One of the best ways to set up your business is to notice what you like and don’t like in other businesses – same industry, different industry, it doesn’t matter.
Look at what others are doing and pick and choose what does/doesn’t work for you.
Here’s a quick peek at some of the things that came up for me in the last week and which created an “absolutely NOT” for my business:
- Hearing someone refer to people who invest with her as the “gravy train” – and doing so on a public webinar
- Having to ask 3 times about an event to get the location and still not getting all the answers
- Having an entirely different event change the dates after my airfare, etc. was booked (this is going to cost me about $250)
- Investing in a teleseries and not receiving any info about call dates/times upon registration. Waiting two weeks and then emailing to ask “what’s up” (2 weeks was my limit on waiting before I followed-up)
- Listening as someone abdicated all responsibility for her business saying what needed to be done “was too hard” and she “just wants to make money”
- Investing in an event with travel, hotel, etc. to have the host ask me to upgrade as a VIP for an extra $X (this week it was “$397”) so I can be let in the room early for better seating and attend a cocktail reception.
- And asking repeatedly that a battery be changed on the clock in my gym’s pool (sounds like a little thing until you lose track of time swimming and have a morning vet appointment) – brought my own battery today and fixed it to the joy of other swimmers.
Each of these is indicative of a “broken window” (check out “Broken Window, Broken Business”) in the above businesses.
What these business owners haven’t done (yet) is step into their customers’ shoes and ask “Does this make sense?” “Is this Extreme Client Care™?”
What they’ve done, depending on the situation, is:
- Market something before it’s ready
- Fail to put in a proper follow-up nurturing sequence
- Drink too much Koolaid® and think they can go to bed, wake up and have a 6-figure business
- Focus more on the money than the client experience
- And not have a system to let the maintenance staff know when a battery needs changing
Now is my business perfect? Nope. And I’d guess yours isn’t either. But what’s important, what’s critical is that we always put ourselves in our clients’ shoes and ask “Does this make sense?” and tweak things appropriately.
After all, our business, regardless of industry, should be to create raving fans who receive great value in partnering with us.
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My Request to You:
Today’s request is a simple one. Look at your business from the perspective of your clients (or prospective clients) and ask “Does this make sense?”
That question needs to come before “How much will I make?” In fact, answering the “Does this make sense?” question first will result in the revenue taking care of itself.