Advice on Running A Prosperous Business

Posted by Sigma Media Co on August 20th, 2018

While finding “Advice ,” on anything these days is way too easy, the basics of good business have never changed.  

Advice: Under promise and over deliver. This advice may seem obvious but in our “Give it to me yesterday world,” it is often forgotten. The effort you put into your work will be recognised by those you serve.
    
Example: Someone brings you a job for completion. They ask you when you can deliver it?  Build in two to three day of extra time. Work on the job, do more than you were asked to do. Maybe you polish the wood you asked to fix or sharpen the picture you were asked to print.

Three days before a job is due to be completed call the person and tell them, "your job is completed."  Aske when they can pick it up.  When they arrive, tell them everything you did without mentioning the early delivery. They will remember both. Moreover, they will return.         

Advice: Stay in touch. Apersonal commitment of time and effort has left almost every aspect of our digital society. We communicate, but we don't "talk."  We "spend" our time, we seldom give it. When you are dealing with a customer of your business make sure they know they are valued.
    
Example: Do you have a list of every customer? You should. Do you know their birthdays? Anniversaries? Children’s names?

Why not? How grateful would a client be that you remembered he had an anniversary coming in a week?  You don't need to remind him you need to congratulate him.  

Your clients are your most important asset.Treatthem that way. With newsletters, cards, congratulations, and birthdays   stay in touch.  The methods of staying in touch are  endless. Good clients are not!  

Advice: “The customer is always right.”  - Harry Gordon Selfridge. Go out of your way to make a customer feel right, regardless of their rightness. Keeping a customer is so much easier than getting one. The customer after-all has many places to spend their money. Do everything you can to make a person feel “at home” in your place of business.

 “Treat [the customer] as guests when they come and when they go, whether or not they buy. Give them all that can be given fairly, on the principle that ‘to him that giveth shall be given’.” – Harry Gordon Selfridge