easy to lose money on product. The obvious dilemma is that having an excess of product results in a loss because money was spent needlessly; not enough product means missing out on sales you would have made if there was sufficient product. There are techniques, however, which can help to minimize loss on both fronts. Simple, Accurate Tracking It doesn’t matter what tool or method you use to track your sales, so long as it is simple for you to use and produces accurate records that you can use for projections of future sales. It’s a given that if you’re running a business, or multiple businesses, you don’t …

Everything You Need for Professional Phone System

Everything You Need for a Professional Phone System

  Setting up the right phone system for your business does not have to be complicated, and it doesn’t have to be expensive. By utilizing and applying these key elements, you can set up a system that provides everything that is important to your callers.   Voicemail Greeting Most people buy a new phone and take 5 minutes out of their lives to record it quickly and never update it again until the next time they get a new phone. Instead of taking the haphazard approach, it will help to put a little effort into this, as it is a primary point of contact for calls that may be very important to you, professionally and personally. Read more: How to Record a Good Voicemail Greeting: What Your Callers Aren’t Telling You   Callers On Hold First and foremost, your caller will be much more comfortable on hold when they know …