Small business owners use various methods to get their message out there.
Which are the most popular? The infographic below from Bolt will give you an idea.
Via: Bolt Insurance
Wednesday,
September
26th,
2012
As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others. ~ Audrey Hepburn
What I’ve realized, even while writing these posts, is that customer service is relative to the person or the group you’re providing service for. Finding out what your customers need and what makes them happy and then providing that in the most gracious manner possible is what great customer service is all about.
Let’s take a look at a study done in Canada. The results? Canadians are fed up with poor customer service! With all of the avenues available now for companies to receive feedback from and interact with their customers, consumers are more unhappy than they have ever been with the way they are treated, not only by the employees, but the actual management and owners of both small businesses and large corporations.
How can this be turned around?
Take the time to stop and listen, really listen. Be accessible. Never be too busy to listen to what your customers are telling you.
Know your customer demographics. Who buys from you? Where do they live? What do they do? How old are they?
Most important – like what you do. Especially in a position where you are dealing with people one to one, you need to love your job. If you don’t love it, leave it and let someone else do the job who is more suited to it. Your customers deserve it and they expect the best.
As I get older, I expect better service. While in earlier years, it may not have mattered as much to me what service was like, now I notice it everywhere I go. But then, when I look back, poor customer service was very rare. What is it that is creating a larger gap between what we pay for and what we receive?
As I mentioned at the onset of this post – customer service is relative to the person or group you are providing service for. Senior citizens deserve a special mention here.
Patience is one of the most needed attributes when dealing with some customers who are older. Whether because of poor health, declining eyesight and/or hearing or many other reasons, these citizens may take longer to deal with than other customers. There are many products and services now which are available specifically for the elderly and infirm so be sure they understand you when you speak to them and take your time.
There is no reason to treat someone rudely because they can’t hear you or aren’t as quick as they used to be. Remember, those who may look old to someone who is 20, look awfully young to someone who is 75! Once again, it is all relative.
To wrap this up – If you want to differentiate your business from other businesses, your customer service really does have to be better than the rest, without exception. Remember what it feels like to be on the receiving end and never promise what you can’t deliver.
Chris Draper
courtesy of Meiji Stewart.
www.ABCPoems.com
Categories : Customer Service
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Tuesday,
September
25th,
2012
All successful businesses begin with an idea.
Some may say the “idea” comes from nothing – out of the clear blue sky. Others believe there’s no longer any such thing as a truly original idea. My sense is that all ‘new’ ideas are inspired by the collective consciousness of all visionary thought leaders, scientists, and creators, past and present. Our inspiration then comes through our knowledge of da Vinci, van Gogh, Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, the Wright Brothers, and the Coen Brothers. Now that’s an exciting starting point!
Here’s how I see that original inspiration playing out… Once that idea takes form in an entrepreneur’s mind, we begin to fall in love. That spark of inspiration is what leads your business to become your top priority and your ‘baby’.
It’s that drive/love that leads you to turn a small business “idea” into a “real business”.
This falling in love phase seems to be closely followed by the “perception” of stress in running a “real business”. (I say “perception”, because it is only an idea. That idea can be changed or modified to suit you and your customers better at any time. Ideas are fun, actually implementing them is the hard part.)
Hence, the feeling of falling out of love with your business beckons. I have personally experienced this feeling of falling in and out of love several times with all of the companies I have created.
As we enter Q4, I’d like to invite you to take a step back to ask yourself: Are you currently in love with your business? If your answer is yes, CONGRATULATIONS, I believe your clients, team and prospects will pick up on that energy and it will lead to more and more abundance and love.
If however your answer is no, then you probably feel overwhelmed with no free time and aren’t sure how to keep all of the balls in the air. (It appears to be one of the rights of passage for any successful entrepreneur.) Alicia Keys has a great song that sings to this falling in and out of love.
Having a healthy and loving relationship with you business is your most important focus as an entrepreneur. You are the leader and visionary responsible for setting the course for your business. If you’re not feeling the love, no one else will.
Luckily, the common cause for these issues can be easily cured… Stop trying to do it all yourself! Realize that your business has progressed and your strategies need to follow suit. I feel the biggest cause to feeling out of love with your business is when you are not doing the stuff you love to do as much as the other stuff. As your business grows, your team must do the same or you will end up uninspired and unhappy.
If you’re feeling business related guilt in any form, it’s a sign that your business has grown beyond you. Congratulations!
Maybe it’s even gone as far as cheating on your business, you are looking for other things you can do?
Your next step is to fall back in love with your business and establish healthy boundaries. Build your dream team that will take your ideal business vision and bring it into reality while taking on the tasks that are not your genius ability.
We invite you to connect with us to discuss your vision and how we can support you.
Gary Evans
Chief Growth Officer
P.S. Don’t forget, as you were inspired, you will so inspire! As your business grows others will soon follow your lead and start on their journey down their own entrepreneurial path…
Categories : Small Business
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Tuesday,
September
25th,
2012
Our clients mean the world to us! As such, we feel they can speak best to our capabilities by sharing their stories and how we’ve helped their businesses grow.
We’d like to introduce you to our happy clients Patrick James Duffy and Adrienne Arlen Duffy, founders of Big Futures Inc.
Patrick and Adrienne are internationally acclaimed speakers, facilitators, authors and coaches. They are the architects of The Moon Project®, a platform of innovative organizational development and leadership programs designed to help individuals and teams achieve their vision and goals in order to reach their “Big Future.” The Moon Project is a direct result of the wisdom Patrick and Adrienne have accumulated while facilitating client achievements for almost 30 years.
The Moon Project® is a metaphor – built upon historical facts; and ignited by the courage and imagination of the actual moon missions over 40 years ago! The Moon Project ignites a leadership quest in which the power of vision, the merits of strategic planning and the commitment to organizational excellence is authentically, accountably and heroically pursued while achieving extraordinary results.
In addition to The Moon Project® Flight Plan™, there are numerous Moon Project products and services that are available for additional organizational and leadership development including onsite workshops, coaching sessions, forum retreats, strategy meetings, performance evaluation technologies, process certifications, and client-specific customized video production and training module design.
[Here’s where we’d like to ‘pass the mic’ to Patrick and Adrienne, to share more in their own words…]
Big Futures clients are typically extraordinary business owners or CEOs who choose to answer a heroic call to transform their companies or services while growing team members to reach their potential and focusing on results that matter. The biggest demand on leadership today is to balance these three factors while creating progress. Our clients tend to see the need to chart a new direction, transform their organization and grow their capabilities to reach beyond what was thought possible – their own “Moon Project”. Through the pursuit of their Moon Project, our clients will face many challenges such as: volatile markets, organizational complexities and restricted resources. With an abundance of proven and applied proprietary coaching tools and strategic processes, Big Futures is committed to meeting our client challenges head-on; and creating value that incites confidence, clarity and certainty – wisdom they can trust.
We believe each leader, team and organization have the potential to uniquely contribute transformation results to the community of stakeholders they serve in their area of focus and passion. Our role is to evaluate, strategize, nurture and enable each leader, team or community to believe in their vision while grounding success and accountability in their experience. When we experience gifted people achieving that kind of success and impact; we are inspired beyond words.
DemGen has proven itself to be an innovative organization of talented individuals who create value for us with both passion and integrity. Our experience at Big Futures is they are supportive teammates who enable us to better respond to both the opportunities and demands of our own clients.
We feel partnering with DemGen this year is a significant milestone in enabling us to take even more responsibility and accountability with our own clients; while simplifying our game plan with great new capabilities.
Going virtual with inside support has been a positive breakthrough; helping us to better navigate the challenging path of managing resources while being productive and focused. Our referral of DemGen to numerous clients and associates of our own in a relatively short time frame speaks directly to the high regard with which we view them.
DemGen continues to meet or exceed our expectations – and we believe that is a strong endorsement given the leadership league we operate in.
Thank you DemGen!
Patrick and Adrienne Duffy
Categories : Virtual Teams
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Tuesday,
September
25th,
2012
We recently made “the switch” to Infusionsoft and our internal team is feeling collective excitement while we learn even more benefits.
As we celebrated the time and money savings, and breathed a collective sigh of relief about how much easier it will make our lives, we realized just how similar our companies are…
DemGen is all about automation! Our goal is to grow companies to the point their leaders have a choice about how much time they want to invest and only work on what they choose to.
Our greatest value is our expert team. Our talent vault of experts has been growing for the past 6 years. We have a comprehensive hiring process that includes Kolbe testing to ensure we have the perfect fit for our clients. You give the specifics of the tasks required to one project manager and they handle the rest.
Infusionsoft has done the same for us! We used to require numerous systems, programs and people to do what we needed to do. Now we can do it all in one place! They’ve done the same with technology as we’ve done for virtual teams…
Where we used to have multiple people/systems/databases, to handle marketing and sales of products and services, we now have one system to handle email marketing, CRM, landing/sales pages, referral partners/affiliates and e-commerce!
We’ll continue to share what we learn as we grow with Infusionsoft, just as our clients do with us.
Click here for more information on Infusionsoft!
Categories : Business Tools
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Tuesday,
September
25th,
2012
We noticed an emerging trend in the business world quite some time ago and it does not appear to be slowing down… Women Entrepreneurs!
They come from many different walks of life. Some decided to start their own business to spend more time with their families. Others were sick of the corporate world and ready to make a change. Many are wife and husband teams. All have great businesses!
(Men, we’re definitely not trying to downplay any of your efforts. We’re simply commenting on a very prevalent trend that keeps continuing to grow.)
We’re always monitoring what’s going on in the current business place to ensure we serve our clients best and this is a trend that evidently can’t be ignored!
A lot of our content already speaks to Women Entrepreneurs based on what we’ve heard from our clients, readers and team. (Our expert team includes a number of women entrepreneurs and mompreneurs).
We also know that women entrepreneurs and mompreneurs face unique issues…
What additional valuable information can we provide to women like you, either through our services, blog or ebooks? What unique business problems do you regularly experience?
Share your unique voice either by commenting on this post or via email to info@demgen.com. We may include you in our upcoming content!
We’ve made amazing transformations for our clients and want to do the same for you (even if you aren’t a client yet).
Categories : Women Entrepreneurs
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Friday,
September
21st,
2012
Once the first several weeks of September are over, the students are back in school and the adults have returned to their autumn routines, many of us hit a sudden slump after the rush of activities have been attended to. Keeping your energy up and focused can be as easy as deciding what’s most important to you over the next several months.
Make a list for the upcoming season. This can be anything from projects around the house to Christmas lists to indoor recreational activities such as books, games and get to-gethers.
Wrap up what you can. The remainder of the leaves are falling from the trees and those of us with gardens are putting them to bed for the winter. This is a good time to not only plant bulbs for the spring but also come up with gardening ideas for the following year and goals we wish to attain. It’s also time to complete other projects for this year and finish up what we want to accomplish for 2012.
Take a short getaway. Autumn is a beautiful time to spend a day or two travelling close to home. The autumn colors are starting and if you live in Ontario, you have a week left to take your last trip on the Northlander train which is a comfortable way to see a large part of Ontario at the best time of the year. After September 28th, this huge part of Ontario’s history will be gone.
Start a new business. Yard clean up is popular at this time of year and many people hire professional organizers for their homes and their businesses. Any type of cleaning business is always in demand, including closing up cottages for the winter.
Whatever you decide on, take advantage of the cooler, crisper days, get out there and you’ll find your energy levels rising!
© 2012 DemGen All Rights Reserved.
image courtesy of still.on.the.road
Categories : Productivity
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Thursday,
September
20th,
2012
Today is where your book begins. The rest is still un-written…..
The ocean is rough here today in Ft. Lauderdale. Maybe as a result of the many emotions and big ideas uncovered here at Fabienne Fredricksons Mindset retreat. An event I had the privilege of attending this week which helps transform your mindset to attract abundance and play a much BIGGER GAME in your business. I met some incredible entrepreneurs; some I am sure I will get to know quite well as they are amazing women and I enjoyed every minute I spent with them. Many we will do business with and DemGen will help them grow their businesses and play that big game they are destined for. Some we will learn from and they will help us as our business grows.
Any way you slice it, I feel blessed. Overjoyed. Pumped.
The Mindset Retreat is not your average business seminar. No classrooms or workshops. No required learning. But there were lots of hugs and sharing and some tears too. It is three days of intense examination of your mindset and how it may be holding you back from achieving all that you are meant to achieve in your life and business. The premise is brilliant and as a business development strategist I applaud Fabienne for leading the way here and sharing all that she has learned with the many entrepreneurs willing to dig deep inside and un-earth their blocks.
I dug deep. I cried and hugged. I did it all friends. I am a better woman for it.
But I also made connections and networked with other entrepreneurs. Authentic connections that feel great! Tina and Dan Forsyth for example. We work in the same circles and are members of her International Association of Online Business Manager’s, but they are also really great people and helping so many entrepreneurs with the many aspects of running their on-line businesses.
A big ‘Woohoo’ to you both. 😉
There are many ways to grow your business, and DemGen sure knows a thing or two about that. But what the 300 people attending learned in sunny Florida this week is that it’s up to each of us to allow it to happen. Attract it and recognize the signs when they come.
Woooohooooo!!
Kristen Babrociak
Director of Growth Operations
DemGen Inc.
Categories : Entrepreneurial Lifestyle
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Wednesday,
September
19th,
2012
Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it. ~ Peter Drucker
A person’s a person, no matter how small. ~ Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who!
Picking up where we left off last week, we’ll continue today with how we view customer service while quite young and through our younger years. Also, are younger customers treated differently than those who are older?
Children don’t understand the concept of customer service but I think that, even more than adults, they know when they are being treated well.
In recent years, businesses and advertising have catered to the young more than ever. Products and services that never before existed have sprung up in many distinct niches. Parents of young children and teenagers alike have taken advantage of everything on offer. Has this changed the face of customer service?
Sit beside me and let me tell you a story…..
Like most small children, I didn’t really understand adults but was able to see right through any attempts to cajole me into something or, (as I thought), attempt to make me do something I didn’t want to do.
Quite determined and with a mind of my own, yet not wanting to hurt anyone’s feelings, I’d simply nod my head in agreement and go off and do what I wanted to do anyway!
Looking back, I still remember what has to be considered as great customer service and most likely a very embarrassing moment for my mother. She had taken me out for lunch and when we finished our meal, I broke into my rendition of a song that was very popular at that time. If I told you what the song was, you would understand the embarrassment factor but for now, I won’t..it would really date me. Maybe in my last post 🙂
Great customer service: from a restaurant that thought it was perfectly ok for a three year old girl to sing a song after her meal and brought her an extra large dish of ice cream as a thank you. I may not have thought of this as customer service at the time but to my young eyes, this was a place to come back to!
And isn’t that what it’s all about? You want your customers to come back. You want them to pass on to others what fantastic service and products they received from you, that it was worth every penny and more. Even though I was much too young to understand the concept, you can bet I told my friend about it, who told their parents, who told…you see what I mean. The concept of what I received that day differed greatly from what the restaurant employees saw as their offer. I felt special!
Now, the great service I received at the restaurant took place in a time when young children were not catered to, thought of as little adults that should be listened to or taken very seriously at all. Because of this, it was quite an unusual occurrence. These days, restaurants host birthday parties and every other type of celebration imaginable for young children, though nothing as spur of the moment as what occurred that day when I was younger.
Younger people now take the products and services available to them for granted, not realizing there was a time when none of this was available for them. Advertising at that time was directly aimed at adults. Adults had the buying power, complete say so over where their money went and the influence to change both advertisers and businesses.
Next week, we’ll look a little more closely at how customer service is perceived by adults and the aging population. Maybe I’ll tell you another story.
Until then,
Chris Draper
image courtesy of Humboldt University of Berlin
Categories : Business Experts, Customer Service
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Tuesday,
September
18th,
2012
With the quickly changing economy, we are also seeing a change in who owns a large percentage of new businesses. It comes as no surprise to many that these are owned by women. The infographic below charts the business growth of women in several sectors. You can read the article on Mashable and for the complete report, visit openforum.com/women.
Categories : Women Entrepreneurs
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