Creating a Pool:
When a small company (or any company for that
matter, short of a general merchandiser) starts
out, it is especially important to set extra-
tight limits on your target group. Stay focused
only on your strongest target. Right on that
bulls-eye. Then as your business picks up
(which we are hoping it does) you will open you
advertising up gradually around your bulls-eye
(or target-group) a little wider, still
maintaining a focus on your targeted group,
just making the "Pool" a bit wider and a bit
deeper.
Listen To Your Client or Customer:
The closer you become to your clients, the
better for you and your company. You need to
create a "closeness" between company and client
to literally drench your company with the
thought of your "majority client base". What
they think and want should be how you think and
what you want.
Learn from the Leaders of Your Industry:
One thing a successful company has a hard time
doing is hiding the fact. And why would they?
They want the whole world to know they are
successful, especially their clients and
potential clients. This offers smaller
struggling companies a chance to take a good
hard look at and learn from these success
stories. If you can find a successful company in
your industry, you have a chance right there in
front of you to study a perfect example of what
you can do to better your company. What is their
philosophy of the client and their methods for
serving and maintaining them? What techniques do
they use to keep their clients satisfied? All
matters you should be concerned about?
Hire People that Like Other People:
This may seem like a no-brainer, but is often
over-looked in the hiring process because of
educational background or possibly even previous
work experience. But make no mistake. If you are
in the business of serving clients and this
employee is going to help serve these clients,
he or she "MUST" be very, and I stress, very
outgoing and client oriented. Often the job can
be learned, but your personality you carry with
you always and is virtually impossible to
disguise for very long.
Progress Tracking:
Everybody hates paperwork, myself included. But
this oh-so important monster of society has an
important role in the success of you company. It
is very important to track the progress of each
client as well as your own company. As every
company is different there would be no way I
could tell you what facts and figures you should
be saving, but depending on the type of company
you many want to keep daily, weekly, monthly
and/or yearly. You may keep sales, commissions,
product breakdowns or one a thousand other
figures. You may want graphs, which are great
presentation features. The primary purpose still
comes back to tracking progress. What is doing
well, what is not?
How can we do better?
That's the Million-Dollar Question.
Your Clients expect a Million-Dollar Answer!
Research & Preparation Are Your Two Best Investments!
About the Author
Wild Bill Montgomery
Webmaster@MakingProfit.com
http://www.MakingProfit.com