BananaOffice

The Right Way to Upsell

2011-12-19T12:28:00.000Z

(Or how to get more money from your customers, but keeping them happy at the same time)

Upselling seems an obvious practice, but some companies get it badly wrong and end up leaving customers with a bad impression.

Don't try to sell something to someone they are not interested in, but add to what they already want.

One of our clients sells a range of rope cutters, the rope cutters increase in power (and cost) depending on the type and thickness of rope you want to cut. You can also get the spare blades from our client.

So, for example a customer might ring up wanting the least powerful cutter because they are only going to use it to cut the thinnest of ropes. The wrong thing to do would be to try and sell them a more powerful cutter. Trying to get the customer to upgrade might lose you the sale because you appear to be selling them something they're never going to need.

Instead, when a customer rings up wanting a rope cutter, our telephonists also ask if they want to purchase a spare blade to go with it. This is something the customer will need eventually, anyway, so 8 times out of 10, they say yes. This means our client has an additional sale and, more importantly, the customer is happy that they've bought more than they planned.

Networking Tips: The Business Card

2011-09-18T15:29:00.000+01:00

The most important tool for any networker is the business card. This is one item that is worth taking a lot of time and thought over, and then purchasing the best quality you can afford. Remember, the card will remain with the people long after they met you.

However, having a great card isn't just enough, you need to know how to treat both your own and others. Here, therefore, are some tips:

1/ Address or Not?

It is becoming a popular trend to not put a proper “postal” address on cards. It seems that with email addresses, mobile phone numbers, possibly landline number, website, etc., the address of the premises is not bothered with. However, I think this is a mistake.

Even in the modern business world with different types of communication, an address goes a long way to giving additional security that your business is legitimate and not “fly by night” or “here today and gone tomorrow”. Anyone can set up an email and website account, as well as get a mobile phone, for very little money. So give your prospective customers that extra reassurance that you are a reliable, trust-worthy business.

There is an argument that you might not want to advertise the address if you trade from home as you don't want people to turn up unannounced; but if this is the case why not add to the card “(visitors by appointment)”?

2/ Keep your cards up to date

If any of your contact details change then get new business cards printed – do not make the changes by hand. Doing so will indicate that your business is doing so poorly you cannot afford new cards. I was actually given a business card by someone where every contact detail had been changed except the email address. The original details had been scribbled out and the new information written in blue ink, it looked terrible – and this was a chap who was supposedly a business advisor!

3/ Treat your business cards like confetti

Don't be stingy with your cards, keep a good supply with you at all times and hand them out like sweets. If you only have a few then get some more printed, as many as you can afford. You don't want to be in a situation where you meet your ideal client and find you have no cards left and are reduced to scribbling your details down on a piece of paper (or, worse, someone else's card – yes I have seen this happen).

Your card should be handed to everyone you meet (unless they specifically say they don't want it), even if they don't offer you theirs. Remember, while the person you might be handing your card to might not need your services, they may know or meet someone who does. An example was a chap who dealt in short-notice removals, turned up to an event I was at. I got chatting with him, but he never offered me his card (in fact, he didn't even talk to me for long). Just a few days later I met a couple at another event I was attending. During the discussion they mentioned that they needed to move at short-notice for some legal reason. If only I had had that chap's card and he had been a bit more polite.

The one caveat to this is don't go to a networking meeting and, a few minutes before you leave, rush round trying to push your card onto people. I saw someone do this at an event. He butted into conversations, saying “I'm about to go, but I thought I'd leave you my card,” and be off to the next group before people could reply. I saw quite a number of people leave his card on the table after he had gone.

4/ Treat other people's business cards as priceless

When you take a card from someone else, don't just immediately stuff it in your pocket, or add it to the pile you already have, with nothing more than a cursory glance. Instead, take time to study it as it could contain the answers to questions you are about to ask. I never ceased to be amazed at the people who ask me where we are based, after they've taken my card (it has our address on).

The card might also give you information for additional questions to ask, which will help keep the conversation flowing.

If you receive a card you really like, mention it to the person, this will warm them to you and indicates you have looked at it properly (it should go without saying that you shouldn't mention mistakes, etc., or that you don't like their card). Why not ask them about how they chose the design, etc. They will happily tell you and you continue to build a friendly relationship while not talking “business”.

Never, ever, write on someone else's card – at least not in front of them. If you want to scribble down information for later referral, then carry a pocket notebook. After you have finished talking with them, pop the notes down and put the card on that page as well. If you really must write on the business card, wait until the person is out of view. They might have spent a lot of money on their cards and will feel it rude that you appear to be defacing it. On the other hand, never be precious about your cards, if someone wants to scribble down information on it, let them.

If you are at a more formal event where someone's business cards are handed round from person to person, only take one from the pile if you really want it and, if you do take one, file it away as soon as you have studied it. Never leave other people's cards on the table at the end, to be thrown away. I make a point of always being the last to leave events where cards are handed round in this way. I often pick up several of my cards that people have probably either forgotten to take with them; or only took them from the pile out of politeness and had no intention of taking them.

Social Media for Staying in Contact with Your Customers

2011-09-17T18:01:00.005+01:00

Social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) is becoming more and more important, not just for getting new business, but for staying in contact with your current customers or clients; and it is starting to become the case that it is the customer's preferred way to contact you AND be responded to.

In a previous blog post I said you didn't have to do social media, and that still holds. If customers know you don't have a Twitter or Facebook presence then they won't try and contact you through those mediums. However, if you do use them then you need to check your Facebook page or your Twitter account regularly (at least 2 or 3 times a day), otherwise you might miss an important message from a customer and it could lose you business.

Two examples:

With our call answering service, some of our clients let us know at the last minute that they are transferring their calls to us. More of them are starting to send us direct (private) messages through Twitter as to what to tell their callers. We also get the occasional notification through Facebook about a client about to transfer their calls. So, it is now imperative that our telephonists have access to the Twitter and Facebook accounts so they can see messages coming in from clients.

A little while ago we took a call for one of our online retailer who has a Facebook presence. The caller asked a question, but mentioned that she had also posted it on the Facebook page. When our telephonist asked to take the caller's telephone number so our client could call them back, she replied “No, that's okay; if they can just post the answer on their Facebook page, that would be great”.

So, if you have the time to put into social media then it can provide benefits in ways you wouldn't necessarily expect. At the end of the day, if your customers want to contact you through Twitter, why stop them?

Praise to Santander & New Call Telecom for Bringing Call Centres Back to UK

2011-07-10T18:09:00.001+01:00

Santander and New Call Telecom are to be praised. They have realised that having their call centres based offshore does not give their customers the best level of service. However, I would give a word of caution; make sure enough money is invested in training.

As anyone who has had to deal with a call centre based abroad knows, it can be an extremely frustrating experience and it does feel like companies that go down this route are looking at profit over customer care, and that is a false saving.

As a call answering service, we often have to deal with cold callers that are based abroad and it is sad to hear how poorly the caller has been trained in even the basics of English. On occasion their accent can be very strong meaning that an English person has trouble understanding them (as I am sure they would if we tried to speak in their language).

This, therefore, gives the company that uses foreign call centres a poor image - that's if we manage to understand who they are calling on behalf of.

Of course, dealing with poorly-trained call centre staff in England is still frustrating, but at least you don't have the difficulty of having to repeat the same information several times because the person you're speaking does not understand the wide range of English accents and colloquialisms. While not a call centre example, I do remember a woman being told that the French restaurant didn't serve duck quiche, because she had said “I'll have the quiche, duck” (the lady in question referred to everyone as “duck” or “ducks”).

No matter whether a company has an in-house team, or they outsource so a 3^rd party to provide the service, there needs to be sufficient training put in place to ensure that all staff are able to deal with callers quickly and efficiently; not leave them wishing they hadn't bothered.

So, while I welcome the news of Santander and New Call Telecom, I repeat that they need to invest enough in the training so that call centre staff can meet and even exceed the callers' requirements. Then both companies will be seen to provide a high level of customer service and this will have a positive effect on the bottom line.

Time Lost on Phone Calls...

2011-04-14T11:55:00.002+01:00

It's happened to all of us.

At the beginning of the day you set out a list of jobs. You get a cup of tea (or coffee), sit down at our desk ready to start...

...and then the phone rings. It's a customer who, although they only want to rearrange their meeting, keeps you talking for 10 minutes. You hang up and reschedule the meeting in your diary.

You settle back down to get on...

...another call. This time is a cold caller wanting to sell you something your business doesn't even use.

You hang up... and refocus back on the task.

Ten minutes later, the phone rings again. It's your stationery supplier wanting to check if you need anything.

Another half hour goes by, another call. This time it's a customer wanting an update on their work, which leads to a 20-minute discussion.

And so it goes on. You get to 6pm, check your jobs list and are disappointed to see how little you've completed. You wonder what happened to the day.

Finally, you realise you can't keep answering the phone if you want to concentrate on work.

So you leave the answering machine on and only answer if the call is important. However, as soon as the phone rings, your concentration will be disturbed, especially if you are listening to the messages as the callers leave them. That's if they leave a message.

Most people hate talking to a “machine” so will hang up. If they don't leave a message, how will you know if it was a new prospective customer... or a sales call, unless you do 1471 and phone them back? So you end losing the time you were trying to save.

So, you appear to have two choices, constantly answer the phone, or get an answering machine and risk losing business.

This is where a call answering service can help. In short, you will have your calls answered in your business name and dealt with as per your requirements. Whether you need constant cover or just occasionally, so you can concentrate on work. You will be safe in the knowledge that calls are being answered; your current and prospective customers are being looked after and cold callers are being got rid off.

If you would like to know more, do not hesitate to check our website at: www.bananaoffice.co.uk or email us at info@bananaoffice.co.uk

Why Should Online Shops Have a Phone Number?

2011-04-04T12:57:00.001+01:00

In this still fragile climate online retailers need all the help they can get to attract customers. Their website can be very user-friendly, they can make sure they are the top of search results, they can publicise everywhere, yet they could still be missing out on a significant part of their target market. Why? Because many customers still prefer to use the phone.

We are in the information age, where nearly anything can be found on the internet, and yet some people still prefer to use the “old fashioned” forms of communication. A lot of this is down to trust.

No matter how reputable a retailer, having a website with only an email address, contact form or mobile number displayed will leave many prospective customers thinking:

Are they trustworthy?
Will they take my money and disappear?
Is it a scam?
Why do they only show a mobile number?
Will I be listened to if I have a complaint about my order?
I need to know the answer to my question now. Will they reply to my email quickly?

… and so on.

Rather than emailing, they are more likely to find another online retailer that displays a telephone number.

Some retailers list a mobile number, as they believe they can respond to calls even when away from the shop, however, there are many times when they can't answer (driving, bad signal, meeting a supplier or customer, etc.). Also many customers still believe that phoning a mobile is expensive as well as the question of how reputable the firm is.

One of our online retailer clients originally had a mobile number on their site. When they signed up with us we provided a land-line number to display. In their first month the number of calls they received increased by 20 times. Prospective customers were much happier to ring with enquiries, placing orders over the phone, etc. This, of course, resulted in more sales.

We often get callers who tell us they want to order over the phone because they don't have an email address! Now, this may well be true, but I do wonder how many say that because they are actually worried that ordering online will open them up to being bombarded in future by junk emails. They believe if they order online their address will be sold or passed onto others.

“Since hiring BananaOffice our business has increased by 200%!”

There is the argument that, if your online shop is popular, you are too busy picking, packing and sending out orders, ordering new stock, dealing with emails, etc., and don't have time to take calls as well.

This is where a call answering service can help. We have a number of online retailers who not only ask us to look after their calls, they give us access to their ordering, admin and payment systems. This means we can be both an enquiries line and an orders line, looking after customers, while those customers believe they are speaking to someone from the shop.

Using a firm like BananaOffice has the following positive effects:

Prospective customers, who prefer to phone, get their enquiries answered immediately and they can place their order over the phone;
Customers can check up on the progress of their order, or speak to a person if there is a problem;
Our clients can concentrate on the other tasks that ensure the orders are sent out on time, new stock is ordered, etc. dealing only with calls that are urgent.

So the retailer looks a lot more professional, gets a better reputation and business will increase.

Of course there are some businesses where a service like ours won't work, however, there is usually due to one of two reasons: either the product they supply is highly technical, or they are not able (or willing) to allow third parties access to their admin systems. If access cannot be granted to take orders or payments, or to answer customer queries, then the call answering service becomes a message-taking service. This is still a lot better that voicemail, answering machine or, worse, just letting the phone ring, but means that each call (except unwanted ones like cold callers, etc.) still have to be dealt with by the client.

However, if the call answering service has access to the admin systems, they can provide the online retailer with a much higher level of service, reduce workload and even increase sales.

So, whether you are a new or established online retailer, if the thought of the phone ringing means more “hassle”, or you want to be able to offer an order/enquiry line but don't have the time or staff to man the phones, then why not talk to us?

Mobile Phone vs Landline

2011-03-21T17:01:00.001Z

It is becoming increasingly popular to just use a mobile phone for all calls, when running a small business. At first appearance this seems like a perfect solution: the owner always has their mobile with them, so they won't miss a call and only have one set of charges to pay for. However, this is a false economy. What happens when they are:

Driving?
Meeting with a client?
In a bad signal area?
In a noisy environment?
Taking a holiday?

Usually in these situations, calls go through to voicemail, which is exactly what the person was trying to stop in the first place.

People don't like leaving messages on an answering machine or voicemail. They don't know if their message will get listened to and, even if it does, when they will get a response. In fact three out of four prospective customers will simply hang up and ring a competitor!

Another problem with a mobile number is the “image” it projects. Many people see businesses that only advertise a mobile as more risky, than a similar firm with a landline. There is a belief, no matter how incorrect, that the business with only a mobile could be “fly by night”, “here today, gone tomorrow”, “simply not trustworthy”. No small business wants that sort of reputation!

Many people still think that phoning a mobile number is expensive. They will phone a landline before they will phone a mobile number, and many will never phone a mobile.

As a call answering service we have two perfect examples:

An online retailer only had a mobile number displayed on their site. When they started to use our service, we provided them with a geographic (landline) number. In the first month they went from 0 calls to 30, and it has steadily risen to averaging 50 a month.
Despite us giving out our clients “direct line” mobile number to certain callers, they ring they still phone the landline (diverted to us) each time they call because they don't want to have to ring an “expensive mobile”.

So, if you are starting a business (or already run one) and you plan to only use a mobile number, think carefully about the image you are giving out and whether you will lose calls.

Of course if you use a service like BananaOffice then all the above is negated. A call answering service may seem an “expensive luxury” but when you consider how many sales you maybe losing by not using one, then if a business wants to grow and be a success, then a service like ours is a necessity.

Don't do it just because everyone else is...

2011-01-24T22:27:00.000Z

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs., etc., there are lots of different social networking and blogging sites and your business will get nowhere unless you have presence on these and links from your website. Right?

WRONG!

You don't have to be on any of them, in fact it is better to not be on any if you don't have the time to commit to them, you will do more damage to your reputation than good.

I have seen a number of sites who have the link saying "Follow me on Twitter/Facebook/etc..." and I have thought, yes I will. Then I've checked their Twitter account, and they last posted a message (tweet) over a year ago. Or their Facebook page hasn't had an update in six months. It shows they want people to follow them but they haven't the time (or the want) to keep up with their followers.

I am a big fan of Facebook and even more of Twitter. Much to my surprise I have some big names in business who follow me(!) on Twitter. Why? Well, I guess because I tweet a lot and I keep the messages light, fun and informative. My tweets are not full of rubbish, junk or just self-promotion. I try to help people as well as keeping them entertained, tips, advice, guidance, etc. In fact I have picked up three clients recently thanks to my efforts on Twitter.

The BananaOffice Facebook page is updated usually at least once or twice a day with similar information as the Twitter posts.

It is this constant updating that keeps us in people's minds and means that when they need a service like ours they remember BananaOffice.

So, remember if you find yourself being told you must be on Twitter, Facebook, etc., ask yourself do you really have the time to commit to being on these sites? If not then it's best to leave alone. Don't give potential clients a false impression.

If you start them but at a later date you find you cannot keep up, then perhaps it's best to remove the links from your website. You don't want to still be sending people to your Twitter or Facebook accounts only to see you've not done posts for months (they may even wonder if your business is still going).

If you do decide you have the time to put into these social networks then remember to be careful what you post. Like I've said above, I always try to keep my updates light, entertaining and positive. If you were a current or prospective client following me on Twitter, then what would you think if you read "Having a crap day today, nothing is going right!"? Doesn't exactly inspire confidence does it? However, I might put something like: "Had a heavy day today, but thanks to our excellent team for handling it all so professionally". How can you not be impressed?

Remember your current customers

2010-10-23T11:49:00.000+01:00

Okay, you've done the hard work when out networking, you've built the contacts, met with them regularly, passed them business and now, at long last, they've become customers of yours. Well done! That means you don't need worry about them any more, right?

WRONG!

Just because someone is now using your service or buying your product doesn't mean you can forget all about them. Well, of course, you can, but there's a difference between having a satisfied customer and an ecstatic customer, and that is all down to how you continue to treat them.

If you have business customers you should still be looking for work for them from your other contacts, friends, etc.

If they are private individuals then look to see if there is anything you can do to improve their experience when dealing with your business or buying from you.

If a customer has a complaint then see what you can do to rectify the situation as quickly as possible, don't just respond with "Our Terms and Conditions clearly state...", this will only antagonise them. Occasionally the best way to deal with the situation is simply to give them a refund and politely suggest they purchase elsewhere, especially if they are being particularly troublesome (we've all had customers like this), but that should be a last resort, see if there is not a better solution that leaves everyone happy.

Of course, the above still applies to business customers as well.

Doing what you can to find more work for business customers and to help all customers get a better experience when dealing with your firm gives you three main advantages:

Your firm gets a great reputation for customer service
Those customers will come back every time they need your products or service (even if you are not the cheapest on the market)
They will recommend you to others - which is the best advertisement any business can have.

With social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc., when people post up a good or bad review of a firm it is seen by a much wider audience than if they just told their friends and family.

So, even if someone is causing you trouble, don't think of how how little they maybe spending with you, remember how many people they may know on the internet who could be potential buyers and who may spend a lot more.

Keep customers and they will come back year after year and recommend you to people they know and meet. It's a win/win relationship.

The BIGGEST Secret in Online Retailing...

2010-06-30T08:13:00.000+01:00

You've decided to set up as an online retailer and are now thinking about how your customers can contact you and place orders.

"Well, everyone orders on the internet now, so I only need an online ordering system and an email for customer queries, etc. There's no need for a phone number, is there?"

Not having a phone number could be a costly mistake!

Normally people want to contact you for the following reasons:

They want to check the prices or stock levels
They have questions about delivery times, returns policy, etc.
They want to place an order
They have an enquiry about their order

Many people still like using the phone to get an instant response, rather than send an email and have to wait a couple of hours for a reply. Some people, even today, just don't like ordering over the internet, or have seen your site on someone else's machine but have been unable to place an order.

You're probably now thinking "All of that information is on the website. Customers can also log into their account to check the status of their order."

But here's the secret:

Many people won't read the site properly;

many that do won't believe what they are reading!

We take hundreds of calls every month for our online retailer clients from people asking exactly the above points; all of which are on our clients' sites.

Two examples:

"How many have you got in stock of..."

We often have prospective customers phoning up about stock levels for a particular product. The telephonist will occasionally ask "Stock levels are normally displayed on the website. Did you look at the product you wanted to order?" The person replies that they have but there was no stock information. The telephonist goes to the site, just as if she was a customer, goes to the relevant product and there, in the usual price, nice and clear it says how many are in stock.

Are the customers lying? Well, that maybe a little harsh; either they had gone to the relevant product and hadn't seen the stock levels; or they thought it would be quicker to ring up and ask.

"Is that REALLY the price for..."

One of our clients has a very good deal on printed flyers. It states clearly on the website how much they are. Yet we take, on average, a call every day asking if that is the correct price!

So, if you are setting up an online shop, (or have one running now) then don't forget just how important the phone can be. We have had many instances where a client has given us feedback saying that the customer ordered from them because of how they were looked after when they phoned!

Now for the salesy bit...

Of course, if you are really busy then you may not have time to take calls. So hire a call answering service. Allowing someone like BananaOffice access to your admin system will allow us to provide your customers will a professional service, ensuring that they keep a good opinion of your company.

What sort of image are you really projecting if someone just gets an answering machine or voicemail every time they ring? Do they think that you are busy? Possibly. That this company obviously doesn't care enough about its customers? Definitely. (Oh, and if you insist on using a voicemail or answering machine, do not use that awful phrase of "Your call is important to us". The caller will only think "If my call was important, there would be someone to answer it!")

At the end of the day it's about giving your customers the best possible service and putting as few barriers as possible in the way of someone buying from you. Having an answering service to look after your calls is a small outlay for the peace of mind of knowing that your customers are being looked after.

Choosing Your Business Name

2010-03-03T09:24:00.000Z

There seems to be a lot of people not knowing what name they should give their business and asking others for suggestions.

This really surprises me. A new business is like a new baby, the name should be up to the parents - and when have you ever heard a new parent ask others for suggestions on what to call their child?

There are lots of websites, articles, etc., giving advice on what to call your business. But you know what? I don't think it really matters. You should only follow two rules:

The name must be legal. For example, you cannot use the word "Bank" - unless you are using your own name and the surname happens to be Bank, as in "A J Bank Plumbing"

The name should not confuse others as to what you do. It either should say exactly what you do - or not at all. You don't want to lose a lot of business because those who did need your product/service think you do something else.

Other than those two rules have a field day!

Remember, it's your business - call it what you want.

Oh, and don't worry about the name making you sound small, if you want to call yourself "Jane Smith Plumbers" then go ahead. It is how the name is promoted more than the name itself.

Does "Jane Smith Plumbers" sounds small? Well, what about "W H Smith", and "Marks and Spencer"? Both started as very small stores.

How qualified am I to tell you what you should call your business? No more or less qualified than anyone else (bet that surprised you)!

But look at our business name: BananaOffice. This probably breaks all the rules in the book (whatever that book is). Yet it works because:

It doesn't tell people what we do - so they have to ask
They always ask how we came up with the name
I am always remembered at networking events. Even if they don't remember "Ashley" or "BananaOffice", on seeing me they announce "Hey, it's the Bananaman!" which causes great hilarity all round.

When I am at some networking event or talking to a prospective customer I have the perfect ice-breaker.

I meet someone, hold out my hand and say "Hello. I'm Ashley and I run BananaOffice". There's a slight hesitation and then they either laugh, ask what we do or ask how we came up with that name. And that is exactly what I want, they immediately warm up and are happy to listen to this chap with the crazy business name.

LinkedIn - What's the point?

2010-02-22T13:00:00.000Z

Many people have signed up to LinkedIn, yet few understand the power it can have in getting extra business.

You've made sure your profile is complete and up to date and you've asked your friends and business colleagues to connect to you.

"So, what next...? Why aren't I getting any work from it? Why is no one contacting me?"

Well, have you:

Joined the different groups that are relevant to what you do or your industry?
Taken part in the Question and Answer section?
Do you keep your profile and other bits up to date on a regular basis? (There's no point just doing it once and never returning.)
Asked more business people that you meet if they wanted to be connected?

Like any sort of networking, be it online or face-to-face, you get out of it what you put in.

LinkedIn needs to be worked at; you need to invest time.

Join groups, ask questions, answer others, make sure you keep adding contacts, etc.

Getting yourself known on LinkedIn will get more people checking your profile and asking to connect to you. The more people that check you out, the more likely you are to start getting business from some of them.

Also, have you searched through your contacts to see who they know? Are there any of their connections that could use your products or services? And don't forget to also look for others whose products or services you might need? (If there is a mutual interest, even better.)

So for example: If you have a client that you are connected to on LinkedIn, check who their connections are. Now if you find someone else who might need your services, why not ask your client to be introduced to this 3rd person? Or better still ask them to recommend you.

Don't be too aggressive, remember to be polite. Check if your clients knows whether the 3rd person will even need your services.

Say your client is called Jane and you want to connect to Bill Smith of ABC Ltd. A quick message to Jane could be something like:

Hi Jane

I see you are connected, on LinkedIn, to Bill Smith of ABC Ltd. They look like the sort of firm that could do with our product (or service). What do you think?

Is Bill approachable? Would you be able to introduce us through LinkedIn? If you want to mention you're a client I won't be upset. :o)

Of course, I will understand if you would rather not do this.

Thanks in advance and kind regards...

It is even better if you think there could be some mutual benefit (you might need what ABC provides) - but you must be genuine about this. If Bill Smith thought you had only said you were interested in what they did so you could sell to him, you'll lose any chance of getting a sale.

However, the message to Jane would be even easier (and shorter)

Hi Jane

I see you are connected to Bill Smith of ABC Ltd. I think there could be some mutual benefit from Bill and I getting introduced. ABC do some stuff that we're interested in getting.

Could you perhaps introduce us?

Thanks in advance and kind regards...

Note the fact that you think ABC could be a potential client for you is only indirectly mentioned ("mutual benefit"). That should come once you and Bill have built up a relationship (as I say, if you are genuinely interested in what ABC has to offer).

Finally, you just never know what opportunities may arise to do business through LinkedIn, and from unlikely sources. Here's my own example:

For a long time I've wanted to change my role within BananaOffice. I'm just over two months off my 40th birthday (at the time of writing this blog) and I'm tired of sitting here at a desk almost day in, day out. I want to be out there getting the business in. I want to be a "sales exec" for BananaOffice. Part of that will include doing cold calls, but... that scared the hell out of me. I would feel physically sick thinking of doing cold calls.

I then came up with an idea. Rather than just asking for tips and advice, I put a question up on LinkedIn asking other sales execs, etc., how they get started in sales, do they ever get nervous cold calling, etc. I was interested in the type of person that got into sales.

Several people replied (you can see the question and replies HERE) telling me about how they got started, their experiences and so on.

Anyway, one lady - Shawn Greene - who replied had spent years doing selling, but now runs sessions for people who hate cold calling and she wrote a book called "I'd Rather Have a Root Canal Than Do Cold Calling".

I managed to get hold of a copy of this book (it's not available in the UK) and it completely changed my view of cold calling! Yes, I'm still nervous when I first pick up the phone, but following the book's advice after a couple of calls I'm into the swing of it.

Now, this has led to the opportunity of BananaOffice becoming the sole distributor of this book in the UK. I am currently in discussions with the publishers at this point in time, but it could be a matter of a couple of weeks and this will be a BananaOffice sideline...

...all from a question posted up on LinkedIn!

So, take time to participate in the site and you will find it will reap rewards.

NEVER Throw Away a Business Card!

2010-01-29T11:48:00.000Z

If you want to be an ace networker never throw a business card or contact details away!

Never think that person's job or business will not be of use to you or anyone you know, you don't know who you will meet the next day or weeks later.

Two examples of things that have happened to me.

Calligraphy
I'm a Rotarian and I'm the Speakers Secretary for my Club, which means I arrange speakers for our meetings.

At the beginning of last year I booked in a lady who did calligraphy; she came, did her talk, let me have her business card and left.

Just last week I nearly threw her card out. It had been sitting in my Filofax for all this time and I had had no need for it. In the end I decided to remove it from the Filofax but just put it aside - and I am now pleased I did. Yesterday I had someone contact me and ask if I knew anyone who did calligraphy!

CD/DVD Duplication, etc.
I met a chap at a business networking event. He is the accounts manager for a firm that does mass CD/DVD duplication as well as doing the printing for the CD/DVD cases, etc.

Out of politeness (and so I could give him my card) I asked for his card, filed it in my Filofax, never expecting to need his details.

How wrong I was...

Within a week, two members of UK Business Forums put up separate messages looking for a firm that provided exactly these services!

I was able to give them his details and I believe at least one of them got a very good deal and went ahead with the order!

Have either of these got me any money? Nope. But people will remember Ashley Price and BananaOffice for being great at networking.

When I'm at events people tell me "You know everyone", and I guess I do know who to put people into contact with when they need something, so people know I'm the one to come to.

So what will happen when they need call answering or one of our other services?

There have been cases whereby we've put people into contact with others and we have had work ourselves as a result.

I know at networking events I go to regularly, if there's anyone that comes for the first time, providing similar services to us, many of the other regulars will say "Have you met Ashley, he does the same as you?"

So, get yourself a reputation as someone who knows everyone - it will work wonders for you and, eventually, your business.

What's the worst thing to say in business?

2009-11-13T10:40:00.004Z

“Well, it’s their loss!”

This has to be the most naïve, STUPID saying that I hear business people say when they either lose a customer or don’t get a sale!

If a customer stops using your service or stops buying your product; if a prospective customer decides not to go with your firm, it’s not their loss… IT’S YOURS!

That lost customer means less money in the till, less money to pay staff and yourself. It means less money to be able to market your business more. It means LESS PROFIT.

I’ve also heard employees say this about the firm that's just sacked them. Hang on, who is without a job and salary?

I can only assume that people who say this are just trying to make themselves feel better. I really can’t believe they actually mean it. If they do they shouldn’t be in business or have a job.

Next time you lose a sale or a customer no longer wants to hire you, instead of sitting there trying to make yourself better by blaming others, why not get on and find out why you lost the sale, or why the customer is wanting to go elsewhere?

It might mean eating a bit of humble pie if you find out the customer hasn’t been happy with an area of your business (or your attitude) but by finding out, and then acting on what the customer has said, you are on the road to getting that customer back or, at the very least, knowing how to treat other (prospective or current) customers better.

If you are one of those people who in the past has said “Well it’s their loss!” then make it a rule from now on to change your point of view and say “It’s MY loss and I’m going to find out how to stop this happening in future!”

There's NO SUCH THING As A Recession! Pt. 2

2009-03-04T10:37:00.000Z

Many people have read the previous "No Such Thing..." post and I've decided to put some information, ideas, tips, etc., here to spur business owners on to making themselves more successful (even if that just means staying afloat at the moment).

As I said in the first part, you need to look at ways to provide better customer service, add more value and lower your costs; you do not have to lower your prices; in fact this is bad practice. If you lower what you charge now, people who have used you in the past will think "Did they fleece us? How come they suddenly can charge a lower rate?" Unless you're able to give a viable reason, don't cut prices.

There are always things people can do in their own companies to make them more attractive, get customers returning to their stores and recommending them to others. Some of these I put in the first part, some are in other blog entries.

1/ Make sure you look after your customer.
Many people say that the customer is always right. What rot, of course they're not! If a customer goes into a car dealership and says "I will buy that Ferrari for £50," are they right? Should the dealership accept this? Yes, if they believe that the customer is always right and they don't mind going bankrupt.

However, treating a customer with respect, politeness and listen to what they have to say is more than a lot of places do (and those places wonder why they lose custom). You will go up in people's estimation and they are going to return to you and refer others as well.

Remember, you don't sell anything by being rude or abusive or proving the customer wrong. We had a call from a telephone directory firm, we told them we weren't interested in advertising, and the salesperson's response was "Well, if you don't to get any more customers!" How is that going to make me want to buy an advert?

Another salesman from a double glazing firm rang up, we told him several times we weren't interested because we had just got the house double-glazed. He said "I'm not going to take no for an answer." I hung up on him.

Why do people think that being rude will get the sale?

I can only assume that they only way these people can feel better about themselves if they haven't made a sale is to try and make the customer look foolish - but they're losing their commission, who's the foolish one?

2/ Give your business premises a makeover.
I'm not talking about getting a design guru in and spending lots of money, there are lots of things you can do to make your premises feel more friendly and look professional for very little money.

Get someone to come to your premises and cast a critical eye over all the areas your customers will see. You will be amazed at what you think looks fine, but customers don't like - even small things like the pictures on the walls or the mess on somebody's desk might give the wrong image.

At all times you want to project a professional, efficient image. If there are areas of your business that don't project that (and by doing so, would actually stop people working efficiently) then keep customers away from those areas. Try to have a separate area where you can meet people. Even if your place is open plan, why not have a little screened off area for seeing visitors?

3/ Cut costs then lower fees.
Now, before you post a message saying "But you said not to lower fees", look at what I've said here: cut costs then lower fees.

If you can make substantial savings on your overheads, outgoings, etc., then why not pass some of this onto your customers?

Our telephone answering service is a perfect example. Before we moved to our new premises we "piggy-backed" off the old place's telephone system. This meant they would charge us for everything we wanted to do. "Need a new number? That'll be a £100 connection fee". "Want it disconnected again? That's another £100, please."

Now we have moved we paid around £6000 in total for our new system, but already it has given us a lot more freedom. We can offer a free trial because we don't have any connection/disconnection costs (previously to offer the "free" trial would have costed £200 each time if they decided not to continue). All our costs (except the initial one) are much cheaper, so we've passed a lot of these savings onto our clients.

You can lower your charges without regular customers thinking you've fleeced them in the past, if you can show why the prices have come down.

4/ Put a positive spin on everything
Never lie to customers, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you should tell them all the gory details and certainly never be negative.

If business is not going very well, never tell a customer this. "The people go where the people go" and "Give work to a busy person" are two sayings that are appropriate here.

If you tell customer you are struggling then they will probably avoid you like the plague. Who wants to buy something from a firm that might be gone soon? Okay, if you're selling products for rock bottom prices that's different. But if you're in the service industry and people think there's something wrong your customers will stop using you instantly.

Look at Northern Rock. Why did it collapse? Because everyone got nervous and took their money out at the same time. Banks rely on this never happening and if it does no bank can withstand it. People didn't think "Oh, Northern Rock are in trouble, the best thing we can do for them is keep our money in." They thought "We want our money!"

The same will happen in any business, and if you owe money to banks or other financial institutions and they think you're struggling you may suddenly find your lines of credit are severed and people are wanting you to pay up.

So always, always project a confident image. Yes things might be going badly and you might be quiet, but why not use that time to work on the other points above to sort your business out and find out where it is failing and why customers aren't coming to you?

5/ Keep EVERYONE up to date.
Whenever something changes in your business that can have a direct affect on your customers then make sure everyone knows about it - not just your customers, but friends, family, associates, colleagues, everyone. All of these people may well be out there promoting you without you knowing it. They may have not got you much work in the past but you need to keep them up to date, because it could be the new information that swings the decision in your favour.

Our telephone answering free trial is, again, a perfect example. People who might have said "No, I don't think it's for us, we don't want to commit to that every month," are now hearing "Well, why not take up the free trial? You don't have any obligation to continue after that week." It's not many people that refuse something that's free.

So, there we are, follow these and the points in my other blog entries and you'll quickly find that actually your business is booming and it's your competitors who are wondering what's happened to all their customers.

As a footnote, within five days of advertising the free 1-week trial we had seven enquiries in 2 days, this week we've only had one day with no new enquiries! (Before this we were averaging one a month.) So I know the advice I give works.

The Smallest Thing can Make the Biggest Difference

2009-02-17T16:46:00.000Z

Work is slow, there is a lack of new enquiries or sales and you're wondering when the next pound is coming in?

Something must be wrong with the business, better give it all a shake-up!

But wait, it might not be that drastic.

Yes, there are times when a complete overhaul of the business might be the best thing, but more often than not it is a small thing that can make all the difference, something you probably haven't even thought of (or maybe you have but haven't wanted to confront it).

A perfect example is our telephone answering service. We were getting the odd enquiry, but nothing really setting the world alight. So we looked at the service and what we could do to get more interest from people.

Jackie, my wife and business partner, came up with the idea of offering a free 1-week trial. We couldn't do this when we first set the service up because we were piggy-backing off another firm's telephone system and they would charge us a lot of money for anything we wanted to do. Offering the free service would have cost us £200 if someone decided, after a week, they didn't want it (or only £100 if they did continue with the service).

Since moving, however, we purchased our own telephone system and so can do what we want without extra charges attached. So we decided to give the free trail a go and see what happened.

Well, in the first month we took on seven new clients!

So, it can be a small thing that can make the biggest difference.

Also, listen to your customers, they might be trying to tell you something. For example, if you run a shop and customers are coming in on a regular basis asking if you sell a product that you don't stock, shouldn't you be looking to get that product in?

There's a wonderful story of a woman who goes into a shop and asks for something and the owner replies "No, I'm sorry, there's no call for it; and you're the fourth person I've told this week."

So, before spending a lot of time and money overhauling the business, check that there isn't something small that implemented, changed or improved (or even got rid of) that will ensure the number of enquiries and sales goes up.

Get Yourself in Front of your Current Clients

2009-02-17T10:46:00.001Z

Don't just think that because someone has bought from you before you don't need to sell to them again. Or, just because someone knows you that as soon as they need your service they will come to you.

If only it was that simple. "People know us or have bought from us before, so why bother with them? If they need anything they'll come back". WRONG!

This was brought home to me on Friday evening when, despite being a big networker and a member of BNI I had let things slip. As it happened I was in Pizza Express with my wife (Jackie) when a ex-member of my BNI Chapter walked past with his wife. Because we were tucked away he didn't see us.

So towards the end of my meal, I got up, went over to his table, had a quick chat and left it at that. We didn't talk business and it lasted less than a couple of minutes.

Saturday morning I get an email from him. He's started a new business and needs several of our services.

Now, I will never know if he had it in mind to email me anyway, but I think it's a very big coincidence that we bumped into each other and then the very next day I get the email.

So, make sure your current customers, friends, colleagues, etc. remember you. Phone them, email them, write to them; just a couple of minutes of your time could be the difference between getting a lot more work and never hearing from them again.

Get New Customers: The most obvious thing to do!

2009-02-09T12:15:00.000Z

ALWAYS follow up enquiries and ensure you answer any customer questions promptly!

Obvious isn't it?!

Yet, why do so many businesses seem to forget this?

When we were in the middle of rebranding, we were speaking to several suppliers and yet in almost every single instance we've had to prompt them two, three or even four times about questions they hadn't answered, or making arrangements for meetings, etc. It was getting to the stage where I sent them quite a curt email stating if they wanted our business then we would expect a discount off their final bill to reflect the poor customer service we had received.

The worst offenders are friends supplying services. They appear to have this belief of "Oh, it's only Ashley, I'll get round to it." Well, it may be "only" me, but I still expect a decent level of service or I'll go somewhere else. In fact, surely you should expect a better level of service from friends, so why doesn't it happen?

I now have a rule: no matter who it is, if I don't get a satisfactory response after the first enquiry and then a reminder, I'm going somewhere else. I don't mind if someone says something like "We want your business but are really busy right now," I can understand that. But there is no excuse for not replying at all.

Remember, when you get enquiries, a customer asks questions, etc., answer them as quickly as possible, even if it is just to say that you will get back to them later that day or first thing the next - and make sure you do.

Direct Mail vs Adverts

2009-02-04T10:33:00.001Z

Okay, Direct Mail gets a lot of bad press - junk mail. But if done correctly it can make you a lot of money and get you a lot of new clients (or customers - I will continue with "clients" from now on).

Think about advertising in a paper or magazine for a moment. For your advert to work your target clients must:

1/ Buy the paper
2/ Read the page your advert is on (unless it's a full page ad.)
3/ Notice your advert amongst all the others (again, unless it's full page)
4/ Need your service enough to act on your advert now - because you can be sure they won't keep it for future reference.

However, at BananaOffice, we do all our advertising by direct mail. Yes we have the free one line in the Yellow Pages and Thomson directories and we have a website, but our advertising budget is spent on mailouts and the reason is simple - we can get our message right in front of our target client!

If you do it right, you can ensure that your target client not only sees your letter but also, if they don't contact you straight away, will keep it for future reference (we have received calls from people we sent letters to four months before).

How do you ensure that with all the other direct mail yours stands out? Follow the following steps:

1/ Make sure all the enclosures look professional. It might cost a lot to get nice glossy brochures, etc., but it will earn you a lot more in the long run.

2/ Make sure you write to the right people. There are firms who provide mailing list addresses and, for businesses to business, you can specify the type of industry, size of company, number of employees, geographical location and in the case of limited companies, their turnover.

3/ Ensure you have a name to write to - you may occasionally get away with "Dear Sir/Madam" but it looks so much better with a name.

4/ Have a "personalised" cover letter. Make sure your prospective client's name is on it and try to ensure you mention something about their business within the letter - anything you can do to make it look as personal as possible. This is going to get noticed over a standard letter that's obviously been sent to 100 other people. Also make sure you don't commit the cardinal sin of having something like "Dear Mr J Smith", or "Dear Mr John Smith..." or other variants, it should read "Dear Mr Smith".

5/ Personally sign the letters. If someone else is going to be signing them do not do a "PP" or "Signed on behalf of...". Why not just put the name of the person who is actually going to sign the letters? Also, don't use a pre-printed signature, rubber stamp or "fancy" computer font - all these shout "junk mail".

6/ Put a real stamp on the envelope - or at least the Royal Mail Smart Stamp. Don't use a franking machine or pre-paid envelopes. Again these just shout mailshot.

7/ Follow up a couple of days later with a phone call. If the thought of calling people ties your stomach in knots (it does for me) then hire a firm who specialise in this sort of thing. Again, it's not cheap, but it can work wonders.

Now, doing 5 and 6 above will take some time (I've spent a whole morning signing over 300 letters and putting stamps on), but it makes your letters look more personal. Subconsciously the recipient will think "They can't have sent out that many if they are personally signed and have a real stamp on them".

So following the above will ensure that your letters will be read before the inferior junk mail and will either be acted on immediately or kept for future reference.

If you would like more help or advice on direct mail campaigns do not hesitate to contact me.

What sort of conversations are you having?

2009-02-03T14:59:00.000Z

When you go to a networking event are you:

Counting conversations; or
Having conversations that count?

Think back to the last event you went to. Did you work the room? Did you speak with as many people as possible? Were you handing out as many cards as possible? Have you had much work from this event?

If the answer to most of the questions is "Yes" but to the last question it's "No" then you were probably counting conversations.

Working the room like this is being a Hunter (see my blog entry: In Networking be a Farmer and not a Hunter) and will not do you much good.

Instead of counting conversations, why not have conversations that count? Okay, you don't get round to everyone, but those people you do meet, you will get a better understanding of what they do; but more importantly, they will have a better understanding of what you do! If they need your product or service in the future they will be more likely to remember you.

A good tip to remember is we have two ears but one mouth. You should be doing twice as much listening as talking. Don't dominate the conversation, in fact you can get more work through "passive selling".

What do I mean by this?

Well, you're having a conversation with someone and you are listening intently, being polite, asking all the right questions - you're not trying to sell anything to them. Then suddenly they say "But I'm really having problems with XYZ" this is where your ears prick up, your business can solve this problem quickly. Now is your chance. "Well, we can sort that out. I can pop into your office tomorrow and deal with it for you." How can they refuse? You've just offered to solve a pressing problem.

Now, would you have found that out if you had been blathering on about your business, not caring about the person you're speaking to or listening to what they say?

Finally, don't look to be in a rush to finish and leave. When I was looking for a new telephone system, I had a salesman who sells telecoms equipment try to sell me his. Yet he was in and out of our office within 15 minutes, hardly asked me any questions, and his parting shot was, "Great I'll be home early this evening!"

Erm, excuse me? It's 4:15pm. How the heck is he going to sell us a system when he doesn't know what we want? I can't help feeling that's all he cared about was what time he could get home. In the past I've met prospective clients at 7am and 8pm.

So take your time, listen to the person you're speaking to and remember to have conversations that count.

Why use a telephone answering service?

2009-01-28T11:47:00.000Z

You have an answering machine for when you are out – or you may divert calls to your mobile (but there are times when you still can’t answer so it goes to voicemail), surely your calls are covered?

Well, yes and no.

Yes, you are a step up from someone who doesn’t use anything to answer their calls, but only a small step.

By using an answering machine or voicemail you are driving work to your competitors!

On average (and depending on the business you are in) only 1 in 4 prospective customers will leave a message on an answering machine – the other 3 will phone another firm!

Also, by having a machine to take your calls, you are giving the impression that you are a very small business. Some people believe that having an answering machine or voicemail shows how busy they are. This is true, to a point, but it also shows you are too busy to take on more work.

You may say (if you trade from home), “It’s okay, because someone in the family takes calls when I’m out.” This is good – providing they are answering the phone correctly, being professional and always there to take calls.

I will give three examples of calls being answered by a spouse (or other member of the family) that should strike fear into the hearts of those who are serious about getting more business (all three we have encountered when calling people):

1/ The spouse has their own business and they use the same telephone number. So when they answer the phone they do so using their own business name!

2/ The spouse answers the phone with children having a tantrum in the background!

3/ Very young children answer the phone!

Some business owners may be thinking, “Well, the caller should expect this. It’s foolish to think I am there all the time; and it is my home, why should my family be quiet and answer the phone professionally?” Yet, if your business is losing work because of these points, who is the foolish one?

So this is where a telephone answering service can help. Just a few of the benefits are:

You look more professional because you have a receptionist handling your calls;
All your calls are answered and dealt with in a professional manner
If you trade using your home number, other family members won’t be answering the phone in a less than professional manner; you also avoid being disturbed outside business hours
The answering service can screen out unwanted cold/sales calls
You can start and stop the service as you wish;
If there are people you do want to speak to immediately those calls can be “patched” through to you.

Yes, an answering service may cost a little more but ask yourself how much is a new client worth to you? Now multiply that figure by three. That total is, on average, how much you will lose if you continue with the status quo.

Slowly, Slowly, Catchy Monkey!

2009-01-19T15:16:00.000Z

If you have a wide range of services/products that you provide you may think the best idea is to advertise everything to people and you'll get lots of sales. Yes, this may work, but you're just as likely to confuse prospective customers and you end up selling nothing.

So, is there a better way? Well, funny you should mention that.

It's come to my notice that we're actually now doing a lot better since we stopped trying to push every service we provide to prospective clients.

Now, we've changed. We've looked through the services we provide and picked out the top 3 most popular and we only spend time and money advertising these to new clients (of course, if they come back to us and say "Well, we don't need that, but we need this..." and it's something we do we can push that instead).

But to current clients we get them using one of our services and slowly introduce others over time, when we see there is a need for it in their firm.

So, for example, we do telephone answering for a solicitor. We used to just do this when his assistant was not in the office. This was okay, but when she was there the assistant was spending more and more time on the phone and not able to get on with her work. So we've offered to take over answering all calls every day. We've also added in that we'll contact people to rearrange appointments, etc. As we're in the same building we've added another line, in that if the assistant isn't in and the solicitor has a meeting, we can offer tea and coffee. So the little bits that we do grow and grow, and what was a very minor job that only got us a few pounds a month has now grown into a substantial service that we provide.

This has been repeated with two other clients, providing one service (often the telephone answering) and slowly adding to it, so that within a few months, we're earning three, four, five times the amount we were originally.

So this shows the adage that it is much easier to sell more to current clients. Of course, you have to be able to show why it would be good for them to use you, how it will make their life easier otherwise you'll be seen as just trying to get money out of them by giving them stuff they don't want.

So, think about how you can help current clients and sell more to them and only focus on two or three popular services/products to push to prospective clients.

Do you say "thank you" to your customers/clients?

2009-01-12T12:19:00.000Z

You've probably looked at that title and thought "Of course we do", but do you go out of your way to send them a thank you letter and I don't mean enclosing one in with their order or (worse) with their invoice?

I am talking about taking time out of your day to write a personal thank you letter, put in an envelope, stamp it and send it completely independently of any work.

You will be amazed at the positive effect this can have on your business. Okay, you may not notice it at first, but it can be the deciding factor when a customer is choosing whether to use you again or to consider a competitor who might be cheaper.

For 11 years we have been providing transcription work to university researchers, and they have kept coming back, month after month and year after year. As soon as they need more transcripts they give us a call or send an email.

But why do they do that?

Are we the cheapest service? No, in fact we are probably the one of the most expensive.

Do we provide something no other service can provide? I don't think so. Typing is typing and at the end of the day many services provide an accurate, quickly completed transcript.

Do our clients know we appreciate them? Ah, there it is. I keep a record of the work we do for all our clients. Every couple of months I take time to send all our clients a thank you letter. I also make a special point of thanking those clients who have spent over a certain amount with us over time (so £1000, £2000, £3000, etc.).

I believe this one simple gesture has often made the difference.

But one further point. Never forget to personally thank those who have passed your details onto others.

Taking the university researcher example again, we often get an email from someone new with a line like "A colleague gave me your details..."

The first thing I do is to get from that person the name of who passed us as a referral. I then send them a letter or give them a quick phone call (never an email) to thank them. Result, almost on a monthly basis we get enquiries from unis all round Great Britain thanks to our clients.

So, when you have five minutes, why not take the time to actually thank your customers and show that you have appreciated their custom or when they have passed on your details.

In Networking Be a Farmer Not a Hunter

2008-12-11T09:38:00.000Z

I go to a lot of networking events and I thought I'd share with you my experiences.

I am amazed at the number of people who come to these events expecting to get a lot of business there and then and "work the room", quickly skipping from one person to the next, and if it doesn't look like the person they're talking to needs their services they won't even give them a card. Of course they are only interested in selling their own service, so don't listen to what the other person has to say. Yes, they might get the odd job, but usually they leave, vowing never to return because it wasn't useful for them.

One prime example: I was at an event and a chap came along "to have a look". He runs a local removal firm and I was chatting with him, but I don't think he thought I'd be any use as he didn't give me his details (he hadn't brought any cards with him!). His speciality was doing removals at short notice.

A few weeks later I met a couple who had just sold their house and for some legal reason needed to move out quickly. They had tried all the usual removal firms but no luck, they all needed quite a bit of notice. Now, my mind shot back to this chap I had met, but of course, I didn't have any of his details to give to this couple!

These people are hunters and they are doing it all wrong.

As a networker you should be a farmer. You shouldn't be trying to get work right there and then, but building up relationships with the people you meet. This will lead to a lot more business in the future.

Think of the farmer vs the hunter. The hunter goes out every day to hunt for meat. Yes, he might find and kill an animal, but that's it. Next day he's got to go out again. A farmer looks after his livestock, he puts some aside for lambing or calving, so that he knows not only will he have meat today, he will continue to have meet for months and years down the line.

So we should all be farmers with regard to networking.

I've been going to a free local monthly networking event since it started in May 2007. For the first six months I had nothing from it. But I wasn't worried, I was building up contacts, I had even managed to put some work to these people.

Now, however, things are changing. I'm getting a lot more enquiries and not just from people I've met, but from people they know as well!

Every month, I look out for the newcomers and do my best to make them feel comfortable and at ease. I ask them about their business, etc., and try and be as helpful as possible. Back in December, I was chatting with a chap, we swapped cards and after the event I thought no more of it.

Recently, I had a phone call from a local clinic who want someone to look after their calls when they are out. There's eight clinicians and all their calls will be diverted to us. I asked how had they heard of us. It turns out the chap I was talking to last year is a patient there and he passed on our card!

So when you're networking remember two things:

1/ Be a farmer and not a hunter
2/ It's not just the people you meet, it's who they know that counts.

In Business There's NO SUCH THING As a "Recession"

2008-12-10T14:53:00.001Z

Recession, credit crunch, call it what you will, from a business point of view I don't believe in it!

Now, I could leave it there and let the flame war start, but I suppose I had better give my reasons for such a controversial statement.

No matter what business you are in or the state of the economy, there will always be people that need your product or service (e.g. if you sell houses, there are always people wanting/needing to buy, you just need to put a bit more work in finding those people).

If a company closes down during a recession I would say there was something fundamentally wrong with how they ran their business or their customer service. How come some businesses thrive in a so-called recession when their competitors fail?

I seriously believe that if you run your business right, look after your customers, network with others, get friends, family and business acquaintances actively promoting your business, then you will survive when others fail, it's as simple as that.

The first rule in this situation is to state firmly and positively every morning: "I REFUSE TO TAKE PART IN THIS RECESSION". i.e. you go out with a positive, happy attitude and it will spread to your staff, peers and customers and they'll want to come to you.

Quick test for you, which shop would you prefer to go to:

The shop that looks tired, a bit grubby, the staff are all negative and when they greet you, you get the feeling they'd rather not be there. You happen to be on speaking terms with the manager and s/he is sitting there grumbling about the state of the economy, how few customers coming into the shop so what's the point in tidying up, etc., and so on, moan, moan, moan.

Or...

The shop that looks bright and cheerful, all the staff greet you with a big smile, and a polite "How can I help you?" The shop itself is clean and tidy, the shelves are well stocked and the manager is in a really good mood and telling how s/he's just had the best week for sales in a long time?

We all know the answer! I've used shops as an example but it's the same for any business. If all the staff are positive, helpful and polite, if you get the feeling of a professional, efficiently run business, then you will want to do business with them and, more importantly, you will refer them to others, so they get even more business, no matter what the state of the economy.

I now expect people to put up comments saying "What about XYZ business that has gone down," or "Look at Bear Sterns, a bank that was going for 75 years suddenly collapses and gets taken over," etc., and so on. These are valid points, but before posting them, take a second to ask yourself, "How come they have competitors who are doing even better at the moment?"

So in this difficult time, if you find you are a little quiet (actually we've never been busier) concentrate on getting systems into place that ensure that you, your staff, your premises and your business itself all radiate a positive attitude and you will find you do a lot better than the tired, bored business person, who's staff are surly and cannot see what there is to be happy about.

Start today, now! Really believe in yourself and your business!

Oh, and if you are just an employee and not the boss, don't think the above doesn't apply to you. If you and your colleagues don't have a positive outlook and a willingness to help your employer then you can't expect to keep your job for long – because it's your negative attitude that could close the business down. On the other hand, if you're seen to be thinking of the company rewards will follow.

So why should you care what I've said above? I only run a small (at the moment) outsourced office service? Well, I originally started in the mid-1990s when businesses were still failing and closing down. I had a friend who helped at a local Citizens Advice Bureau, and she was warning me about the numbers of people going in for advice because their businesses were shutting. Yet, 11 year later we're still here, we're having one of the best years ever and the future's looking exceptionally bright.

So just try it for a month. Go out every morning with a positive, friendly attitude and see how much of a difference it makes. Whenever you deal with a prospective customer or client ask yourself what little extra you could give them that will show how much you appreciate their custom. Ensure all your staff have a positive attitude, give them a pep talk a couple of times a week, let them know they are valued. Believe me it will work wonders for your business!