Profitology

Category: Small Business

  • Find the Hidden Profits in Your Business

    Find the Hidden Profits in Your Business

    As business owners, we all are looking for simple ways to increase the profits within our business.

    The common approach is to invest time and money in to marketing to attract new customers and make more sales.

    However, what is often overlooked, is how to generate additional sales revenue from existing customers.

    Afterall, an existing customer made a decision to purchase from you once, and if they were happy with the product and service it is likely they’ll buy from you again, or even better, recommend you to a friend.

    How can you increase sales with existing customers?

     

    1. Consider which other products or services you offer that you can suggest to your existing customers

     

    A cleaning business I worked with were looking for ways to increase their revenues. We identified that many clients on regular cleans would likely be interested in one-off window or carpet cleans. Each existing client was contacted to offer this service, resulting in additional revenue being generated for the business, without a vast outlay in marketing campaigns.

     

    1. Reward your customers for doing business with you. After an initial sale, contact your customers with a discount voucher, or gift if they buy from you again within a certain time frame. Encourage them to refer a friend, by providing a free gift or reward when they do.

    When introducing new products or services, it may be worthwhile offering it to your existing clientele first. This shows that you value their patronage, and also enables you the opportunity to seek feedback to make changes to the product or service (if possible) before targeting a broader market.

     

    1. We are all familiar with the notion of adding on products which complement a purchase. However, something as simple as selling a larger quantity of a product will generate higher revenues and increase profits.

     

    For example, a coffee shop selling a large coffee by default rather than asking the customer which size they would like could increase revenues by as much as 10% per sale.

     

    Looking for other ways to tap in to hidden profits?

     

    Consider these options:

    1. Review your expenses line by line on the profit and loss and identify which items you are incurring unnecessarily. You may be paying for a regular subscription which you are not using.
    2. Compare suppliers to ensure you are getting the best value for money. It is amazing how quickly mobile phone plans are upgraded. You may be paying an excessive amount for a small amount of service.
    3. Increase your prices. A minor increase of 5 or 10% will unlikely go unnoticed, yet be added straight to the bottom line.

    If you’re stuck for ideas as to how to tap in to that hidden profit potential, reach out to your brainstrust – your employees, accountant or business advisor will be sure to help you identify those untapped profits.

  • Overcoming the struggle of keeping up with technology

    Overcoming the struggle of keeping up with technology

    We live in a time when we are surrounded by numerous forms of technologies to make our lives easier. Technological advancement has impacted on how businesses function and owners are constantly faced with pressures to keep up to date with new technologies to streamline, automate, create a digital presence, and cut costs.

    Take, for example, the mobile phone. When I grew up there was no such thing as a mobile phone. In the space of 20 years I have witnessed mobile phones grow from clunky, impractical items to the device everyone carries, which has all but replaced the PC.

    As businesses struggle to keep up with the constant shifts in technology, there is a perceived need to compete to deliver the most efficient product or service, to automate processes, to be accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and so on.

    Business owners are inundated with numerous options to cut costs and gain competitive advantage. It is difficult to know where to focus your attention, or which technologies to implement first to achieve momentum and progress within your business.

    Answer the following questions to gain clarity and certainty as to which technologies, and business practices:

    1. What are the core components within your business that will never change?
    2. How can you utilise technology within your business to improve on the delivery of those core elements?
    3. Will this technology assist you in delivering your values to your customers, or your team in the medium term?

     

    Adopting New Technologies

    Consider the following factors when selecting and implementing technology within your business:

     

    1. Identify the needs of the business first. Don’t introduce a new technology simply because it is popular. Consider the functions you need to fill, and how the adoption will improve the business operations.
    2. Ensure the technology will grow with the business. The technology needs to suit the business for the foreseeable future and meet the business needs as it scales and matures.
    3. Ensure the team is on board with the change. Secure buy-in for the technology in the early stages by seeking input and granting ownership to the change. This will assist with a smoother adoption process and reduce the risk of wasted time and money on the implementation.

     

    To gain and maintain a competitive edge in business, it is vital business owners are investigating new ways of delivering their product or service. However, this should not be at the detriment of the core business.

  • True or False – The Network Marketing Model Meets the Definition of a Business

    True or False – The Network Marketing Model Meets the Definition of a Business

    Network marketing, otherwise referred to as Multi-Level Marketing, is commonly regarded as a sham, and frowned upon by many traditional business owners.

    To clarify, for those not aware, network marketing works where a consultant earns income as a commission of their sales. In addition, they are also entitled to a percentage of the sales made by those consultants who they recruited to the organisation.

    A consultant increases their earning capacity as they grow their team beneath them, and by assisting them to grow their team, and so on. Well known examples of these business types include Tupperware, Mary Kay, Arbonne, and even Thermomix.

    Although these organisations may not be highly regarded, I suspect that most women have attended at least one event, or “party” for a network marketing business.

     

    Let’s look at the Network Marketing Model closely:

     

    1. There is no need to hold stock or products. Like the now hugely popular online dropshipping business model, products are ordered and paid for upfront by customers. At this time, the products are shipped to the customers directly, or to the consultant to deliver to the customer. This eliminates the need for large cash injections to buy stock, or to incur storage fees to store large stock supplies. It also eliminates the potential cost of spoilage for a consultant.
    2. There are no fixed overheads such as rent. Generally, sales are made during host parties in their homes, or on-line or over the phone.
    3. A consultant has the flexibility to work the hours they choose.
    4. The team is engaged on a commission only basis. Ie, they get paid based on the amount of time and effort they are willing to put in. Further, As their leader, the Consultant is rewarded based on the support and guidance that provided to encourage and assist them to succeed. This remuneration arrangement creates a direct correlation between skills and efforts; and financial reward.

     

    Like any business, in order to be successful, you must be prepared to put in the hours, and take the necessary risks to achieve growth. I must admit, I have been swayed that the network marketing model is an extremely clever and sound business model.

    How can you adopt these practices in to your business?

  • Position Vacant: Entrepreneur

    Position Vacant: Entrepreneur

    Role Description:

    Work Hours –  5 to 9

    Holidays – One every 4 years

    Reports to – All clients, prospective clients, employees, investors, suppliers and the community

    Salary – non-existent

     

    To be successful in this role you will possess a passion for your idea, ensuring your relentless persistence in seeing it succeed.

    You will be committed to continuous learning, seeking efficiencies, process improvement and of course, generating profits.

    You must have the ability to flourish in the unknown. This role will remove the security of a regular paycheque, the certainty around the hours of work, and the ability to switch off at the end of the day.

    Reporting to Customers, Employees, Investors, and Suppliers (at a minimum), you will be torn by the need to prioritise according to importance and be able to effectively communicate with others.

    Persons seeking work/life balance need not apply. This role requires a constant juggle between spending time in the business and enjoying time with the family, catching up with friends, and squeezing that little bit of time for the most important aspect – You.

    The successful Entrepreneur will gain immense satisfaction from:

    • the exhilaration of landing a new client, or a customer placing a large order;
    • the joy of sending out an invoice, and seeing that payment hit the bank account;
    • seeing an employee blossom in their career;
    • building a sustainable business to create financial freedom, and living the lifestyle they choose
    • seeing their product or service being enjoyed by their customers

    Although written in jest, any business owner/entrepreneur will attest to the accuracy of this description.

    If this sounds like you, there is no need to apply. Do your research, ensure you have a viable business model, seek advice from your advisers and most importantly, have fun.

  • Is poor Cashflow keeping you awake at night? Follow these 6 tips for a better night’s sleep

    Is poor Cashflow keeping you awake at night? Follow these 6 tips for a better night’s sleep

    Regardless of what stage of business you are in, cash flow, or the lack thereof will impact on your ability to operate your business.

    In my experience, poor cashflow creates pressure and stress for a business owner. Their focus and time is drawn away from the core operations of their business as they worry how wages will be paid, suppliers will be kept happy, and other creditors obligations are met.

    Further, poor cash flow makes it difficult for business owners to take advantage of opportunities such as new product lines, new technology or other equipment for the business.

    Simple aspects such as taking advantage of supplier discounts may also be a lost opportunity.

    If poor cash flow is hindering your business, you may benefit from one (or more) of the following tips:

    1. Ensure your terms of trade are documents and clearly communicated to your customers. More importantly, implement a process for following up debtors when they fall overdue.  Remember, the squeaky wheel is the one which gets dealt with first.
      Offering for the debt to be paid by instalments, and receiving a first instalment prevents your debtors from being able to argue with the invoice amount at a later stage. If your debtors are slow in paying or avoiding your efforts to make contact, consider engaging formal debt collection. Despite common belief, initial debt collection processes are often a cost effective means of recovering debt.
    2. Progress billing is an option that is often overlooked. Are you able to request a deposit upfront, followed by progress claims as you complete certain milestones of the assignment? To ensure you benefit fully from this process, ensure the progress invoices are in line with the work being performed.
      An example of this is an electrician I worked with who often found cash flow to be tight when working on large build jobs. The majority of the work is performed in the early stages of a build contract, yet he was invoicing more than 50% of the job on completion.
      Given that the timeframe of a job may span 3 or more months this significantly strained his cash flow. A simple change of invoicing 50% for the progress claim brought the invoicing in line with the work performed and made a significant difference to his cash flow.
    1. Consider providing fee proposals for service agreements and invoicing the service monthly on a fixed fee arrangement. his also assists with cashflow for your customers as it spreads the cost out for them. Further, implementing direct debit as a set and forget process ensures you receive regular cash injections, and avoid the need to chase outstanding payments.
    1. On a similar theme to the above tip, ask suppliers for arrangements to pay ongoing expenses in monthly instalments to spread out payments. This will reduce “lumpy” payments which can put strain on cash for a business.
    1. Where your business has significant wages and superannuation expense, consider depositing the PAYG Withholding and superannuation obligations in to a separate bank account at the time each payroll is prepared. Discipline is key here. Although it is tempting to touch the funds when needs arise, the promise of “I’ll pay it back” is rarely kept and businesses are unable to meet tax and superannuation obligations as they fall due.
    1. Cash is often used to purchase stock items, which then sit on the shelf waiting to be sold. Reviewing stock purchasing practices to limit stock holdings is an effective way of improving cash flow. Ordering more frequent, smaller quantities of inventory items may improve cash flow for a business. In addition to this, where stock is not selling, it is worth considering promotions to sell the stock and collect cash to reinvest in other popular stock items.

    As a final note, a business which generates small, or no profits, will undoubtedly face cash flow strain with business owners forced to inject their own funds, or seek other external funds to prop up the business. Reviewing the profit and loss on a regular basis will enable a business owner to identify those expenses which should be reduced, or eliminated.

    Need further guidance to improve cash flow in your business? Contact me to discuss your business cash flow needs.

  • What Messages Are Your Prices Conveying?

    What Messages Are Your Prices Conveying?

    I recently met with a client who is establishing a service-based business. She is developing her service packages and choosing the prices to assign to each package.

     

    She has chosen to niche her service to a particular industry which she has worked in for over 20 years, and consequently will be bringing her experience and expertise to her service.

     

    After agonising on her prices she presented me with her proposed pricing structure based on the size of the organisations she expects to be working with.

    Her total price for her complete package, consisting of 4 services, were as follows:

     

    Small Business – 0-20 employees                           $3,500

    Medium Business – 20-100 employees                 $4,500

    Large Business – 100+ employees                          $6,500

     

    My advice – $6,500 for an organisation employing more than 100 people is a drop in the ocean, and likely does not accurately reflect the amount of time and effort which will be required in order to deliver the service.

     

    From another perspective, imagine you were the decision maker for this business, and you were presented with 2 or 3 quotes for comparative work.

     

    Proposal A         $6,500

    Proposal B         $17,000

    Proposal C         $29,000

     

    Which would you choose, and why?

     

    The old adage, “You Get What You Pay For” probably heavily influences the decision, even though the service quality may be as good, if not, better.

     

    What message is your pricing strategy telling your (potential) customers?

  • 3 Tested Elevator Pitch Examples for Every Business Owner

    3 Tested Elevator Pitch Examples for Every Business Owner

    I almost cringe when I hear the term “Elevator Pitch” these days. It has been used so extensively that I automatically think “Warning, warning – sales pitch alert!” However, there is certainly a time and place to pull an elevator pitch out of your business “toolbox”.

    Where might an elevator pitch be suitable?

    At any given moment, you need to be ready to grab people’s attention and get them curious or excited about what you do. Any interaction can present an opportunity to talk about your business, yet a well-prepared elevator pitch will come in handy at:

    1. A networking event
    2. A business conference or event
    3. A friend’s party

    Being able to capture someone’s attention with a catchy, witty description of what you do is far more engaging than simply stating “I’m an accountant”, or “I’m a plumber”. When you respond with a job title, they automatically place you in a “box” based on their experience and knowledge of what they think you do. You will be missing a great opportunity to impress or attract potential customers or investors.

    But if you can engage them in a conversation by explaining how you solve a problem or fulfil a customer’s need, you have a far greater chance of securing a lead or referral. So rehearse a brief, persuasive elevator pitch and use it to seize every business opportunity.

    So, how do you write an elevator pitch?

    An effective pitch includes the following elements:

    1. what you do – a pithy message that shows what your business is about and what makes you unique
    2. an enticement to learn more – a hook that intrigues people, prompting them to want to know more about you and your business
    3. an encouragement for lead or referral – a clear and concise call-to-action

    There are different ways to create your pitch. The most appropriate one depends upon what you are comfortable with and the situation you are in. So, how do you craft an effective elevator pitch?

    To get you started, here are three techniques that are used quite a lot because they work:

    The Slogan or Tag-Line Approach

    This is a single line statement that hints at what you do and creates curiosity for your audience. For example, for my accounting business, my tag-line pitch would be:
    “I keep Small Business Owners on Target”
    This provides an indication of my ideal clients, and encourages the audience to probe for more information.

    The Value Proposition

    As a business owner, you need to identify your winning difference – the quality or qualities that set you apart from the competition. Here’s a template you can follow:

    • Our (Products and Services)
    • Helps (Customer Segment)
    • Who want to (Task to be completed)
    • By (how you reduce the customer’s pain)
    • And (how you provide a win for the customer)
    • Unlike Your competitor

    This end part, although not said aloud, helps you to fine tune the pitch. Using the example of my accounting firm:

    Our accounting firm

    • Helps small business owners
    • Who want to take control of their business and their figures
    • By taking care of the red tape
    • And conducting quarterly meetings to discuss the business performance
    • Unlike most other accounting firms

    The Geddes Pitch

    Another way of writing a powerful elevator pitch is by proving that you can get results. The Geddes Pitch format forces you to think of a convincing proof that your product or service works.

    • You Know How…
    • We do…
    • In Fact…

    Again, applying this pitch to my accounting firm:

    • (You Know How…) Most small business owners struggle to keep on top of their tax obligations and have little understanding of the financial aspects of their business?
    • (We do…) At Archer Business Consulting, we offer quarterly review meetings to enable small business owners to manage their tax obligations and gain clarity around how profitable their business is on an ongoing basis.
    • (In Fact…) We have seen our clients achieve growth in the range of 2x to 4x by working with us on an ongoing basis in reviewing their figures.

    Final tips for developing your pitch:

    Here are some bonus tips to remember when writing an amazing elevator pitch:

    1. Have a memorable hook.
    2. Don’t ramble.
    3. Be authentic.
    4. Ensure the pitch aligns with your personality.

    When you know yourself and your business well, you can use any of these top techniques in creating the elevator pitch that is consistent with your brand and resonates with your target audience. If you have written a pitch before, see if you can tweak it a bit for more impact.

    Over to you

    Which technique on this list would you like to snag? When in doubt, try to write your elevator speech by using all these techniques, and then select the one you like the most.
    Use your improved elevator pitch as often as you see fit. Try it with with different people at various situations and observe the number of lead or sale that you generate from the pitch.

  • Are Your Business Systems Hurting or Helping You?

    Are Your Business Systems Hurting or Helping You?

    One evening, I was watching my daughter feed the dog. I noticed she would spoon the biscuits one by one into the dog bowl. The process was painfully slow. But given it wasn’t hurting anything and she was entertained while I cooked dinner, I let her go on.

    Then it dawned on me how many of us continue with slow systems when running our business. Though our current business systems are not necessarily the most efficient way to complete a task, we still don’t change them. It’s crazy, isn’t it?

    Many years ago, I had a client who vented his frustrations about a staff member who performed a particular task really slow. The said employee would set up a piece of equipment on the work bench at the start of his shift. At the end of the day, he would disassemble the equipment and put it away for storage. If he didn’t dismantle the equipment, he wouldn’t have to reassemble it for the next day’s use, saving the company hours of unnecessary work.

    It’s a simple change. But it makes a lot of difference over a long period of time. These minor inefficiencies within the business add up, affecting the company’s productivity (and profit).

    I had a similar experience at a firm where I used to work at. Their system of invoicing clients was also incredibly frustrating. There are too many steps involved for something as simple as creating an invoice for a client.

    To give you an idea, here was the process:

    1. The manager notifies the admin that a job could be billed.
    2. The admin then pulls the report containing the amount of time spent on the job to send back to the manager. This document also has the amount billed the last time the same job was prepared, if applicable.
    3. After receiving this report, the manager advises the admin how much they want to invoice.
    4. Subsequently, the admin drafts the invoices to send back to the manager (e.g. for proofreading or to check the wording).
    5. Afterwards, the manager reviews the process. If it’s okay, he will send it to a partner for final approval. If changes are needed, he has to send it back to the admin for changes. The admin will make the necessary corrections and send the invoice to the manager who will forward the error-free document to the partner.
    6. When the partner finally approves the invoice, he will notify the admin to send the invoice to the client.

    This clearly illustrates that the existence of a system does not necessarily mean business processes are as efficient as they could be.

    Taking the time to analyse your system’s effectiveness could save you valuable time and might lead to a much better bottom line.

    So, when was the last time you stepped back and reviewed your systems?

  • A Valuable Lesson from Real Stories: Ask for Help When You Need It

    A Valuable Lesson from Real Stories: Ask for Help When You Need It

    Recently, I attended a women’s networking event where the guest speaker was Jessica Rowe. She told us how she moved through her career and touched on her personal experience with depression. Here’s a short version of the story.

    Jessica’s mother suffered from depression, and as a child she would watch her go in and out of the hospital on many occasions. Years later, she became an advocate of BeyondBlue, helping people cope with depression. She had no idea she would ever need the same help after she had her first daughter.

    While she knew from training and experience that she was suffering from Postnatal Depression, she was in denial. She couldn’t admit the fact that she needed help. She didn’t follow good advice and ignored everything that she was teaching others at BeyondBlue. She knew that she had to reach out, share her story and get help to get better yet it took her awhile to seek treatment for her condition.

    And it made me think about how we all know the way we should do things (or what we shouldn’t do), but don’t act on it.

    For example, you are aware that something is wrong with your business and you recognise that you should be doing something differently. But it’s the way you’ve always done things and you don’t want to step outside your comfort zone. You are scared of change.

    And what if you make the change and then things still don’t work well? Isn’t this fear of failure?

    Sometimes, you sense that something is not working and you honestly don’t know how to fix it. You know you can ask somebody else for advice but sometimes you find it difficult to do so. Even when things aren’t working or when you don’t know the solution to your problem, you can’t bring yourself to ask for help.

    And what do we do instead? We put so much pressure on ourselves to figure things out on our own. We strive to excel at something we are not good at so we end up not being able to do as well as what we thought we could.

    Which brings me to another example.

    I spoke to a client who was moving to the next phase of her business while going through a marriage breakdown. So understandably, she focused on fixing her troubled marriage rather than tend to her business. To make matters worse, one of her key employees left the business so she had to replace her.

    Preoccupied by marital troubles, she took her eyes off the business and during that period, the new employee started stealing from her. It took a little while before she noticed because she wasn’t there all the time. And then when she did notice, she had to work out how she was going to deal with it.

    And when I spoke with her later, I told her, “What, you could have called me, I would be happy to help you.”

    And she admitted that she hadn’t reached out because she was embarrassed, though she wasn’t doing anything wrong. She couldn’t admit that there was a problem in her business and she felt shy reaching out for help.

    So I did take a lesson from these two stories. Even though you may know something or notice there is something wrong, you may not know how to act on it.

    We forget that there is someone who can and willing to help you find a solution to your problem, get through the hard times, or get back on your feet.

    It only takes courage to put your hand up and say, “Hey, I need help.”

    Nobody is going to judge you when you admit that you need help. No one is going to think badly of you because you don’t know how to do something. In fact, we admire people who recognise their problem and seek out the advice and assistance that they need.

    So give it some thought. See who among your network of friends and business associates you can reach out to for help on personal and business matters. Then pick up the phone, shoot off an email and just find out how you might be able to deal with a problem now and then with their support.

  • Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

    Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

    Most of us will agree that copying is bad. At school, we are trained not to copy. We are punished if we are caught regurgitating the ideas and thoughts of our peers.

    We are taught to think for ourselves, to justify our own logic, to prove our point.

    This is why, in business, we find it frustrating when our competitors copy our best ideas. Of course, it is unfair. It took you so much time and energy to create a brilliant and original product or service, only to be ripped off by others.

    Naturally, we invest in trademarks and patents to guard our intellectual property. And rightly so. Yet even with these protection measures in place, it doesn’t stop our competitors from stealing our ideas for their own gain.

    In these circumstances, we weigh the pros and cons of each action or reaction and then choose the best decision. Often, we have two options: fight the infringement or accept it and move on fast. If you decide to move on, pay close attention to your most important clients and address their most pressing needs as quickly as you can.

    But also consider the copycat’s potential threat to your business. This will help you determine whether or not to pursue legal action. If you think the potential damage is minimal, the ideal response would be to revel in the fact that you had an idea worthy of imitation.

    Are You Wasting Time Reinventing the Wheel?

    Incessant innovation allows us to stay a step ahead of our competitors. That’s the reason why we invest our efforts developing new products or processes that solve our customers’ problems. But how do we do this?

    By learning from the mistakes and successes of our mentors and business heroes.

    Yes, that’s right – we copy, or rather, tap into the wealth of knowledge and wisdom of those who have walked in our footsteps before us.

    Let’s face it, in business, and life in general, we make far greater inroads when we use information from our more experienced peers and predecessors.

    We could benefit from the insights, suggestions, and guidance of business coaches who have grappled and overcome many challenges similar to our present problems.

    With their support and expertise, we will be able to deal better with tough situations, gain clarity, and fast track business growth.

    Why recreate the wheel when others have paved the way before us?

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  • Why You Shouldn’t Under Promise and Over Deliver

    Why You Shouldn’t Under Promise and Over Deliver

    “Under promise and over deliver,” so goes the age-old business adage. You must have heard of this saying a hundred times from CEO’s, entrepreneurs and small business owners who hope to exceed their customer’s expectations. To what end? In the hope of gaining the customer’s trust, recognition, and repeated business.

    This well-known approach of providing excellent customer service encourages businesses to go above and beyond what clients expect. After all, exceptional customer service is one the key elements of running a successful business.

    When you underpromise and overdeliver, you aim to impress your clients by doing more than what you said you would. You either complete a project ahead of schedule or you deliver more value than what you initially promised. All these efforts will pay off once your client recognises the “over-delivery”.

    I urge you to challenge this widely-accepted belief.

    Consider for a moment how under promising and over delivering could potentially hinder your brand and hamper your business growth.

    Try to think how often you set a deadline for a task or project, estimating that you can get it done sooner, only to find that you are struggling to deliver on the promise.

    Or perhaps, you let other tasks get pushed or take priority so you fail to meet the deadline you have set. Try as you might, it’s not easy to avoid this common pitfall: thinking you still have plenty of time to complete the under promised task. It goes without saying that if you break a promise, you also lose the wow factor of “over delivery”.

    Further, ask yourself if your efforts to over deliver are truly worth it.  Do your clients notice or appreciate when you complete something by Thursday afternoon after telling them it would be done by Friday? You said BY Friday, and you delivered. Your clients were happy that the job was done. But have you impressed them?

    In an alternate scenario, you tell the customer that you can do X and Y. And then, you have actually delivered X, Y, and Z. Your customer is likely grateful that you did as you said you would. Perhaps they will gladly take the additional service. At the same time, the customers might be also wondering, if you had finished more than the two items you promised, you might have completed them sooner.

    Think of the alternative

    Here’s a challenge for you: in the competitive environment we are faced with today, you are far better off promising what you know you can deliver when you can deliver it, and fulfilling that promise.

    You will have far more success in business if you set out to wow your customers from the beginning by promising what you can actually deliver (x, y and z) and do so on schedule. After all, generosity in business dealings is not exactly valued as many of us would expect.

    Concentrate your efforts on maintaining a good reputation among your clients. Only promise a schedule, service, or level of quality that you can actually deliver.

    Over to you: Do you habitually exceed your customer’s expectations? Or do you focus more on keeping your commitments? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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  • Why Businesses Thrive with Feedback

    Why Businesses Thrive with Feedback

    Recently I ran a full-day workshop for clients. Many of the attendees seemed to find the workshop enjoyable and helpful. They actively contributed to the discussions in all sessions.

    There were great vibes in the room all day long. But you can never tell how you impact others until you get their feedback.

    Then I read the feedback forms…

    Truth is, the overall assessment wasn’t terrible. In fact, they gave me some great pointers I could use for future events. But I’ll admit that the feedback stung a little bit, especially because they were not what I expected.

    Maybe it’s the perfectionist in me. I was crushed because I always desire to excel in everything I do. But after that initial disappointment, I was able to reflect more clearly on the feedback I had received.Without getting the participants’ feedback, I wouldn’t have gained valuable information and insights on areas to focus on for improvement.

    I find that getting feedback from clients is the easiest and fastest way to learn and do my work better.

    Why Business Owners Need Feedback

    Receiving well-thought-out feedback helps us grow. As a small business owner, there are plenty of reasons to seek feedback from customers about the product or service you provide. Here’s a short list I have come up with:

    1. Encouraging feedback opens the lines of communication.

    When you show your customers that you welcome their feedback, you are less likely to lose them. In fact, they start to feel comfortable giving comments on areas you need to work on. This honest sharing (or disclosure) ensures that problems or issues are acted upon, resulting in happy clients.

    1. Regularly asking for feedback builds customer loyalty.

    By taking the time to ask clients to rate your product or service, you show that you care about their views or opinions.  When you embrace customer feedback like it’s a blessing, you are more likely to have repeat business.

    1. Businesses that value customer feedback get more referrals.

    Continuing from point #2, when customers are convinced that you care about their experience with your product or service, they begin to trust you. Don’t take their comments for granted and they become more willing to refer your business to their friends, family members or colleagues.

    1. Positive feedback boosts employee morale.

    Satisfied clients and happy customers often leave great reviews of your product or service. The staff that provided exceptional service gets credit for the job well done. This, in turn, helps improve the employee’s morale and productivity at work.

    1. Spot training opportunities through feedback.

    We all have blind spots – weaknesses or flaws in our behaviors that we don’t realise until an outsider points them out. Soliciting feedback helps us identify what we need to improve. Fight the urge to react or defend yourself. Instead, try to see feedback as an opportunity to change for the better. This practice will help you look at your business from different angles with the view of continuous improvement.

    Get into the habit of seeking feedback. The more frequent you ask for feedback about your performance, product, or services, the easier it will be to think it’s a normal part of growing your business.  

    Try it today. Ask your customer for feedback. Start with this question:

    What’s one thing that I could do with my product or service differently that would make it better?