Learn to Keep People Dependent on You

To maintain your independence you must always be needed and wanted.  Make people depend on you for their happiness and prosperity and you have nothing to fear.  Never teach them enough so that they can do without you.

For small business owners, this is how you stay in business and thrive. Make your customers feel like they ‘need’ your product or service. If your customers come to depend on your products and services, chances are they will be return customers.

I attended a business seminar some years ago and out of everything the speakers said, one thing stood out. This guy sold personal-care items and he said that consumable, personal-care items are an ‘endless money source’. He went on to explain that consumables were great items to sell because people don’t want to go without them! They will purchase in surplus and will purchase more when the supplies starts to get low!

People act this way because the they develop a dependency (real or imagined) or certain things. Think about it … how long would you go without toothpaste or soap? How about food? Not very long!

Make your customers feel that you are the ONLY source. Through your superior customer  service, your unique service or product, your availability or ability; you want your customers to NEED what your selling!

Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky

You can die from someone else’s  misery – emotional states are as infectious as disease. You may feel you are helping the drowning man but you are only precipitating your own disaster. Associate with the happy and fortunate instead.

This is another truth that you probably heard from you parents. “Birds of a feather flock together” , “Choose positive friends” , or this one I always loved:

My dad would say:
” Be wise my son, hang with three broke people, your bound to be the fourth one!”

In your business association, this is also true.

Not only do you get judged, to some degree, by your associations, you tend to pick up habits from your peers, associates and friends.

Things to think about in regard to your business associations:

• Know the reputation of any trade organizations that you join. If your a religious-based business, you should probably avoid registering your business with the liquor merchants organization. Even if your business sells communion wine! You want your business to be perceived in a manner that is in line with your customer-base’s core beliefs.
• Be selective with whom you allow to place your website links on their websites. If you advertise on a website or a publication, you first, want to choose one that has a good reputation and one that has sufficient traffic to get your ad exposure. Having your business advertising linked to a website or publication, that has a negative reputation with your target audience can drag down your business’s reputation.
• Be careful not to pick up bad business practices from those you associate with. We all make personal connection, even with business associates. Be sure your associates are more of a positive influence than a negative one. Your associate may be a good person, but has terrible business practices. If this is the case, be wise enough to monitor your own habits, to be sure you are not lowering your standards, subconsciously, because you have been negatively influenced.
• If  you are an employee, don’t let the perpetually disgruntled employee, draw you in to their madness…. even if what they are saying has some truth with it. You don’t want to get the company-wide reputation of an ‘angry whiner, that keeps confusion going’. Once you get a negative tag, it can affect promotions and recommendations you may need.

Be wise, choose your associations carefully and always look at the big picture.

Win through your Actions, Never through Argument

Any momentary triumph you think gained through argument is really a mirage:  The resentment and ill will you stir up is stronger and lasts longer than any momentary change of opinion.  It is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions, without saying a word.  Demonstrate, do not explicate.

The saying, “Action speaks louder than word…” could be based on this truth. In business, be argumentative can cause you too lose customers, suppliers and create a negative image for your business. Rather than get into a war of words, demonstrate your ‘rightness’ !

Keeping good records of transactions and keeping detailed project notes is the greatest tool to help you demonstrate your ‘correctness’ when handling  disputes. Whether it be financial disputes or disputes concerning the actual service or product. It’s hard to argue with a paper trail!

Creating a positive image in your daily interactions helps tremendously, when a dispute arises. People come to recognize your business as ‘up-standing’ and are more willing to forgive an occasional mistake or dispute.

Be Humble. Be willing to take a small loss to retain a customer. An angry or disgruntled customer is much more likely to speak negatively of your business than a satisfied customer is to speak positively of your business! It’s just human nature. Anger is a great motivator!

Make other People come to you – use Bait if Necessary

It is always a good practice to do business based on your parameters. If possible have your business associates meet at time and locations that are convenient for you. Always request that people come to you when requesting their presence. When you force the other person to act, you are the one in control and in business, you want to be in control as much as possible, even when building business relationships with people.

You hold the cards. During any business transaction, negotiation or general meeting; you want to gain as much control as you can and you want to be perceived as having more control than you do! By making people come to you, naturally gives you an appearance of importance and power, which can affect the outcome to be most beneficial to you and your business.

Interesting thought: Woman use this rule a lot with their husbands, significant other or men with whom they associate. Think about it… how often does a woman want or request your presences and they say “Can you Come Here….” My wife does it all the time… and I think, ‘why do I have to come to you when we are both capable of getting to one another and you are the one that wants or needs something…’ ; so she’s wants something from me and not only do I have to deal with the ‘want’, I have to also deliver the ‘want’….. Now that’s control!   LOL

Get others to do the Work for you, but Always Take the Credit

This may seem to be dishonorable and ‘low-down’ ! Taking credit for other people’s work has the feel of something that your mother taught you that you shouldn’t do.
Let me shed a new light on this, seemingly, dishonorable practice. You want to make yourself and your business look good and it is perfectly okay to take the credit for someone elses’ work, under certain circumstances.

In business, ‘taking credit for others work’ is called outsourcing. You pay another company or person to perform a job or a portion of a job that is either outside of your scope of expertise or more cost-effective to outsource. When viewed in this light, you are not being dishonorable. The company you outsource to, gets paid, you provide your customer with a quality end-product and ideally, make the job more profitable for you or your company.

The key to outsourcing, is to avoid attempting to be a jack-of-all-trades. I, personally have friends that have various trades and businesses, but I can not advertise that I do flooring when I run a technical services company. Stay focused on your core business and only outsource task that are directly related to your core business. Small business owners can make their companies appear larger by implementing a solid outsourcing plan.

Outsoursing can help:

1. Help you save money by allowing another company perform a task that they are set up to do more effiecently and consequently cheaper.

2. Speed up turn-around time for task, which also speed up payment.

3. Build relationships with related businesses and possibly further reduce production cost.

4. Companies you outsource to, are often good sources for new customer, if your businesses are not too closely related.

5. Allows you to offer some extra services / products that are related to your core business.

Court Attention at all Cost

This, at first glance, may seem counter to everything that you have been taught growing up. In your personal life, it may not be a good practice to seek to be the center of attention, at any cost! Attention is good, but be careful not to appear to be seeking it! People are often turned off by people that seem to attention seekers.

Attention to your business should be sought and courted, where ever it can be found. You preferably want the attention to be for positive things, but it has been said that ‘any press is good press’. Stay away from the negative as much as possible, but depending on your business and your target customers it can be a boost to business.

You want your company to be exposed to as many people as possible and the more attention that is paid to your products or services, the more customers you can possible secure.

So how do you get this attention for your business?

Follow is a general list of things that you can do to get attention for your business. Many of these things you have seen before, but they are ttime tested ways to bring attention to your customer. Understand your customer base and who you are marketing to and use that knowledge as a guide for which combination of tools to use. You must understand your industry and those from whom you are seeking attention.

1. Business cards
2. Websites
3. Traffic Exchanges
4. Sponsor an Event
5. Promotional Clothing
6. Promotional Items (pens,cups,pencils, etc.)
7. Press Releases
8. Email Campaigns (don’t spam)
9. Talking to friends, family and customers (word of mouth)
10. Vehicle magnets
11. Brochures
12. Informational Seminars
13. Social Networking
14. Free Give – Aways
15. BE GOOD AT WHAT YOU DO !!!!!

Law 5

So Much Depends on Reputation – Guard it with your Life

In business, reputation means so much! Potential customers can be lost before they ever get to experience your products or services if your business has a bad reputation. It is of the utmost importance to manage and guard your company’s reputation. A bad reputation is especially damaging to your small business when it come to ‘word of mouth’ recommendations from past clients.  Customers are more likely to tell others of a bad encounter with your business than they are to tell of a good experience with your business.

Here are some ways to manage and protect your business reputation:

1. Be honest with your customers
   • Don’t accept tasks that you can’t complete – tell your customer if their request is beyond your expertise. It’s better to lose the business on one occasion, than to fail and lose the customer.
   • Don’t promise anything you are not sure you can deliver – don’t make promises you can’t keep. It is very tempting to do this at the point you feel you are about to close the deal, but refrain; breaking a promise will taint your reputation.
2. Manage customer expectations
   • Don’t agree to deadlines that you already know you can’t meet – customers often don’t understand your business operations and will often under-estimate the time needed to complete a particular project. Don’t agree to an impossible deadline; it’s better to pass on the project.
   • Tell clients if their expected outcome is not reasonable – this is an extension of the last point… tell your customer if they are expecting an outcome that you already know is unlikely.
3. Inform your customers
   • Inform your clients of your processes and/or procedures – give your customers some sense of what their request involves so they can understand the process and have a better understanding if something has to change.
   • Inform your clients of any changes that occur – tell your clients if any changes that will affect the services they receive or the product they expect, in a timely manner.
4. Provide support for your products or services
   • Be accessible to your customers – this is one of the quickest ways to damage your reputation with a customer. Customers want to feel that they can contact you when they have a question or a problem.
5. Give existing customers incentive to tell others about your business
   • Offer a small discount on a return visit if they refer someone
   • Show your customers some appreciation, by using small value-adds to your products or services. (ex. create an inviting atmosphere for your business)

Remember: You will never satisfy every one and this applies to customers as well. In general, being professional, honest and accessible will be enough for most customers to have a good feeling about their encounter with your business.