What Do You Do That No One Else Does?

To begin on your journey of Visibility, fill in the blanks:

“We _______. No other _______ does this.”

The garage that I take my car to has a standard, 24 month parts and labor warranty. That’s 21 months more than the garage I used to go to. I don’t know anyone else that does this. Hence, this is the garage I recommend to everyone I know.

“We have a 24 month parts and labor warranty. No other auto repair shop does this.”

Pretty easy, eh?

How Many Typos Are In Your Resume?

Hopefully, none. Out of 100 executives recently surveyed by Reuters, 20 percent of them said one typo would cause them to toss the application. Twenty-eight percent said one typo was OK, but not two. Hint: Don’t rely on spellcheck!

Follow the Healthy Fellow

Found some interesting posts at this Health Blog. The author does a lot of his own researching regarding health claims related to food, which is what I recommend anyone do before believing the latest “News Flash Warning.”

People Are Talking…

And you better hope that they are saying good things, because people are also listening. Sometimes even business owners.

As you can see here, This may be a trend worth watching.

Of course you should check the web to see what they are saying about you, if for no other reason than to refute the mean-spirited or inaccurate.

Keep ‘em Coming Back!

Oftentimes, when I talk to business owners, I will ask them, “why do you think your loyal customers stay loyal to you?” The interesting thing is that their answers are usually way off the mark. They will say, “it’s because of our great service”, or “ we have the best prices in town.”

Actually customers go back to a store because they feel like they are wanted there. When you make a customer feel important to you, when you let them know that their coming and shopping at your business matters, then they will come back.

How many times have you heard the phrase, “your call is important to us”? Do you believe it? Of course not! Because after you hear that, you usually are connected to someone who acts like you are not just a nobody, but a nobody that they are incentivized to get off the phone as quickly as possible. How could my call be important? Especially if the person I’m assigned to is reading from a script and has no real idea of what it’s like to be on the other end of the phone.

When my wife and I were looking for a house, we realized that there would always be another house to look at. This drove Realtors crazy, simply because we refused to fall in love with something. Granted, we are a tough couple, but none of the Realtors we dealt with (and we spoke to over 20), ever made us feel like we were important enough to spend any time getting to know well enough to figure out what we really wanted.

But I digress. The facts are these, there will always be lower prices, there will always be better service out there. But if you can make your customers feel like family (well, not my family), and always keep listening to what they want, and not what you want, you will keep ‘em coming back.

Rob Wallis is a speaker, author, and consultant who helps business owners increase their profitability by improving the customer experience. Contact him at rob@thewallisgroup.com.

Don’t Sacrifice the Training Budget!

In a recession, correction, down economy, whatever you want to call it, training budgets are always the first to go. This is a very very bad idea for a number of reasons, not the least of all is that the knowledge of your staff is your bread and butter. And, depending on your field, it could make the difference between a big check and a big lawsuit.

I heard recently about a city building department that needed to make some budget cuts, so the director of the department decided to deny all staff requests for training. Keep in mind that building codes and laws change every year. And these people were being kept from knowing the latest laws regarding how they did their jobs!

When the director was asked why he felt this was a good idea, he said that he thought all training was “useless.” remind me never to buy a house in his town.

For another example, look at Circuit City. Remember Circuit City? A few years back times were hard, so they fired all of their “Senior” staff. these just happened to be the people who knew the most about the merchandise they were selling. In my personal experience, the knowledge of the CC staff was the only thing that separated them from other electronics stores. In fact, I recently heard a comment that a good definition of a “big box” store was one in which, if the answer wasn’t on the “big box” on the shelf, the staff didn’t know. Maybe yes, maybe no, but I have had good and bad experiences in these retailers. Your thoughts?

It’s Only A Comma…

There will always be setbacks. In the words of Willie Jolley, you can have a setback with a period, or a setback with a comma. If it’s a period, that’s the end, it’s over. If you choose the comma, it’s a pause, before the next good thing happens.

Hint: choose the comma.

The purest form of marketing…

The purest form of marketing is your service: http://budurl.com/cxpq

And You Will Tell Them Yes

All your life you are told the things you cannot do.

All your life they will say you’re not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you’re the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this.

THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no’s become meaningless.

All your life they will tell you NO, quite firmly and very quickly.

AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES.

From The Daily Motivator – Responsible

The Daily Motivator – Responsible.