It Is Not The End

Guest Contributor: Albert Luk
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Undoubtedly, given economic uncertainty, some of your small business clients will stop buying your good or service or simply cancel or terminate your contract. Although this is obviously an upsetting event, how you act during the exit of a sales relationship is more important than how you entered it.

Remember that, in life and in business, you are judged by what you do and who you are when times are going bad and not good. Most successful entrepreneurs have had penalty of bad experiences with salespeople who "only care about the sale." The salesperson is gone as soon as they get their commission. Someone else can service the client right? That's not your job.

But an integrated brand takes the client from sale to exit. If your brand is truly small business friendly, you exit gracefully. You thank them for their patronage and you ask how you can help them. Even if this particular client cannot afford your good and services, a graceful exit may have you recommended to their colleagues as a salesperson who actually gets "it." It being the client being more than a commission figure but a person.

There's also something about entrepreneurs. They don't ever die out. They just morph into something else. Entrepreneurship is not a job but a life-style. You never know when they may call you up a year later and ask you to help them in a new business venture.

You want a good example? Take me. I just moved businesses again and guess who I called to be my IT service provider? The firm I hired when I still had my own legal practice another life-time ago, and who I had not spoken to in 16 months, because I remember them so fondly as being timely and profession.

The Scary Secret that Could Propel You Way Ahead of Your Competition

Guest Contributor: Shannon McCaffery
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If I were to ask you what business you were in, what would you say? Would you tell me you're in the interior design business, or that you're a life coach, or that you're in the technology or training business? Here's the real scary answer and it requires a MAJOR SHIFT in YOUR thinking this past Halloween. You're not in the business you think you're in. If you want selling to your clients and customers to be easy, if you want to make a lot of money and, if you want to propel yourself ahead of all your competitors then listen up closely here. You are in the relationship business. You are in the business of communicating information in an entertaining, fun way to connect with your clients and prospects and establish an ongoing relationship with them. You want to keep adding value to your current customers and prospects, as well as connect with them on a human level.

Here's an example of how you can add value- you need to communicate with your customers at the very least- once a month. A great way to do this is with a monthly printed newsletter. This newsletter needs to be a friendly communication that informs, educates, entertains and demonstrates your expertise. If a newsletter is too daunting, you could also use a large sized postcard or send out a monthly email newsletter that pulls people to your website. The ideas of how to do this are endless. The key is you need to establish a relationship with your clients and prospects and communicate with them on a regular basis. You always want your business or service to be in the top of their mind. The best way to do this is to establish yourself as more than a business or service. They need to get to know you, and feel they can relate to you. This lesson is huge and the businesses and entrepreneurs that "get this" are taking this all the way to the bank. Take some time out of your busy day to come up with some ideas today to start using this principal. If you do, you too can reap the rewards.