The Issue: Small-business owners–and anyone else who enjoys a good sandwich–need a place like “Shelly Deli.” This sandwich shop in a convenience store by the bay in Safety Harbor, Florida makes the best “Cubans” and hoagies in town. Any town!

With friends coming for lunch Thursday, we’d phoned-in for two-dozen sandwiches that morning. When I picked up our order, the deli owner grinned and asked when our compliments would be rolling in? I returned the grin, but suggested that our repeat business could be viewed as a pretty decent compliment!

I think he got the point.

What I Think

Part of building a business—sandwich shops included–is turning customers (people who buy from you once) into clients (people who will buy from you over and over). Thus, a “client relationship” is one in which buyers and sellers agree the first transaction is not a one-time event. Along with repeat business, client relationships typically spin off referrals, which increase profitability by cutting front-end marketing costs.

But “client” status is not a label that can be stuck to the buyer by the seller, and it must be cultivated and nurtured to stay healthy. To borrow a line from former New York mayor, Ed Koch, simply asking clients, “How am I doing?” is a great way to find out.

Client service should be performed for profit, and with specific objectives. The mechanics of client building are easy (we’ll thumb-check a few techniques), but understanding the dynamics of client relationships and how to manage them is more difficult.

You and your clients have different, yet complementary, motivations driving the commitments you make to each other. On the one hand, you’ve made a sale, but expect to make repeat sales and may want the client to help you develop additional business through referrals. The client, on the other hand, has purchased a product or service that (you say) will meet one or more objectives. According to management consultant, Theodore Levitt, clients may begin to see the sale as a “favor” bestowed by them, not as something earned by you. In the Harvard Business Review, Levitt wrote, “In your excitement and eagerness for additional successes, it is easy to misread these subtle changes in attitude and damage the relationship before it gets off the ground.”

Your behavior and promises during and after the sale help shape the client’s perceptions. If a client feels that you’re taking the purchase for granted, or want to rush off to the next victim, the effect is predictable. Over the long-term, you’ll need to meet your client’s expectations by anticipating needs and problems (not just reacting to them) and establishing routines that assure the right kinds and frequency of client contacts.

Your client database and automated communications system can put most client-building activities on autopilot, but you’re still in charge and must manage the process. So pay attention to the details…like these:

• “Keeping-in-touch” e-mails, phone calls, and other informal contacts, can, and should, be ongoing.
• Set specific dates for formal meetings. Identify clients’ next priority issues; ask when they can be addressed.
• Ask relevant questions; have specific ideas. Introducing ideas from out of left field each time soon teaches clients to see contacts with you as thinly disguised sales calls.
• Be prepared. Read online and hardcopy newspapers, newsletters and other periodicals, sending relevant clippings to keep clients up on issues affecting them: Sid: Saw this item in today’s paper. Thought you’d find this interesting. All the best, Bill
• Respond quickly to problems, questions, and service requests. Treat phoned in, or e-mailed, service requests from clients as priorities, and follow up within 24 hours.
• Schedule times for callbacks and return e-mail. Many business owners reserve the last hour of the business day for those.
• Be aware of clients’ changing personal and family needs. If you don’t bring something up, you may not be asked. Never wait for people to ask the right questions at the right times.
• Call, write, or e-mail to congratulate clients on important business or family occasions.

With apologies to the wisdom of Ed Koch, all this reminds me of probably THE best-ever illustration of customer service, client building and follow-up:

A cartoon of a chicken asking: “How’s the egg!”

Bill Willard is a commercial freelance writer in Clearwater FL. A high-impact writer and editor for over 30 years, in addition to his byline pieces, Bill’s beat includes ghostwriting and editing for businesses of all types and sizes, professional practitioners and individuals.

Contact him at billw15@tampabay.rr.com to sign up for his popular e-blog, “Take Back America.”

Responding to a 1979 Stanford Research Institute survey, 37,000 affluent individuals said they were frustrated with too many financial services companies with too many poorly trained high-pressure sales reps pushing too many prepackaged products.

 In 1982, a young Ohio financial advisor, Nicholas Gregory, read that survey and realized this was no way to run a railroad. Before long, Gregory also knew he’d lurched uncontrollably into a hot new business opportunity! A fellow Floridian these days, he told me all about it over a recent cup of coffee.

“Accidental” Entrepreneur

“There had to be a better way,” Gregory reasoned at the time, “And I believe we found it!” The objective, as he saw it, was to combine those “disturbing” survey results about half-baked sales reps with a basic principle of engineering: It is essential to thoroughly understand your subject before you can make sound judgments about it. The result is the now-patented “Financial Engineering Process,” which provides quality financial education, training and advanced case design through Nick Gregory’s Financial Engineering Institute, LLC.

“Just as engineering provides manageable answers to complicated questions,” Gregory notes, “The traditional approach to financial services meant looking at consumers’ needs and objectives, and making suitable product recommendations–and for many advisors it still is. But doing business with wealthy individuals and business owners—the high-end “Affluent Markets”–requires specialized knowledge and professional education in the full-range of complex, ever-changing issues unique to that much sought-after ‘niche’ marketplace, and which, frankly, are beyond the reach of most financial services reps.”

Out of reach perhaps, but thanks to Nick Gregory, not unavailable!

Today, The Financial Engineering Institute, LLC, helps the financial services community reach and acquire affluent clients by mastering the levels of planning, marketing and technical tooling required in today’s volatile financial world. As a speaker and writer, for example, Nick Gregory has a firm grasp on cash management, risk management, investing, taxation, estate preservation, employee benefits, business succession and retirement planning–and routinely consults on those essential topics with attorneys, accountants and top-tier financial services professionals, as well as some of the largest financial service organizations worldwide.

Yes, those subjects are complex, but as with any intelligent engineering or smart business design, the beauty of Nick Gregory’s Financial Engineering process is its simplicity. “Financial Engineering-trained advisors are able to adopt a repeatable and customizable process for delivering financial services to high-end personal and business-owner clients,” Gregory concludes, “And because it really works, it’s a great confidence builder!”

What to Know More? Visit Nick Gregory on the Web at www.thefei.com, or contact The Financial Engineering Institute at P.O. Box 249, Tarpon Springs, FL 34688. 

Bill Willard is a commercial freelance writer in Clearwater FL. A high-impact writer and editor for over 30 years, in addition to his byline pieces, Bill’s beat includes ghostwriting and editing for businesses of all types and sizes, professional practitioners and individuals. Contact him at billw15@tampabay.rr.com to sign up for his popular e-blog, “Take Back America.”

Here’s what I do:  I look for ways to directly increase my sales or lower my expenses by a few dollars here, a few percentages points there.  

For example (and you can read more about this is my column in the March  2010 edition of Corporate Report Wisconsin), when I had my ill-fated Jimmy Buffett retail store in the Caribbean, I learned that if I put a CD player at the door and played some of Buffett’s island songs, it brought in just a few  more customers, which led to roughly a 5% increase in sales.   Adding that to a $500 day meant $25 in additional sales.  Yawn?  No way.  That meant potentially $175 more per week, or more than $9,000 more a year.

What can you do?  You tell me.  I invite you to spend some time over the next few days looking at one or two minor things you can do to push down your expenses or ratchet up your income.  Then add a comment to this post let me know what you came up with. 

And as always, work hard, make money, have fun!

Oh, and by the way, speaking of ratcheting up sales, I invite you to order a copy of my The Back to  Basics Book of Selling.  Click on the title link or order directly from me by sending a check for $19.94 ($35.89 for two), and I’ll throw in shipping for free … and autograph your copies, as well.   

John R. Ingrisano
204 Lakeview Drive
Algoma, WI 54201

Capitalism makes it possible for people to purchase the greatest variety of goods for the lowest possible prices.  (Government subsidies, by the way, artificially lower prices temporarily, but eventually lead to recession-like economic declines, if not the eventual downright collapse of the entire economic system.)  It also keeps prices at their lowest level possible, thanks to true competition (something a government cannot manipulate).

Example:  I purchased a Kindle e-reader from Amazon.com in March 2009.  It was a revolutionary development, one that intrigued me so profoundly that I went out and added Amazon.com to my stock portfolio immediately. 

I paid $359 for the gadget, well worth every penny.  Well, lo and behold, here it is January 2010 and competitors are now flooding the field with their own versions of e-readers.  And these products aren’t just clones.  No, instead, they’re next generation devices … new and improved. 

As a result of this wonderful competition, that same Kindle I bought in March is now available for $259; that’s $100 less than just nine months earlier.  And I expect the price to keep dropping. 

A teachable moment (or three lessons about competition and capitalism):

1.     It keeps prices low.  When a McDonalds and a Burger King set up shop at the same intersection, it pretty much guarantees that they will keep their prices as low as necessary to keep your business.  (No, this is not collusion; it’s competition.  Close one and prices at the other will increase.  Add a third and prices will decline even further, until each reaches what is called the “break even point.”  That’s the minimum a business can charge without going broke.  It’s also the ideal price from the point of view of a customer.)

2.     It gives us more choices.  Remember the images of Russians in the now defunct Soviet Union back in the 1960s standing in line for the next shipment of low-quality sausages (or any product, for that matter)?  Centralized management and government-run, non-competitive planning destroyed their choices under the “government knows best” theory.  Sorry, but it doesn’t.

3.     It leads to innovation.  Kindle’s competitors are offering new features (not just lower prices) to get your business.  That means Amazon.com must improve its next generation of e-readers.  The reason we got from the Model T Fords to the incredible cars of today in just 100 years is because of competition.

The bottom line:  Competition is good and capitalism builds wealth.  It is the ONLY economic system that does so.  Enjoy the day and celebrate the competitive advantage created by the bold thinking of Capitalists in what is left of our free-market economy. 

The Issue: As much as Obama & Co. wants to direct the efforts of American business by appearing to be confident, in-charge leaders who know exactly how things will turn out, it’s all an illusion. No one in this administration has gotten his hands dirty in a private business–big or small (yes, I know there are women involved, too; I hate de-gendering on principle)–and that has put our nation’s economy at risk.

What I Think: Make that, what lots of Americans have come to believe!

His polished demeanor and charismatic rhetoric notwithstanding, Barack Obama is dangerous to American business. In grooming this narcissistic community organizer for a presidential run, master-manipulator George Soros had one sinister goal: To profit by advancing the Left’s redistributionist agenda–in effect, a way for America’s Have-Nots to extort Big Bucks from the Haves—while the absurdly criminal Soros works his Big-Money cons on the sidelines. Pretty clever, no?

Not So Fast: This is Still America! You cannot believe New World socialism is good and still be taken seriously by a free people. If we follow the socialist lead of Soros/Obama and redistribute enough wealth long enough, eventually it will all be gone! Wealth has to come from somewhere. That’s why socialism has failed everywhere it’s been tried—except at the end of a gun.

Let’s Get Back to Economics 101. Remember the difference between creating wealth and making money? Making something that was not there before creates wealth. Only a few industries do that–farming, construction, manufacturing and mineral extraction come to mind. But so do small businesses run by you Freestyle Entrepreneurs out there! Other businesses–banking, insurance, Wall Street trading and lawyers–make their money by shuffling other people’s cash around.

We need to prop up those industries and businesses that actually create wealth, as opposed to those that thrive by making money. That’s why merely “creating jobs” is of no real value. After all, jobs can be anywhere, especially in an increasingly large and rapacious government…to become even larger if Mr. Obama’s government-run healthcare scheme ever comes to pass.

No! We must strengthen our key wealth-producing industries and businesses, and then get out of their way. But first, we need to get Barack Obama and his crew of anti-capitalist, anti-American New World socialists out of our way!

With thanks to John Ingrisano and Ron Gurtler for their insights.

What Do You Think? Are you with us on this? Do you, too, want to Take Back America? We’d like to hear from you. Have you registered?

Bill Willard is a commercial freelance writer in Clearwater FL. A high-impact writer and editor for over 30 years, in addition to his byline pieces, Bill’s beat includes ghostwriting and editing for businesses of all types and sizes, professional practitioners and individuals.

Contact him at billw15@tampabay.rr.com to sign up for his popular e-blogs, “Daily Grin” and “Take Back America.”

Whatever happened to “You’re welcome?”

What I Think

Several months ago Issue of the Week gently chastised sales and customer-contact people…and waaay too many others in all types of businesses…who say “No Problem” when thanked.

Not that I thought we’d nip that particular verbal transgression in the proverbial bud, but it’s been getting worse. Much worse! Lately, in fact, not one person I’ve commended for their service in a restaurant, retail store or at online customer service departments has come back with anything but No Problem! And it’s usually said in a whiney voice…another pet peeve of mine, as Issue of the Week readers know.

One small step for man… I have no employees, but if I did, they’d get the message about “No problem” PDQ. The same would go if Sue and I still had children living at home. Our culture is falling apart piece by piece; it needs all the shoring up it can get!

What Do You Think?

Are you with me on this? Do you have employees who are guilty? Have you corrected them or considered it? We’d like to hear from you. Have you registered?

Bill Willard is a commercial freelance writer in Clearwater FL. A high-impact writer and editor for over 30 years, in addition to his byline pieces, Bill’s beat includes ghostwriting and editing for businesses of all types and sizes, professional practitioners and individuals. He is a www.thefreestyleentrepreneur.com Contributing Author.

Visit his Website: www.writergazette.com/WillardAssociates.shtml. Or contact him at billw15@tampabay.rr.com to sign up for his popular e-blog, Daily Grin.

Even though I enjoy (?) playing the game and one of my three sons was a golf professional before accepting a position with the Nationwide PGA Tour, by no stretch of the imagination am I an expert on the sport of golf.

To illustrate that point, at one time I assumed that great golfers hit each shot perfectly every time.

That was an incorrect assumption of the highest order.

Sometimes they hit it too far to the right (shank) out-of-bounds; and other times they hit it too far to the left (hook) out-of-bounds. On very rare occasions all they catch is air (whiff)!

When any of the above (or a myriad of other) debacles (behind a tree, buried in sand, in six inches of rough or in a pond) happen, it is what happens NEXT that separates the men from the boys and the women from the girls. It’s how the golfer stops, takes a deep breath, figures out how to extricate himself/herself from a tough situation and executes a plan to get back on track that makes a difference. It’s the crucial recovery shot that can help save par.

One of the worst moments in my professional life occurred when I was Director of Training for a major Midwestern life insurance company. We held a three-day Education Conference in Dallas attended by approximately six hundred agents. In addition to motivational platform speakers, we provided a myriad of breakout sessions which qualified for continuing education (CE) credit. Producers appreciated the opportunity to pick up a lot of hours in a short period of time. Our conference was held in October and I was not aware that we had an issue until the following December.

“Bill, is there a problem with Ed Conference CE’s?” asked my boss on a telephone call while I was in Kansas City looking at next year’s site.

“Not that I am aware. Why do you ask?”

“Because I have been getting calls from agents saying that the hours do not show up at their respective insurance departments.”

Needless to say, I experienced a long three-hour drive back from Kansas City to Des Moines. It was going to be difficult to figure out because my assistant, the person who had done the filing for the three previous years, had resigned and moved on to another company.

And that, as it turned out, was the problem.

For reasons we’ll never know, she had failed to apply for CE in twenty-four of the thirty-eight states represented at the conference and lied to me prior to the meeting about the progress of her work. Knowing that it was a house built of cards, she resigned before the truth came out.?

To be painfully honest, that first week after finding out was pure torture. I wasn’t sure where to begin. People had paid money to attend and rightfully expected to be credited for the hours invested.

Back to my golf analogy.

The ball had been hit into a deep pond and my first step was to accept the painful truth. There would be a penalty stroke but we still time to recover.

I then called the producers in those twenty states and explained what had happened. It was important for me to let them know what had occurred and to make sure that there were no CE deadlines being missed when they renewed their respective licenses.

Then I needed to get in touch with the agents from the four states that would not or could not bend the rules. Our plan there was to encourage them to take free classes via the company’s on-line virtual university or offer to pay them for an all-day CE course in their respective communities.

To my surprise and delight, I did not deal with even ONE angry agent. Each person said that either they had plenty of CE’s elsewhere, or had all kinds of time to pick them up before renewal and I shouldn’t worry about it.

How about you?

When it does, follow the example of scratch golfers. Analyze the situation. Admit the fact that it stinks.?Accept responsibility. Make a plan. Execute. Move on and forget about it.

Bill Sheridan—Sheridan Writes, LLC

www.sheridanwrites.com

• I can’t stop the inconsiderate person who thoughtlessly throws a wadded up paper towel on the floor of the men’s room for someone else to pick up; but I can pick it up myself and toss it in the waste basket
• I can’t make young people use their turn signals or old people turn their turn signals off; but I can drive carefully and courteously myself
• I can’t stop the DOW Jones Industrial Average from dropping like a rock; but I can be careful about my spending habits and prepare an annual financial plan to make sure that we’re doing the best we can with the funds that we’ve worked so hard to accumulate
• I can’t run the government; but I can respect the President and elected officials currently in power at any given time whether I voted for them or not
• I can’t stop racism or sexism or any other type of ‘ism’; but I can appreciate all cultures and show respect for all people regardless of gender or skin color
• I can’t stop the aging process; but I can continue to learn and love and laugh and cry and work and play with great vigor and enthusiasm
• I can’t prevent people from losing their jobs and facing difficult times; but I can be a friend when it happens to someone by being an encourager
• I can’t be twenty-five again; but I can share (when asked) my experiences, both victories and defeats, in the hopes of making the road a little smoother for younger people who have years and miles ahead of them
• I can’t stop negative people from being negative; but I can choose to avoid them when possible and attempt to be a beacon of light during times of darkness
• I can’t slow down the changes in technology that come at us with warp speed; but I can accept, respect and learn how to use the tools that help us learn, allow us to communicate with the world and provide entertainment
• I can’t control the world (nor do I want to); but I can prevent the world from controlling me by taking responsibility for my actions and becoming a life-long learner
And you? Well, you can make you own list of what you can and cannot control. It’s a truly liberating experience!

Bill Sheridan    Sheridan Writes, LLC     www.sheridanwrites.com

These are tough times for businesses.  Odds are that your employees know it too.  Like a sword hanging over their heads, they’re worried about the future, too.  Here are a few suggestions to boost morale, allay fears and keep your team focused:

1.                     Communicate.  Not knowing what is going on is worse than hearing bad news.  Gather your employees and fill them in.  If times are tough, ask for their help.  If your business is doing well, make sure they know it.  Either way, allay their fears with the truth.  They can take it.  They’re grownups. 

2.                      Consider alternatives to layoffs.  Surveys have found that employees would prefer pay freezes, reduction in hours, even reduction in pay to laying off a portion of the crew.  Layoffs destroy morale.  They can be devastating not just for those who are let go, but for those who remain.  (As one ad pointed out recently:  “Are you the one who was let go on Friday … or the one who has to pick up the extra workload on Monday?”)

3.                       Show them how to stretch their dollars.  Institute a Financial Wellness program.  For most people, they can easily improve their standard of living by as much as 10 % just by taking a few money-saving steps.  Invest in classes or seminars, or make available books on money management.

The bottom line:  Help your employees get through these challenging times … and they’ll help you.  This is a golden opportunity to get everyone pulling together as a cohesive team. 

Work hard.  Make money. Keep morale strong. – JR Ingrisano

$ $ $

Want to learn more?  Check out The Back to Basics Book of Money! A Couple’s Guide to Financial Peace, by John Ingrisano.  The book contains 10 valuable Couple Money Skills.  Plus, the Back to Basics Book of Money Workbook (which dovetails with the main text) offers 31 practical, hands-on Wealth Builder activities that can help you and your partner build financial and domestic stability.  Both the book and workbook, which retail for $31.98 plus S & H, are available at the Family Finances Conference Center website for $27.99 total. 

The Family Finances Conference Center tailors programs to the unique and individual needs of client organizations and their members and employees, based on the principles of the book and workbook set, The Back to Basics Book of Money!  A Couple’s Guide to Financial Peace. 

For more information, contact me at the Family Finances Conference Center by email (john@b2bbookofmoney.com) or my direct phone line (920-559-3722).

John Ingrisano

Director

Family Finances Conference Center

204 Lakeview Drive

Algoma, WI 54201

(920) 559-3722

john@b2bbookofmoney.com