Customer Service

I remember years ago hearing an early childhood educator explaining that in children's art, whatever is important to them is usually larger than life, and out of proportion because that was their focus. At that time, when I looked at my young daughter's sculpture of herself, sure enough, the earrings were massive (she desperately wanted to get her ears pierced). If you relate this concept to your business, I wonder if we tend to focus most on what is important to us rather than what is of crucial interest to our clients or customers?

Imagine that you are talking to a potential client and they say "no", they don't want your service. How does that make you feel? First off, let's be clear that a "no" is just a two-letter word consisting of "n" and "o".

A couple years ago, I was talking with someone who was, for me, a very challenging client. I'm all about cultivating relationships that result in opportunities to sell. This particular client seemed allergic to cultivating relationships for reasons I never really understood.

An unfortunate side effect of an economic slowdown like the one we're in currently, is spending slows down. If you're a small business owner the slowdown in spending shows up in two ways: 1. Some prospects and customers who might have said "yes" in the past are now saying no because they simply don't have the resources to pay you 2. Those who DO have the resources are take longer to say yes This means less revenue coming in and if you own a...

I love reading! A few months ago I picked up the book, "Brands That Rock" at Pick Wicks, my favourite vintage bookstore in Waterdown. Authors Roger Blackwell and Tina Stephan define in show-stopping detail the parallels between rock and roll bands and business brands. Who would have thought there were such strong similarities between KISS and WalMart, The Rolling Stones and Cadillac, and Elton John and JetBlue Airways? Here are three lessons...