The Mind Set of the Successful Business Owner
Having your own business can be exciting, exhilarating and exhausting. Business owners need to be aware of the psychology of running your own business. You will experience peaks and valleys along the way, especially when you are just starting a business. So, what should you know about successful business owners and how they think?
What mind set do successful business owners tend to have in common:
1) They are resilient. They never give up. When they fail, they pick themselves up and keep moving forward
2) They are passionate about what they are doing
3) They are confident. This does not mean that they are always confident about their skills, their abilities etc. It means they are confident about their mission, calling and why they are self employed. They build confidence through searching for better and better ways to make their business a success
4) They know that they have to sell, sell, and sell. They except and embrace the fact that they will have to do sales & marketing every single day to be consistently successful. Whether they do it themselves or they hire it out
5) They create habits that enable them to be successful. While a lot of people have habits that can be self destructive, successful entrepreneurs create and follow habits that are constructive. They do this by creating systems that consistently keep them moving forward and enable them to build momentum.
6) They seem to have boundless energy. That’s only partly true. They have energy from their passion but they also know how to understand their energy patterns and how to use them.
A lot of stress that comes with owning your own business comes from feeling overwhelmed, unorganized and not under control. This in turn makes business owners constantly be in reactive mode and not able to proactively plan and strategize. This in turn does not enable them to build momentum.
When you develop a mind set of working in a systematic, calculated and strategic way…you feel better about yourself and you feel you are doing everything possible to make your business a success.
Successful entrepreneurs/business owners will tell you that what enabled them to make the leap from surviving to thriving was when they created business systems that turned their business into a well oiled machine.
So how do you create a successful mind set for your business?
· First and foremost you need to have self awareness. Know your strengths, your weaknesses, your energy cycles, your motivations, your inspirations. You need to understand how to best utilize your personality and tendencies
· You need to start each day with a focused plan
· You need to create systems & processes that will enable you to be productive and efficient
· You need to be absolutely committed to following a consistent and methodical approach because that will create momentum
· You need to plan out your day to be as productive as possible and allow you to see smaller, short term victories, while building momentum for future, long term success
· You need to create a positive and comfortable working environment
· You need to consciously develop productive habits that will eventually become second nature
· You need to surround yourself with positive people and avoid energy draining people
New business owners are very excited, passionate and inspired to start their own business. One of the main reasons people start their own business is to gain freedom and flexibility…with no overbearing business structure squelching their enthusiasm. So they feel too much structure in their business will cause them too much stress.
After the honeymoon period, what eventually happens is the new, exciting and dynamic business feeling wears off…because they have become too reactionary. This in turn, leads to becoming unfocused and unorganized. Then they actually have more stress. What eventually has to happen with new business owners is…they must learn to build habits, processes and systems that enable them to focus on their core service/product, instead of pulling them away from what brings them joy.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Proactive Customer Service
History has shown that many companies think of customer service as a reactionary response to a customer issue / problem. In the past and still in present day Customer Service focuses on dealing with customer complaints/issues after the customer is already unhappy about an issue. This is like closing the barn door after the horses got out.
Anyone who is in customer service knows that dealing with unhappy customers all day long makes for a very long day. If this happens day after day the problems for the company grow exponentially. A customer that has had service issues multiple times then turns into a very unhappy customer who may turn to your competitor…costing your company revenue and hurting your reputation. In addition, it burns out your customer service staff quickly. Customer service positions are notorious for high turn over rates. If your company has a reactionary customer service approach it results in a negative environment that substantially accelerates turn over rates. This in turn causes significant loss of revenue due to the costs of replacing staff constantly and the time and resources taken to train new staff. Keeping customer service staff turnover down is challenging to every company. Many companies just see it as a headache they have to accept and even consider it as a cost of doing business.
But what if you could reduce customer complaints, reduce staff turn over, increase revenue (not decrease) and save company resources…just by developing a Proactive Service Approach?
In this day and age there is so much competition that it is very hard to set yourself apart from your competitors. A recent article in USA Today stated that a survey of CEO’s pointed out that because so many companies offer the same products and services for similar prices, that customer service is the best way to set your self apart from your competition. A good way to differentiate your company is to create a customer service program that is Proactively focused.
Here are some examples of Proactive approaches you can put in place:
1) Anticipate your Customers Issues and/or Needs:
Have your staff compile a list of possible and/or probable questions, concerns and issues your clients might have. Instead of coming up with solutions for when the customers call have your team meet on a regular basis to try and identify new issues that might pop up and how to resolve them before the customer ever sees them.
2) Constant / Consistent Communication:
Have your staff regularly call your customer to show sincere interest in taking care of them, while at the same time possibly catching issues before they have magnified in the client’s eyes. Good communication can catch issues before they do more damage.
3) Apologize Immediately:
Any time a customer says or shows that they are unhappy about an issue….apologize immediately. This does not mean to take full responsibility before you know it is your company’s fault. It could be another vendor’s or the customer’s mistake. This means acknowledging their frustration by saying “I’m sorry this issue has caused you frustration and we will do everything we can to rectify the issue.” Even if it’s your fault or another vendor’s, just the fact that you are immediately trying to acknowledge how it is affecting them will make them feel like you are truly a partner and care about their satisfaction. It is truly amazing how many companies have not taught their staff the Golden Rule of apologizing immediately. Apologizing immediately goes a long way in diffusing the powder keg that is an unhappy customer.
4) Sometimes you have to say “No”:
Some projects or customers are just too big. Not too many sales people or owners want to say no to any work. But if the job is too big you won’t be able to serve them well and you will reduce resources for other clients. It is very tempting to take on additional work that can produce more revenue, especially when you are a young company and/or struggling. But if you take on work you cannot handle you will do more harm than good, in the long run.
5) Reward Staff for Great Service:
Reward them quickly and before they ask for appreciation. Customer service is a very stressful job some times. Long-term exposure to unhappy customers can be very debilitating to an employee. So managers should proactively reward staff that goes above and beyond. Managers should also keep a close eye on employees that are starting to show signs of strain. Proactively plan many breaks during the day. Also have light-hearted distractions that can make them feel removed from the stress of dealing with unhappy customers.
6) Empower your Staff:
Give staff the authority to make decisions before they even deal with customers. Give them empowerment to make judgments the first time they are hearing of an issue with customers. Try to make sure that the staff does not have to delay complaint resolutions, as much as possible, by avoiding pass-offs to higher ups for authorization to fix the customer’s issues. Pass-offs add fuel to fuming customers. The greatest customer service stories come from companies like Nordstrom’s who give their employees complete autonomy to make a customer happy.
7) Compensate your Staff Based on Service Level:
Staff should know that the level of service they provide your customers would directly affect their compensation. Give them incentive to provide the best service they can. Conversely, they should understand that poor service couldn’t only affect their compensation but their job as well.
8) Hire the Right People and Instill the Right Message:
Everything starts with the right people! If you hire someone who does not relate well to others and is lacking interpersonal skills, you have already created a recipe for failure. If you need to, administer personality assessments to get a stronger understanding of their true ability and willingness to serve others. In addition, when you hire anyone that will have regular contact with customers they must understand how important it is for them to be customer focused. “Customer First” should be the company’s culture.
9) Be Prepared:
If it’s too late to be proactive and a customer is already dissatisfied, make sure to have as much information about that client before you talk to them. Obviously you want to get their issue resolved as fast as possible but make sure your staff has all files and history on the client, before dealing with their issue. Once you have all the information you can about the client and their issue…hit fast and hit hard. Get the pain over with.
10) Proactive Surveys:
Routinely send out surveys to your customers to gauge their overall opinion of the service. Constantly and proactively monitor how they view the relationship with your company.
I once worked with a technology company and we implemented a Proactive Customer Service Policy. In 1 ½ years time we reduced customer complaints 70%; reduced incoming calls from customers about 66%; and reduced staff man-hours from an average of 50-55 hours / week to an average of 40 hours / week. The company became the industry leader, because we consciously went to the customers instead of waiting for them to come to us.
If a company implements a proactive approach it does not guarantee satisfied customers, but it can significantly reduce customer issues and demonstrate to your customers that you are customer focused. When customers see that you are focused on their satisfaction they will have a much more positive view of their relationship or “partnership” with your organization. In turn, they may also be more loyal to you versus your competitor and may be more apt to give a positive review of your company. That can also lead to giving your company the benefit of the doubt, when an issue does arise. A positive past is the best way to build a positive future!
Remember, proactive customer service may be the turning point that your company needs to get to the next level.
Anyone who is in customer service knows that dealing with unhappy customers all day long makes for a very long day. If this happens day after day the problems for the company grow exponentially. A customer that has had service issues multiple times then turns into a very unhappy customer who may turn to your competitor…costing your company revenue and hurting your reputation. In addition, it burns out your customer service staff quickly. Customer service positions are notorious for high turn over rates. If your company has a reactionary customer service approach it results in a negative environment that substantially accelerates turn over rates. This in turn causes significant loss of revenue due to the costs of replacing staff constantly and the time and resources taken to train new staff. Keeping customer service staff turnover down is challenging to every company. Many companies just see it as a headache they have to accept and even consider it as a cost of doing business.
But what if you could reduce customer complaints, reduce staff turn over, increase revenue (not decrease) and save company resources…just by developing a Proactive Service Approach?
In this day and age there is so much competition that it is very hard to set yourself apart from your competitors. A recent article in USA Today stated that a survey of CEO’s pointed out that because so many companies offer the same products and services for similar prices, that customer service is the best way to set your self apart from your competition. A good way to differentiate your company is to create a customer service program that is Proactively focused.
Here are some examples of Proactive approaches you can put in place:
1) Anticipate your Customers Issues and/or Needs:
Have your staff compile a list of possible and/or probable questions, concerns and issues your clients might have. Instead of coming up with solutions for when the customers call have your team meet on a regular basis to try and identify new issues that might pop up and how to resolve them before the customer ever sees them.
2) Constant / Consistent Communication:
Have your staff regularly call your customer to show sincere interest in taking care of them, while at the same time possibly catching issues before they have magnified in the client’s eyes. Good communication can catch issues before they do more damage.
3) Apologize Immediately:
Any time a customer says or shows that they are unhappy about an issue….apologize immediately. This does not mean to take full responsibility before you know it is your company’s fault. It could be another vendor’s or the customer’s mistake. This means acknowledging their frustration by saying “I’m sorry this issue has caused you frustration and we will do everything we can to rectify the issue.” Even if it’s your fault or another vendor’s, just the fact that you are immediately trying to acknowledge how it is affecting them will make them feel like you are truly a partner and care about their satisfaction. It is truly amazing how many companies have not taught their staff the Golden Rule of apologizing immediately. Apologizing immediately goes a long way in diffusing the powder keg that is an unhappy customer.
4) Sometimes you have to say “No”:
Some projects or customers are just too big. Not too many sales people or owners want to say no to any work. But if the job is too big you won’t be able to serve them well and you will reduce resources for other clients. It is very tempting to take on additional work that can produce more revenue, especially when you are a young company and/or struggling. But if you take on work you cannot handle you will do more harm than good, in the long run.
5) Reward Staff for Great Service:
Reward them quickly and before they ask for appreciation. Customer service is a very stressful job some times. Long-term exposure to unhappy customers can be very debilitating to an employee. So managers should proactively reward staff that goes above and beyond. Managers should also keep a close eye on employees that are starting to show signs of strain. Proactively plan many breaks during the day. Also have light-hearted distractions that can make them feel removed from the stress of dealing with unhappy customers.
6) Empower your Staff:
Give staff the authority to make decisions before they even deal with customers. Give them empowerment to make judgments the first time they are hearing of an issue with customers. Try to make sure that the staff does not have to delay complaint resolutions, as much as possible, by avoiding pass-offs to higher ups for authorization to fix the customer’s issues. Pass-offs add fuel to fuming customers. The greatest customer service stories come from companies like Nordstrom’s who give their employees complete autonomy to make a customer happy.
7) Compensate your Staff Based on Service Level:
Staff should know that the level of service they provide your customers would directly affect their compensation. Give them incentive to provide the best service they can. Conversely, they should understand that poor service couldn’t only affect their compensation but their job as well.
8) Hire the Right People and Instill the Right Message:
Everything starts with the right people! If you hire someone who does not relate well to others and is lacking interpersonal skills, you have already created a recipe for failure. If you need to, administer personality assessments to get a stronger understanding of their true ability and willingness to serve others. In addition, when you hire anyone that will have regular contact with customers they must understand how important it is for them to be customer focused. “Customer First” should be the company’s culture.
9) Be Prepared:
If it’s too late to be proactive and a customer is already dissatisfied, make sure to have as much information about that client before you talk to them. Obviously you want to get their issue resolved as fast as possible but make sure your staff has all files and history on the client, before dealing with their issue. Once you have all the information you can about the client and their issue…hit fast and hit hard. Get the pain over with.
10) Proactive Surveys:
Routinely send out surveys to your customers to gauge their overall opinion of the service. Constantly and proactively monitor how they view the relationship with your company.
I once worked with a technology company and we implemented a Proactive Customer Service Policy. In 1 ½ years time we reduced customer complaints 70%; reduced incoming calls from customers about 66%; and reduced staff man-hours from an average of 50-55 hours / week to an average of 40 hours / week. The company became the industry leader, because we consciously went to the customers instead of waiting for them to come to us.
If a company implements a proactive approach it does not guarantee satisfied customers, but it can significantly reduce customer issues and demonstrate to your customers that you are customer focused. When customers see that you are focused on their satisfaction they will have a much more positive view of their relationship or “partnership” with your organization. In turn, they may also be more loyal to you versus your competitor and may be more apt to give a positive review of your company. That can also lead to giving your company the benefit of the doubt, when an issue does arise. A positive past is the best way to build a positive future!
Remember, proactive customer service may be the turning point that your company needs to get to the next level.
True Leadership
What makes a good leader? Is it intelligence? Is it authority? Is it power?
If you look at many of the successful people in the world today they became successful because they served others or find better service models that allowed them to beat their competition.
True leaders do not have egos. They are humbled by their ability to bring their teams together and successful. They are thankful for their loyal, hard working employees.
You should partner with your staff to achieve their goals and the goals of the department. Don’t just bark orders and expect them to accomplish it without your help. True leaders rate them selves on how they help their subordinates achieve success, not how well your employee will
In today’s corporate world you are dealing with independent employees, a lot of who may be telecommuting from home. Today’s employee is looking for more personal satisfaction and professional and personal growth.
The brow beating, authoritarian manager is no longer acceptable in today’s environment. As their manager you need to partner with them and coach them to help them be successful. If they are successful you are successful. It is not just the best approach for building moral and having happy employees. It’s smart business. The more successful they are the more revenue they bring the company. The more satisfied they are the less chance they will leave the company, which reduces the very costly turn over. Its been said over and over that its always better to keep clients instead of always having to get new clients to replace clients your company lost. The same should be said about employees.
True leaders take ownership of their job. This does not mean going on a power trip and wanting to establish them as big wigs in the company. It means constantly caring about the employees and the customers and the company as a whole. True leaders constantly think about how a certain policy, procedure or company decision will affect the company, its employees and the customers. They don not think about their individual job in a small compartmentalized way. They think about how their job and their
True Leaders lead by example.
True Leaders develop and maintain the culture at all times. About not letting anything change the culture of the company
Contrary to popular belief good managers are not the ones with the better technical, financial or operational skills. Have you ever noticed that most MBA programs talk a lot about financial, operational and technical skills that Executives need to have but they barely touch on Leadership behavior? They usually do offer some classes connected to human resource management, but those courses do not accentuate what skills true leaders need and how executives should coach their subordinates. Many executives have poor communication skills.
True leaders hire people smarter than you are. True leaders are not worried about how their employees will make them look bad to their superiors and/or
Subordinates, if an employee is smarter than them. Subordinates will still respect you because you are giving them support, praise and job satisfaction.
Jack Welch, the former CEO for General Electric was one of the most successful CEOs in history. When asked for some of his reasons for being so successful, he stated, “good leaders should hire people smarter than themselves.”
Being a good leader is about bringing out the best in your team. Seeing an employee’s true potential and knowing how to help the employee to reach that potential. It is not about intimidation. Leading by intimidation only shows a leader’s insecurity in their own abilities and creates a resentful and disloyal team.
True leaders are classy, calm and professional leaders and they treat their employees with dignity and respect. This approach in turn allows them to sustain success much longer. Some managers take the approach that they can run their employees into the ground and get everything the company can get out of them. They may have quicker success but this approach gets old real quick and the company will start to regress because ruling by intimidation is a not a sustainable model for success. Employee burn out happens much faster so the turn over costs are much steeper.
Treating employees calmly and with a respectful demeanor also benefits the company even further because it benefits the clients. You teach people how to treat people. If you treat your employees with respect and dignity and show a sincere desire to help them, then they will show the same respect to their teammates and the clients.
If you look at many of the successful people in the world today they became successful because they served others or find better service models that allowed them to beat their competition.
True leaders do not have egos. They are humbled by their ability to bring their teams together and successful. They are thankful for their loyal, hard working employees.
You should partner with your staff to achieve their goals and the goals of the department. Don’t just bark orders and expect them to accomplish it without your help. True leaders rate them selves on how they help their subordinates achieve success, not how well your employee will
In today’s corporate world you are dealing with independent employees, a lot of who may be telecommuting from home. Today’s employee is looking for more personal satisfaction and professional and personal growth.
The brow beating, authoritarian manager is no longer acceptable in today’s environment. As their manager you need to partner with them and coach them to help them be successful. If they are successful you are successful. It is not just the best approach for building moral and having happy employees. It’s smart business. The more successful they are the more revenue they bring the company. The more satisfied they are the less chance they will leave the company, which reduces the very costly turn over. Its been said over and over that its always better to keep clients instead of always having to get new clients to replace clients your company lost. The same should be said about employees.
True leaders take ownership of their job. This does not mean going on a power trip and wanting to establish them as big wigs in the company. It means constantly caring about the employees and the customers and the company as a whole. True leaders constantly think about how a certain policy, procedure or company decision will affect the company, its employees and the customers. They don not think about their individual job in a small compartmentalized way. They think about how their job and their
True Leaders lead by example.
True Leaders develop and maintain the culture at all times. About not letting anything change the culture of the company
Contrary to popular belief good managers are not the ones with the better technical, financial or operational skills. Have you ever noticed that most MBA programs talk a lot about financial, operational and technical skills that Executives need to have but they barely touch on Leadership behavior? They usually do offer some classes connected to human resource management, but those courses do not accentuate what skills true leaders need and how executives should coach their subordinates. Many executives have poor communication skills.
True leaders hire people smarter than you are. True leaders are not worried about how their employees will make them look bad to their superiors and/or
Subordinates, if an employee is smarter than them. Subordinates will still respect you because you are giving them support, praise and job satisfaction.
Jack Welch, the former CEO for General Electric was one of the most successful CEOs in history. When asked for some of his reasons for being so successful, he stated, “good leaders should hire people smarter than themselves.”
Being a good leader is about bringing out the best in your team. Seeing an employee’s true potential and knowing how to help the employee to reach that potential. It is not about intimidation. Leading by intimidation only shows a leader’s insecurity in their own abilities and creates a resentful and disloyal team.
True leaders are classy, calm and professional leaders and they treat their employees with dignity and respect. This approach in turn allows them to sustain success much longer. Some managers take the approach that they can run their employees into the ground and get everything the company can get out of them. They may have quicker success but this approach gets old real quick and the company will start to regress because ruling by intimidation is a not a sustainable model for success. Employee burn out happens much faster so the turn over costs are much steeper.
Treating employees calmly and with a respectful demeanor also benefits the company even further because it benefits the clients. You teach people how to treat people. If you treat your employees with respect and dignity and show a sincere desire to help them, then they will show the same respect to their teammates and the clients.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Understanding the Psychology of the Business Environment
Psychology of the business environment can be internal or external! Staff or customers.
If you really try to understand what people need and want in the work environment, then you are on your way to success. A mistake a lot of businesses make is when they develop a product or service, they think of how yhry would like it. For example, when I worked with technology companies I had to keep telling the techies to make the technology more user friendly. Because we are selling to the average Joe, not 3rd level engineers.
Aside from the dot-com fiasco, why were there some dot comes that were so successful. Google, Amazon, Yahoo, EBay, Price Line etc. Because they understood human nature and behavior. They made websites that allowed people to get stuff fast, easy and cheap without having to leave home.
When asked how did you get so successful, many entrepreneurs answered “I just gave people what they wanted”
So stop paying so much attention to your own thoughts and try to get into the mind of the buyer!!
In the same respect, leaders who understand human behavior can motivate and inspire their staffs to be happier, more productive and more efficient. How many times do you see bosses who are brilliant but clueless on how to treat people, how to motivate their staffs and how much their leadership style is hurting the company.
So when you are looking at getting your MBA, look at the schools that also focus on teaching students Interpersonal leadership skills!!
If you really try to understand what people need and want in the work environment, then you are on your way to success. A mistake a lot of businesses make is when they develop a product or service, they think of how yhry would like it. For example, when I worked with technology companies I had to keep telling the techies to make the technology more user friendly. Because we are selling to the average Joe, not 3rd level engineers.
Aside from the dot-com fiasco, why were there some dot comes that were so successful. Google, Amazon, Yahoo, EBay, Price Line etc. Because they understood human nature and behavior. They made websites that allowed people to get stuff fast, easy and cheap without having to leave home.
When asked how did you get so successful, many entrepreneurs answered “I just gave people what they wanted”
So stop paying so much attention to your own thoughts and try to get into the mind of the buyer!!
In the same respect, leaders who understand human behavior can motivate and inspire their staffs to be happier, more productive and more efficient. How many times do you see bosses who are brilliant but clueless on how to treat people, how to motivate their staffs and how much their leadership style is hurting the company.
So when you are looking at getting your MBA, look at the schools that also focus on teaching students Interpersonal leadership skills!!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Now What do We Do?
The news about the economy keeps getting worse and worse. Every time you here about another bank crashing, more foreclosures, stocks tumbling, it can weaken your motivation and cause you to stop being proactive in your career, your company and your personal life. Its a common fact that when things get bad, human nature tends to put people into a defense mode where they become more fearful and more unfocused. They tend to dwell more and more on the bad news. And the media sure does not help.
In my years of studying people you can see why successful people become successful. They rarely go into defense mode. They consistently keep looking for opportunities and trying to build momentum. The tougher times get, the more focused and determined they become.
I just got back from a networking meeting where people were talking gloom and doom and one successful entrepreneur had a positive response for every scenario people brought up. His mind was constantly clicking on how he can leverage bad situations to produce prosperity for him and his family. His demeanor was infectious!
In my years of studying people you can see why successful people become successful. They rarely go into defense mode. They consistently keep looking for opportunities and trying to build momentum. The tougher times get, the more focused and determined they become.
I just got back from a networking meeting where people were talking gloom and doom and one successful entrepreneur had a positive response for every scenario people brought up. His mind was constantly clicking on how he can leverage bad situations to produce prosperity for him and his family. His demeanor was infectious!
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