Give your customers more than they were expecting and get feedback
I recently left my car in for a service at Liffey Valley Renault and thankfully not much needed doing to it.
Two things from the service stood out to me as being good service. First of all as soon as the car was ready for collection I received a text message to let me know. I think this is a good use of technology in keeping customers informed.
The second thing that impressed me was that they washed the car for me for no additional charge and without me requesting it. This is a very good examplae of giving the customer that little bit more. Even though this costs very little I thought it was a nice touch and it made me wonder why no other garage I’ve been to does the same. The little things can make a big difference.
Another thing that impressed me about Liffey Valley Renault was that about a week after the service I received a telephone call asking me if I would mind answering a few questions about my experience with their service department. This only took a couple of minutes of my time and was done very professionally and gave them good feedback to help them improve their service and find out what their customers think about them
If you are running a business then taking the time to look for feedback from your customers is a very useful project. Without asking your customers and clients for feedback how else can you be sure you are doing things the right way?
3 Business Lessons From a Badger
I watched Badger or Bust last night for the first time on Sky 1 last night at 10pm.
If you missed it the program is about Ruth Badger, the runner up in the BBC’s 2006 TV show the Apprentice. Ruth visits a different business each week and offers advice and coaching to the sales staff to help them improve.
In last nights episode she visited http://www.greentrees-adventurestore.co.uk whose sales team seem to have lost their way with petty squabbles and lack of confidence. In true reality TV style they initally looked hopeless and then with Ruths amazing coaching they completely turned around.
It was enjoyable to watch and there were 3 good business lessons that I was reminded of:
1. Attitude is hugely important – guess what if you think you are going to fail then chances are you probably will. Sure not everything will always go your way but chances are if you are positive in your approach you will have a head start on those that aren’t.
2. Set a target – One of the changes that Ruth suggested to the sales manager was to put up a board that recorded the sales targets for each day and allowed him to keep a track of them. It is not good enough to say this month we need to sell 100 widgets, or whatever it is your business sells. You need to put in place a plan to achieve it and then back that up by monitoring and setting goals and targets. Then if things slip you can keep on top of them or if you excel then you can give yourself a well deserved pat on the back.
3. Motivation – getting sales staff fired up and incentivised can work wonders. How often have you been to a shop or business with the intention of buying and been ignored by sales staff? Multiply this by every hour of every working day and the cost to a business of lazy and unmotivated sales staff is massive. If staff aren’t pulling their weight and meeting targets then you need to seriously consider letting them go, or reviewing how you motivate them.
It is important to note that motivation does not always have to take the form of financial reward. In this show you could see that Ruth was able to motivate the sales staff by offering praise and making them see the bigger picture of what could be acheived with a positive mental attitude.
Thinking of a new business in Ireland – test on a small scale to avoid losing your shirt
I sometimes like to read some of the posts on www.Askaboutmoney.com in the business section. Quite often I have seen posts from people contemplating starting a particular business and trying to find out how much it might cost to set up a retail store or similar business. They talk about getting loans or using their life savings to start the business.
I believe this is a fundamentally flawed approach to starting a business. I think it is much more cost effective to try and first identify a market and determine what kind of product or service they need and then provide it. Picking a business to start based on what you think you might enjoy doing can open you up to failure. This is because you get so wrapped up in the romance of what it would be like to run such a business that often the most important issue is ignored. Are there enough potential customers to sustain the business and is there a cost effective and realtively easy way for you to get your message to them.
I know someone who wanted to start a property website. They spent over €5000 getting a web site developed and a further €10,000 on an advert in one of the weekend property supplements. Guess how many customers they got? I’m sorry to say they got none – having spent €15,000 they generated no business and eventually had to abandon the project. Until you have people that are interested in your product and services and you have a systematic way to attract them to you then you do not have a solid business.
So next time you think you have identified the killer business idea that will make you your fortune take a step back and ask yourself ‘How can I quickly and cheaply test if there is demand for this product or service’.
A good example of this are the guys who started Innocent smoothies. Rather than go out and find premises and purchase expensive machinery instead the story goes they simply went out and tested their concept. They took a pitch at a music festival in 1998 and sold their smoothies direct to the public, guaging their interest and getting feedback at the vital early stage. The story goes that the had two big bins one marked ‘Yes’ and the other marked ‘No’ and they asked the public to vote on whether they should give up their day jobs to start a smoothie business.
Even to this day Innocent smoothies know that the success of their brand is built on sales and marketing, and a little known fact is that they in fact do not actually make the smoothies themselves. This is actually contracted out to a specialist food producer.
Follow this advice and you will save yourself no end of heartache. Start small, test and measure, and don’t give up the day job until you either have matched your earnings from the business or feel 90% confident that you will by following a proven and tested plan you have created.
Thinking of Buying a Franchise? Make Sure You Do Your Homework
For those thinking of starting a business, going the Franchise route can often seem like an appealing option. However people sometimes forget that those people behind the franchise are in the business of selling franchises.
Whilst this might sound obvious it is easily to get sucked in by a glitzy presentation and promises of riches.
To help you when considering a franchise we have put together a package which includes details of the pitfalls to avoid, questions to ask both the franchisor and existing franchisees and a calculator tool which will help you determine yourself whether a franchise is a viable option. For more information please have a look at the Franchises Exposed website.
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