Business Tips from Recent Travels

Where should I start this morning? I travelled recently and, as often happens with a crazy rush trip through another country, my mind is abuzz with ideas based on my recent experiences. Travelling is a great way to broaden one’s mind and exposure. I was not going too far this time; a quick nip across our southern border for a blitz training course.

There were things that worked and there were things that failed miserably. I was, as most people are, thoroughly delighted with those that worked. When something goes well we often do not give a second thought to the system behind it. I booked practically everything online; flights, accommodation, vehicle hire. It all worked seamlessly. Checking in was this beautiful 5 minute experience that already had all my details integrated into the system. Somewhere along the line someone had thought ‘what do people want to do when they get to a hotel/airport?’ The answer is clearly not ‘spend hours checking in’. So they have designed their system to make it as painless as possible. Which part of your business do clients hate the most and how can you make it easier to navigate? Which part do they love the most and how can you make not just this part, but the process of getting to it as wonderful as possible?

Two great tips here on making it work. Firstly someone else may have already solved your problem. There may be an app or more complex piece of software that meets your need. Second is really listening to and study your clients. It could be as simple as having the staff record everything that people ever come in looking for but cannot find. I love the late night hours option for shopping at petrol stations...I just do not like what they have on their shelves. There are probably a fairly small number of things that someone rushing home at 10pm kicks themselves for forgetting to buy. Not only that, the quality of good probably varies from area to area. Do some research on what people really look for from you and you may end up attracting more clients.

What did not work this trip? Shopping for trousers! I have no idea why obtaining a pair of premade longs is always such a big deal in my life. Shirt shopping is never an issue. Finding socks is a breeze. The moment that I need a pair of jeans or chinos the wheels just seem to come off the store. It is not like I am an extreme size, in fact if anything I am pretty average in my waistline. A large department store seemed like the best option so in I went. There were the two colours and size I wanted. I got excited; perhaps this was the moment of perfect trouser shopping I had been looking for all my life. Turned out it was premature. One pair fitted great. The next one, despite telling me it was the same size, would not make it over my hips. According to the store clerk this had something to do with manufacturers and cuts being different (as a large multi chain department store I’m pretty sure they have the leverage to push back on suppliers and demand that standard sizing is just that). So now I had to look for a larger size, there wasn’t one on the shelves. Different store clerk offered to check in their system to see if they have one. Sadly the system was wrong and when she ran into the back to grab the promised pair she could not find one. I got told simply ‘there aren’t any’. And she vanished. No other solution. No offers to check another branch, or to see if there is anything similar that would meet my needs in store. Once in a while IT systems fail. This one was dismal. For whatever reason there was no notification system to reorder stock at critical levels (a process which can be automated). It is more likely, given the shabby quality of service I received, that it was an ID-10-T error. At some point a human will have to deal with your client. That human can be your best or worst asset at that point.

Sadly too many organisations, in their race to cut costs, are hiring the cheapest, most generic people that they can lay their hands on to serve as their front line. While they would like the best their hiring process and salary structure means that often they fall far short of that. Then when the system fails they buy a new and better upgrade of the software but leave the same person running it. Pick your people carefully, train them well, equip them with well crafted systems, have them become your voice and let them tell your story the way you want it told.

Times They Are A Changing

In April this year Josh Groban released an album called Stages. Comprising of covers of songs from various musicals the entire album is available for listening on Youtube with many extra videos on his  Youtube page. Why on earth would an artist upload so much content for essentially 'free' listening. Is it an acknowledgment that piracy is rampant? Is he feeling generous? Or is it the realisation that the music industry has changed-that great concerts and performances are the best way for a musician to make money now and that promoting content heightens audience anticipation and reach. That social media connects him directly to fans and that a captive fan base who love his work is a group of consumers ready to be reaped?

Whatever the true cause, the reality is that the music industry changed with the advent of the internet and social media. Artists have been forced to respond. What has shifted in your industry and what do you need to change in order to survive, be competitive, and shine.

Showing Up

Showing up regularly is probably more than half the battle.
Why? Because so few actually do.
The rest is doing great work and connecting with others on a level that transcends 'smile and wave'.
Chances are if you connect with other people who also show up consistently that together you will be unstoppable.

Show How Much You Care

I got a card from a friend this week. He had been out the country for a while, he had popped back into the country for a friend’s wedding. We arranged to meet up and as we said goodbye he handed me an envelope. Inside was not just any card, it was a card that mattered. When I opened it and saw the picture I choked up with emotion. I had not even read the words inside and was almost a blubbering wreck. A few years ago we had been in a theme park together. In the park store there was a Star Wars sections complete with toy light sabres. Being totally mature and ration adults we had a mini light sabre duel laughing at a shared love of the movie franchise. The whole moment lasted a few minutes before we regained sanity and put the light sabres back on the shelf. I picked up a miniature model of Master Yoda on a keyring before we left. The card he gave me had an image of Yoda on the front. The minute I saw it I knew that this was not some random pick from the card counter at the supermarket. No, this was a unique and especially chosen vehicle through which to celebrate friendship. It showed that he knew me.

If you are going to make an offer that people cannot refuse then you need to show that you know them. Generic offers are too easy to refuse. The offer that shows that you really understand me, understand the unique problems I face in my business and go about offering a solution to them that is the offer I am interested in. An old client I had not seen for a while came to visit this week, he offered to rent me office space. He had done no homework. I am perfectly happy where I am now, I had left a similar space in the area he was offering two years prior. The very reasons I left the area would be coming back to haunt me at his venue. He lost the sale within the first sentence.

People are not going to use your services just because you have built a business. They will use you because you meet a need in their organisation or in their lives. Do your research. Figure out what people want; ask if you have to. Really figure it out then offer it to them. Be creative in your figuring out. Get key people in the organisations you want to sell to, get a few of them together for a breakfast, listen to their conversation, and take the occasional note on what they chat about. Chances are they have similar problems, problems you could create a solution to. Great relationships do not just happen, they are built over time.

Nearly every business has some form of social media outreach today. Twitter, Facebook, blogs, Linkedin profiles, and newsletters ply us with a daily stream of drivel that is supposed to grip our attention and remind us of services that are on offer. Most of it is about as appealing as a wilted piece of lettuce on stale toast. There is nothing at all that indicates that you have any real knowledge of me as a client. You are just putting something out there because everyone else is doing it. Social media is a tool and like all tools needs to be used wisely and in the correct manner. Put out what appeals to your group-that is assuming that by now you have figured out which group you are actually marketing to. The bonus to social media is that in most cases people have to sign up to hear from you. That means they are probably already interested in you. You do not have to please everyone, merely the few followers who you have picked up along the way. Blasting out irrelevant junk through your media is akin to taking tablets for a headache without understanding the root cause of why you have a jackhammer between your eyebrows.

The other aspect of making an offer that people cannot refuse is to find a way of them avoiding saying ‘no’. The great classic example of this is the sales clerk in a clothing store who walks up to a client (assuming they walk up at all, many in Zimbabwe do not even bother at all), offers to help and gets told ‘no, I’m just browsing’. That is a ridiculous answer. There has to be a reason the person walked into the store, some attraction that got them in, something that they were in fact looking for. ‘Just browsing’ is a fob off to avoid committing to a purchase made out of a possibly irrational fear. Break that fear, create a conversation that requires an action point regardless of the outcome. Create a connection with the client, find out what they really want and offer it to them. Are you out of their price range? Then take their details and call them when you have a sale on. Great salespeople do not just ‘upsell’ with a ‘can I get you anything else’ no they match the sale to the client. ‘We have a great pair of cufflinks to go with that shirt.’ ‘We notice that you run out of data every month, we have an upgraded package that will work out cheaper than you buying extra every month.’ Find a way to meet that need, then do it again and again and again. Cause when you show how much you know me, it shows that you really care.