Did you even know about the Ripple? Chances are you haven’t given it much thought, until now. Picture what happens when you throw a stone into a calm pond. Depending on the size of the stone, you will generate a different size ripple. This is the same ripple effect that good and bad customer service has on your business. We all know that our clients tell far more people (6 to 20 times more) about their bad customer service experiences (BIG stones) than their good customer service experiences.
Now, because of such social networking sites as Facebook and Myspace, your unhappy customers can literally tell hundreds of their friends about their bad experience and so the ripple begins. The impact on your business can be devastating and rapid. Can your business afford these negative ripples? At what cost now and into the future?
So how can you control unwanted ripples in your business? Start implementing these tips today:
Tip 1: Train your team to within an inch of their lives on what constitutes “Great Customer Service” in your business. Make it a part of every team meeting and set out clear expectations.
Tip 2: Use every opportunity to praise a team member when you see them delivering outstanding customer service to your customers. Everyone loves positive recognition and will strive to get more if they know how.
Tip 3: Always deal immediately with poor treatment of a customer by a team member. Take the offending team member aside immediately and in private, tell them what you have witnessed, why it is not acceptable to you and what you expect from them in the future. Never ignore a bad customer service event.
Tip 4: Ask customers who have not returned to your business about their customer service experience and prepare yourself to hear some gut wrenching truth. This truth however will help you to generate change.
Tip 5: Always lead by example. Your team will always treat their customers the same way they have been treated by you.
Tip 6: See Tip 1
A favourite quote: If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell 6 friends.
If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends.
JEFF BEZOS
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A coaching blog for Salon owners wanting to keep up to date with news and business building tips to help you keep your business focussed and profitable.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Finding your Profit Gap
It’s challenging and exciting being a business coach. I have the opportunity to work with a wide variety of businesses and business owners and I have never yet found any two to be remotely similar. This is where the fun part comes in though! Getting to find the profit gap in any business is literally like finding the gold at the end of the rainbow and often it is much easier to find than you would expect.
Helping my clients to find the profit gap in their businesses involves utilizing a series of questions aimed at pinpointing where a business could be making substantially more money but isn’t for one reason or another. It is not unheard of for a small business to find up to $10,000 more in just one month of trading if they know where to look.
To get you thinking about where the profit gaps may be in your business, here are some coaching questions to get started:
When is the last time you price checked your competitors to make sure you have not been left behind in your market?
When is the last time you had a full price increase for the services and products your business offers?
How are you measuring the productivity and return on investment of each member of your staff?
How do you know which services or products in your business are your “heroes” and how are you maximising their impact on your bottom line?
What incentives are you providing to your staff to ensure greater productivity is achieved?
How are you using your current database to market to your best customers – the ones who have already spent money in your business?
When is the last time you looked at the expenses in your business to see where you are paying too much for what you are getting?
And as a final thought, if you are spending more time working in your business rather than on your business, chances are you just have created a job and not built a business!
Helping my clients to find the profit gap in their businesses involves utilizing a series of questions aimed at pinpointing where a business could be making substantially more money but isn’t for one reason or another. It is not unheard of for a small business to find up to $10,000 more in just one month of trading if they know where to look.
To get you thinking about where the profit gaps may be in your business, here are some coaching questions to get started:
When is the last time you price checked your competitors to make sure you have not been left behind in your market?
When is the last time you had a full price increase for the services and products your business offers?
How are you measuring the productivity and return on investment of each member of your staff?
How do you know which services or products in your business are your “heroes” and how are you maximising their impact on your bottom line?
What incentives are you providing to your staff to ensure greater productivity is achieved?
How are you using your current database to market to your best customers – the ones who have already spent money in your business?
When is the last time you looked at the expenses in your business to see where you are paying too much for what you are getting?
And as a final thought, if you are spending more time working in your business rather than on your business, chances are you just have created a job and not built a business!
Come and say hello at the APAA Expo and Convention in June
The APAA is holding it's annual convention and expo at the Palazzo Versace on June 26 and 27 of this year. I will be delivering a presentation on Sunday 27th from 9 till 10.30 entitled 3 1/2 Secrets to Salon Success. If you are coming along, please come and say hello and tell me about yourself and your business.
I look forward to seeing you there!
I look forward to seeing you there!
Turning Your Ducks Into Swans
Just who’s running your business?
Most people would like to think that they were at the helm making all the important decisions in their business but in actual fact the people who have a big chunk of control are the ones who are dealing with your customers at the coalface each and every day. Yes – that would be your staff and they can make or break your business by the actions they take and the decisions they make on your behalf.
Most small business owners who have a team tell me it is one of their biggest ongoing challenges. Getting their staff to do what they want seems impossible to them and this leads to masses of stress and frustration. So the question I often have posed to me is “how can I make my staff do what I want them to?” The answer to this is very simple. You can’t make your staff do what you want them to unless they want to do it! And for that to happen your team have to feel that they are appreciated and valued by you and that you share a common goal.
Before your staff will come on board and follow your vision you need to put in some groundwork. You have to take the time to build a great employer employee relationship. You can never forget that your staff are simply human beings with emotions and wants that need to be addressed if they are going to be loyal and hardworking employees.
There is no such thing as the perfect boss as they too are human beings but there are many things that you, as an employer, can do to align the visions of your staff with yours.
5 Sure Fire Ways to Reduce Employee Commitment to your Business
1. Deny them their entitlements. Pay them late and forget about their superannuation contributions. After all, they don’t need to pay rent, mortgages or buy food and if they do that is their problem. They should feel honoured just to work for you.
2. Never give them a lunch break. They don’t need to eat! Eating and resting is highly overrated and not necessary to keep up stamina and enthusiasm.
3. Criticise or reprimand them in front of other people especially staff and customers. Everybody needs to be told when they are doing something wrong and what a better time to do it than when there is an audience.
4. Never provide positive feedback for work well done. Why should you? They get paid to do the job don’t they?
5. Never say good morning, good night or thank you - ever. If you start down this track they might begin to think you care about them as people.
5 Even Better Ways to Build Employee Loyalty and Support
1. Take the time out to get to know what makes your team tick. Spend some quality recreational time with your team and get to know them as individuals. Learn about what is important to them and develop ways to incorporate this into your business strategy.
2. Reward them for performance above and beyond the norm. Employees have a knack for doing just what they have to do to keep a job and the boss off their back. If you want “above and beyond” performance from then you need to find ways to reward it.
3. Share your vision and goals for your business. Everybody needs to know what path they are travelling on in their life. Your employees need to know and understand what your passion is so that they can appreciate why they are expected to do what you want from them.
4. Run regular team meetings. Encourage their input and reward great ideas. Some of the best ideas can be generated by your employees because they are usually the ones interacting with your clients and hearing their needs and concerns.
5. Tell your people when they have done a great job. Never pass up an opportunity to find an employee doing something right. People will nearly always live up to your expectations of them. If you tell them they are great, they will try always to be great whereas if you tell them they are terrible you have just set the benchmark for their future performance.
Managing people is without a doubt one of the hardest parts of business ownership but if you want this valuable asset to be working with you and not against you then you must begin to value them and to recognise that as normal human beings, they too need to feel valued for their work and given the recognition they deserve when they have performed above normal expectations.
Most people would like to think that they were at the helm making all the important decisions in their business but in actual fact the people who have a big chunk of control are the ones who are dealing with your customers at the coalface each and every day. Yes – that would be your staff and they can make or break your business by the actions they take and the decisions they make on your behalf.
Most small business owners who have a team tell me it is one of their biggest ongoing challenges. Getting their staff to do what they want seems impossible to them and this leads to masses of stress and frustration. So the question I often have posed to me is “how can I make my staff do what I want them to?” The answer to this is very simple. You can’t make your staff do what you want them to unless they want to do it! And for that to happen your team have to feel that they are appreciated and valued by you and that you share a common goal.
Before your staff will come on board and follow your vision you need to put in some groundwork. You have to take the time to build a great employer employee relationship. You can never forget that your staff are simply human beings with emotions and wants that need to be addressed if they are going to be loyal and hardworking employees.
There is no such thing as the perfect boss as they too are human beings but there are many things that you, as an employer, can do to align the visions of your staff with yours.
5 Sure Fire Ways to Reduce Employee Commitment to your Business
1. Deny them their entitlements. Pay them late and forget about their superannuation contributions. After all, they don’t need to pay rent, mortgages or buy food and if they do that is their problem. They should feel honoured just to work for you.
2. Never give them a lunch break. They don’t need to eat! Eating and resting is highly overrated and not necessary to keep up stamina and enthusiasm.
3. Criticise or reprimand them in front of other people especially staff and customers. Everybody needs to be told when they are doing something wrong and what a better time to do it than when there is an audience.
4. Never provide positive feedback for work well done. Why should you? They get paid to do the job don’t they?
5. Never say good morning, good night or thank you - ever. If you start down this track they might begin to think you care about them as people.
5 Even Better Ways to Build Employee Loyalty and Support
1. Take the time out to get to know what makes your team tick. Spend some quality recreational time with your team and get to know them as individuals. Learn about what is important to them and develop ways to incorporate this into your business strategy.
2. Reward them for performance above and beyond the norm. Employees have a knack for doing just what they have to do to keep a job and the boss off their back. If you want “above and beyond” performance from then you need to find ways to reward it.
3. Share your vision and goals for your business. Everybody needs to know what path they are travelling on in their life. Your employees need to know and understand what your passion is so that they can appreciate why they are expected to do what you want from them.
4. Run regular team meetings. Encourage their input and reward great ideas. Some of the best ideas can be generated by your employees because they are usually the ones interacting with your clients and hearing their needs and concerns.
5. Tell your people when they have done a great job. Never pass up an opportunity to find an employee doing something right. People will nearly always live up to your expectations of them. If you tell them they are great, they will try always to be great whereas if you tell them they are terrible you have just set the benchmark for their future performance.
Managing people is without a doubt one of the hardest parts of business ownership but if you want this valuable asset to be working with you and not against you then you must begin to value them and to recognise that as normal human beings, they too need to feel valued for their work and given the recognition they deserve when they have performed above normal expectations.
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