Moving Forward
Business Coach's Newsletter
http://www.movingforwardcoaching.com.au
Email:
robyn@movingforwardcoaching.com.au
June 2006,
Issue #13
Welcome to our June
2006 newsletter. Winter in Melbourne is cold, but not as cold as a lot of
other places. As winter comes
on it is a great time to remember all the wonderful indoor activities that
can be so pleasurable. Spending time with friends and family, cooking up a
big meal to share and enjoying time at home in front of a warm fire are
all great ways to make sure the weather doesn’t get you down!
In this issue we are
concentrating on research and trends and have an article on Scanning
your environment and an article written by Alexandria K Brown, The E-Zine
Queen "You've Got... Complaints! How to Turn
Disgruntled Customers Into Raving Fans".
As a business owner it
is imperative to our success that we understand the changes in our
industry and what is going on in the world around our business. Many business owners get so caught up in the day-to-day
running of their business that they forget about monitoring their
environment, which is crucial to running a successful business. The trend for customer
relationships is growing and handling customer complaints is a very
necessary skill to have in business.
The statistics show that a happy customer will tell 3 people, but an
unhappy customer will tell 11.
Make sure all your staff know how to deal with a complaint.
Many businesses are now experiencing and achieving great results from our Successful Business Program, which keeps businesses continually improving. Our business coaches will hold you accountable - if you want to achieve something they will help you break it down to achievable bits and then hold you accountable to achieve it. They will also help you lead your business to greater success. If you want to WIN in the game of business then hire a coach. Why not contact us for your FREE business needs analysis to discuss how we can help you to take your business to the next level. We would also love to hear from you if you are a business in Victoria and have a business turnover of over $500,000 with a very innovative product or service that will make Victoria more profitable. Government grants may be available to the right applicants.
Please feel free to share this newsletter with others, but pass it on
in full and always remember that:
A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS ™
One crucial part of being
in business is research - researching your industry, scanning the
environment and knowing your strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and
threats. No matter how strong your own skills are, and how well defined your
product is, your business will struggle if you haven’t done the groundwork
about the bigger picture of where the trends are heading and what may impact
the business.
It is easy to get so
caught up in day to day work that you run out of time for activities such as
research. As a business owner you must put aside time to research – it is
the responsibility of being a director of a company.
Benchmarking is one of the tasks that you should carry out.
Benchmarking simply means comparing your business and its specific
activities to your competitors. They may do things
better than you, be more profitable, etc. You can even compare your business
to other businesses that perform a similar process to determine whether they
do it better than you and if there are improvements that you can make.
Here are some questions
that might be useful:
- Who are my key competitors
- What are my key competitors achieving that I
would like to?
- What am I achieving that sets me apart from my
key competitors?
- What is the trend in demand in my targeted sales
demographic or should I look at diversifying or specialising further?
In evaluating your
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats don’t forget to take into
account PEST. PEST stands for:
political, economical, social and technological. It is an analysis that
should be
done to assess the external
factors that will have an impact on your business (such as economic,
technological and legal developments or changes in an industry or the environment
that will impact the business). By
becoming aware of these factors and focusing on the ones that will have the
highest impact on your business, you can identify challenges and also see
opportunities for growth and expansion.
It becomes part of your risk management strategy, but also alerts you
to changes that may be necessary in your processes, for example with all the
telemarketing calls from overseas that consumers are receiving renders this method of generating
leads more difficult.
Read more about this type
of an analysis:
Another helpful research
tool is IBISWorld. IBISWorld is an international service
provider that provides high quality information, research analysis and
reports on every industry. Visit your local Victorian Business Centre or
check out their Australian website at:
Also check out http://www.trendwatching.com and http://www.springwise.com for
examples of innovative products services and services and trends.
Another way in which you
can research your industry and place yourself and your business at the
forefront of new developments and information is to join an industry
association. Being a member of a relevant industry association will give you
invaluable access to things such as newsletters, networking, professional
development and referral services.
You might have been very
lucky with your business and it took off very quickly. But it is likely that even if your
start up is swift, you will face times when things slow down or change
directions. At these times, knowing your industry, through a process of
thorough research and informed knowledge will be a saving grace and may also
open up opportunities and ideas you had never even considered. It’s
definitely worth the time and effort now, for the pay off in the future! Sometimes businesses that take
longer to get off the ground are the ones where the directors learn to
research and continually improve their processes to get the business going,
which is valuable training for the long-term viability of the business.
by Alexandria K. Brown, "The E-zine Queen"
Studies done by the American Management Association show that your average HAPPY customer will tell three people about her experience with you. But your average unhappy customer will spread the negative word about you to 11 other people!
I'm sure you've done this yourself. I sure have! In fact, I can name three companies right now that I will *never* do business with again, simply because of the way they handled my complaints. (Sometimes all I wanted was for someone to say, "I'm sorry this happened, Ms. Brown!")
A System Is Your Solution
If there are any complaints you receive on a regular basis, you should be addressing them by putting systems into place to avoid those problems from happening in the first place. There's no way your business can grow with those landmines in your path.
But even after you do, remember that you are human, and so are your customers, so things will go wrong from time to time. And customers will write or call you to complain. So let's give you a system to handle these situations graciously, with integrity, and turn them around for the best!
After doing some research, I've found that most all the recommended protocols for taking care of complaining customers basically follow this 5-step process.
1. Validate the customer's feelings. Simply acknowledge that they are irritated. Example: "I can understand you are upset."
2. Assure them that you'll take care of them. Let them know something will be done. Example: "I'm here to help you with this."
3. Make a "sad-glad" statement. This helps the customer realize you care. Example: "I'm sorry you experienced a problem. And I'm glad you told me about it!"
4. Ask the customer what will make THEM happy. Don't let this scare you! Customer service experts say that most often the upset customer will ask for *less* than what you would have offered yourself. Example: "How can we make this better?" or "How can we make this up to you?"
5. Acknowledge that you'll do what they want, or make a counter offer. (But always try to just give them what they want! In the end, it will save you time and headaches, and avoid any bad word spreading about you.) Example: "I want to keep you as a customer, and we're going to honor your request." Or, "We can't do that per our agreement, but we can... [counter offer here]."
I'd also throw in a little something else for their trouble. For example, perhaps free shipping or a bonus gift.
Adjust to Fit, and Review With Your Team
Of course you should adjust this process to fit your particular business. I suggest you take a few minutes to write up a script based on these steps, and then review it with your assistant or anyone else in your business who is in contact with your clients and customers. Make any necessary changes, and then distribute it to your team and agree that everyone will follow it.
Have your team keep a log of each complaint that comes in, what it's about, and how it's handled. Then have a monthly meeting to review and suggest improvements.
© 2005-2006 Alexandria K. Brown
Reproduced with permission. Online entrepreneur Alexandria K. Brown, "The E-zine Queen," publishes the award-winning 'Straight Shooter Marketing' weekly ezine with 19,000+ subscribers. If you're ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.EzineQueen.com.
Is your General Manager turning your vision into reality?
'Did you know that a general manager can make or break a business ??????'
If your General Manager is NOT achieving the results you expect then this might be the most important item you will read all day. We are taking expressions of interest for our newest innovation 'Moving Forward Business Coach General Manager School'...... a new school of thought for a new breed of General Manager. Learning how to be an effective General Manager doesn't just happen of its own accord - no matter how much talent is present. It takes time, practice and specialist training to become a standout general manager. You can't afford to wait as other companies gain the competitive edge. Later this year we will be offering our General Manager School which will comprise of 1 x 3 hour training session per month together with individual coaching for the real individual business specifics. To register your expression of interest for our General Manager school click here and enter your details.
Think about the following:
1. You can pay a General Manager $100,000+ but do you know they have the right skills to keep you profitable?????
2. Halve this amount and enrol them in our General Manager School. Hire a trainee General Manager, or promote someone from your staff that has the ability but just needs to gain the knowledge and the skills of how to do it.
2. People that start a business are quite often visionaries - but quite often don't have the skills to make it a reality. A general manager with the right skills will help them make the business a success.
3. Business owners start a business because they enjoy what they do well. Managing a business is not what everyone enjoys. Leave it up to a well trained General Manager to put your business in autopilot, but make sure they are well trained!!!
4. There are so many innovations out there - that just don't become reality. Let's make them a reality.
Click here and enter your expression of interest for yourself or your staff to be part of our General Manager School later this year.Staff Booklet- Getting to know the business: This is a new boklet produced by Moving Forward Business Coach. Many business owners and managers don't feel confident that their staff really understands the business. This booklet has been designed to make it easy to train your staff about the business. It's so easy - the staff member will just complete the booklet which will encourage them to research the answers. You as the business owner or manager can guide them. I designed this booklet because when I work with staff of a business – there is so much that they have never been told about the business. This is an absolute must for any business owner to work on with their staff. For more information or to purchase the Staff Booklet – Getting to know the business, click here. This is a pre-publication special - so don't miss out (get your order in today). Don't forget to order one for each one of your staff members!!!! We also welcome inquiries from international businesses as well. The international postage rates are not up on the website as yet - but don't hesitate to email us.
Getting
online Pack: Too many
businesses ignore selling on the internet because they don’t know how.
How can you ignore an area which is growing so quickly, and imagine having
a passive income whilst you are sleeping. I chose these e-Books to
help people understand the internet and internet marketing.
Click here for more information.
Take a look at our Useful Links & Resources Page. There is a successful business checklist, reading lists and useful links.
Please feel free to pass it to your friends, colleagues and clients.
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Contact details:
http://www.movingforwardcoaching.com.au/
robyn@movingforwardcoaching.com.au
13
Becket Street South
GLENROY Vic
3046
AUSTRALIA
Tel: +61 3 9306 7762
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successful business.
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© Moving Forward Business Coach - June 2006
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