I was looking for a new hair salon and found Suz through Itex, a local barter network.  I showed up for my first appointment with her expecting a ho-hum experience, just . . . → Read More: Client Rules]]> I recently had an interesting experience at a new salon.  Now, I don’t mean interesting bad, but rather interesting good.  Let me explain.

I was looking for a new hair salon and found Suz through Itex, a local barter network.  I showed up for my first appointment with her expecting a ho-hum experience, just like every other time I have been to a salon in my life.  But Suz isn’t like all of the other hair stylists out there.

First of all, Suz actually has a background in biochemical engineering.  When was the last time you expected to talk about chemistry with your hair stylist?  Yeah, me neither.

But that wasn’t what was so interesting about the experience.  The part that was interesting was when Suz began laying down the laws of how to be her client.  (Now let me tell you, this is something I teach to my clients, but rarerly–rarely do I see it in practice otherwise).

Suz said that first of all, I am not considered a client until after the third appointment.  After all, I am still getting to know her and trying to decide if I like her style.  And she is still trying to decide whether I fit into the culture of the salon.

Then she laid out the rules.

Rule #1- If I have to cancel an appointment I have to give 24 hours notice otherwise I will still be charged the cost of the appointment.  (Incidentally, Suz says the same goes for vice versa.  If she were to ever cancel on me less than 24 hours in advance than she would expect me to charge her my going hourly rate).

Rule #2- Never cut my own hair.  (This one is easy as I haven’t laid scissors to my hair since that horrible experience in 1st grade where my brother and I decided that I needed bangs).

Rule #3- Never color my own hair.

Rule #4- Don’t use crap products on my hair.

The kicker here is that Suz stated that she has fired clients before for not following the rules.  Is that counter intuitive to tell a new client that on their first appointment?  Absolutely not.  What Suz has done is set the boundaries of the relationship and positioned herself as an expert in her field that commands respect.  Because of that she has won me as a client.

Note: Incidentally, I liked the hair cut she gave me.  But then again I also liked the way my old hair stylist cut my hair and I eventually left that place after she went on maternity leave.  She didn’t do anything wrong.  I just didn’t feel that connected to her and started wandering if there was someone better out there.  That goes to that shows, at least for me, that while a hair style that looks good is important in a hair stylist, the connection and positioning is just as, if not more important.

We have some friends who have recently decided to leave their jobs to start their own business.  They are a couple . . . → Read More: All In A Day’s Work…]]> To be honest, it can be very difficult to stay on track when running one’s own business.  Matt and I were discussing this just the other day during one of our infamous walks.

We have some friends who have recently decided to leave their jobs to start their own business.  They are a couple of months into this new business venture and have just recently shared with us how hard it is to get anything strategic done on the business between taking the kids to soccer practice, remodeling the bathroom, and getting the car worked on–not to mention the day to day business needs such as servicing clients and paying bills.

So what is it that takes a highly productive employee to a struggling entrepreneur?  Where is the disconnect in productivity levels?

It could be that in a job there is normally a much defined job description with a clear outline of what is expected.  In addition, when working in a job, an employee is not usually responsible for both strategy and day to day customer maintenance.  Also, there is the accountability of knowing that your boss or manager will be asking for results.

However, when working for oneself it is easy to get just enough done to get by…thus ignoring the strategy or business building pieces.  It is also a lot easier to let things slip as you have no one holding you accountable.  This is especially true if you have a home office as it is very easy to allow household tasks to consume your work day.

Here are a few tips to help keep you on track.

-It is vitally important to find other entrepreneurs with similar goals to help hold you accountable.  Some call this a power circle.  But regardless of what you call it, you need to have someone who understands what you are working towards to hold you accountable to reaching your goals.

-If working from a home office, set a schedule and stick to it.  Force yourself to get up at the same time each morning.  Take a shower and get dressed rather than just walking down the hall to your office in your Sunday sweats.  This may not seem important, but if you want to motivate yourself to work you must dress the part.  Believe it or not, your attitude is affected by what you wear.  (If you don’t believe me, think about how you feel when you wear your favorite outfit…I rest my case.)  Sunday sweats may be incredibly comfortable, but your mind associates relaxation with them, not productivity.

-Write out a job description for every job you find yourself doing in your business.  Include the tasks that you are responsible for when acting in that job title.  Then, allot time slots for when you fulfill that job.  For example, if 9am is always your Marketing Director job time, then line up a slew of marketing projects for that time and work through them.  If 11am is Customer Service Manager time then take off your Marketing Director hat and switch gears to handle any customer situations.  Compartmentalizing your day will help you give attention to each area of your business and not ignore vital areas.

-Examine your work environment.  How conducive is it to productive and efficient work?  Is it cluttered, thus causing you to spend more time looking for items than actually working?  Is it uncomfortable, causing you to want to spend more time on the couch than in your actual office?  Or maybe it is too comfortable and you find yourself falling asleep.  Are there a lot of distractions like a television, traffic noise, or constant interruptions from employees, children, or pets?  If you said yes to any of these questions, consider revamping your office space to make it easier to be productive.

Implementing just one of these tips will increase your productivity, but implementing all of them will cause a dramatic change in the way you work.  Be careful, productivity can be addicting!

Till next time,

Sarah

Just down the road there was a sports restaurant that was packed.

The first restaurant will no doubt blame the economy for his business being bad. . . . → Read More: Is it a bad economy, or is it you…]]> The other day I was in a nice restaurant during the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.  The place had multiple flat screen televisions and a few people watching basketball.

Just down the road there was a sports restaurant that was packed.

The first restaurant will no doubt blame the economy for his business being bad.  But what it him?  I’ve been there 30+ times in my life.  Not once has he attempted to get my contact information or given me an offer for a dessert after I was done eating.  If he had gotten several thousand email addresses he might be able to actually put together a promotion to pack the restaurant during the tournament.

Something that gave away prizes for the best outfit, people who picked the best brackets, people who chose the score correctly, and on and on it could have gone.

But he has no client database that I am aware of.  He just hopes that people come into his restaurant, instead of proactively scooping up all the people who do come in, and ensuring that they come in again and again by developing or building a relationship with them.

There is a famous phrase out there uttered by some politician or prognosticator or political analysts.  It reads, “Its the economy, stupid.”

In THIS case, it wasn’t the economy.  It was just someone being ignorant.  And being ignorant leads to stupidity…or at least in this case it did.

-Matt

In other words:  our eyes deceive us because we don’t know what to look for, don’t know . . . → Read More: True analysis of business]]> Challenge your assumptions, beliefs, and ideas about things.  So many times we (I do this too) come to conclusions based upon so much little data and only a small viewpoint of the world in which we live.

In other words:  our eyes deceive us because we don’t know what to look for, don’t know HOW to look at things objectively, and we analyze things based on such small amounts of data.

We jump to conclusions, and then let these conclusions define ourselves, our lives, our beliefs, our goals, and more.

This is why first impressions are so important because people make a decision based upon a little amount of “data” and then generally decide if they like the person for a long period of time.

It is REALLY hard to overcome these first impressions.

-M

Here’s what I mean.  Right now your brain is being bombarded with millions of bits of information.  From the music in the background (if applicable) to the clothes on your body (hopefully, applicable) to the fan from the . . . → Read More: Top of mind awareness: Why it is so important.]]> What is top of mind awareness?  Probably one of THE most important things in business success.

Here’s what I mean.  Right now your brain is being bombarded with millions of bits of information.  From the music in the background (if applicable) to the clothes on your body (hopefully, applicable) to the fan from the computer the brain is taking in massive amounts of information.  It is also sorting that information out.

Top of mind keeps your brain focused on what is around it all the time.

And in business, if you are not keeping people focused on what is important, then they are not focused on you.

Just in the few seconds it took you to read those last two sentences, your brain took in massive amounts of information, and more than likely forgot about the sensations it was feeling.

This is why companies like McDonalds, Coke, Pepsi continue to advertise.  Yes, they would still have customers if they did not, but advertising keeps them top of mind so people think about them.

Now I am NOT saying you need to run television or radio commercials like McDonalds.  That is probably not appropriate for you.  What I AM saying, however, is that you do need to design ways to keep top of mind in your customers mind all the time.

Matt

p.s.  if you haven’t subscribed to our Free Report, Click on the Subscribe Button on the left below the menu bar.

All of these things can have a massive impact on your business.  Just the way your salespeople ask for an order can really influence the sales of your business.

There are literally hundreds of things you can test, but here is . . . → Read More: Testing]]> Do you test new ideas, campaigns, marketing concepts, and scripts in your business?

All of these things can have a massive impact on your business.  Just the way your salespeople ask for an order can really influence the sales of your business.

There are literally hundreds of things you can test, but here is a short list of where to begin.

Any type of salesperson interaction to where someone is asking for an order.  (Is there an add on sale, or an upsell?)

Any type of close.

How people are sent to a sales person either via phone, or in person.

A request for referrals.

Any headlines/subject lines in your email.

Any headlines in marketing or print.

This is just a very short list and is not exhaustive at all.  I’ve personally seen headlines or subject lines double or triple the open rate or the response rate of emails and other advertisements.  It is also better to test than to guess.  I also recommend only changing one little thing at a time when you are testing.  That way you know what really caused the result.

-Matt

Yet many people do this again, and again, and again.  I think this is because there is comfort in doing the same things again and again and again, instead of venturing out and trying to do . . . → Read More: A good definition of insanity]]> One of the best definitions of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting different results.

Yet many people do this again, and again, and again.  I think this is because there is comfort in doing the same things again and again and again, instead of venturing out and trying to do new things.  I know that I myself struggle with this sometimes.  It is easy to fall into habits or patterns that don’t make the most sense, instead of making changes that will yield different results.

The brain is a funny creature.   I think one of the best ways to instantly get out of a rut is to not add anything, but to start removing things.  Remove things from your to do list, remove things from your mind, become better organized.  Get out the things that are not that important, not that profitable, and not that efficient.

Then you can truly experience the “less is more” factor.

Matt