You Don't Care, Do You? (About Your Business, That Is)

What have you done today that's making your business better than your competition?

If the answer is "Nothing", then why should prospects do business with you?

Do you want to work with a company where the status quo rules? How do you know their status quo is good enough for you?

To keep your customers and prospects interested in you, it's important to do things better than your competition. This means taking steps internally AND externally to stay ahead.

Examples of internal steps:

• Have you called a customer today to see how you're doing?
• Is your invoicing up to date?
• Have you called an overdue client to collect?
• Have you made at least one cold call or warm follow-up call?

Examples of external steps:

• What new advertising have you done lately?
• Have you updated your website with new content?
• Have you networked with a neighbouring or related business to cross-promote yourselves?
• Have you updated your store's front window or signage with new product info?
• Have you updated or created vehicle advertising?

There's a lot of stuff you can do that shows you care about the success of your business.

Of course, you have to communicate these steps as well where appropriate so people know what you're doing.

Dealing with a healthy, dynamic company is important to your prospects, and will help keep them coming in the door and keep your customers from jumping ship.

Have a great day!

The Dentist and Your Business

I had a fun trip to the dentist today. No - really. Lots of fun.

It's not really a trip to see the dentist these days, is it? I mean, you spend all your time with the hygenist, the dentist drops in for about a minute and that's all you see of him/her for the rest of your time there.

Of course, we all know the hygenist does the real work...but I digress.

Today, Michelle was my hygenist. Great personality, and she represented the dental practice very well. Kudos Michelle!

Michelle told me I needed to work on flossing more.

What do you think about flossing?

How many of you floss every day?

I think of flossing as a step I don't always have time for. Most of the time I skip it.

When I do floss, it's usually after I haven't flossed for a few weeks and of course, my gums get all sore and it's not much fun.

There's not much incentive to floss in the short term. However, the long term results of not flossing aren't all that pleasant either.

When's the last time you flossed in your BUSINESS?

Every day, there is something you could be doing in your business that is like flossing. A small step that you often skip because there's something else more important to do.

It could be making 1 cold call. It could be updating your website. It could be calling 1 customer to see how they're doing and if there's anything you could be doing better.

Small things we avoid doing because there's no short term benefit can harm us over the long term.

Not making those cold calls can kill your cash flow.

Not updating your website can cause it to drop in the search engines, giving your competition an easier ride.

Not calling your customers regularly can decrease customer retention.

Every journey begins with a single step, but the journey only continues if you keep stepping.

Or flossing.

Enjoy your day!