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I wrote this article because I felt it was important as a small business owner to share with you a few things I have learnt about balancing the needs of the customer to the needs of your business as a small business owner. But also, as a small business owner that believed in the philosophy of the Customer Is Always Right and how it almost sent me broke. For years, I have been in small business and I had bent over backwards to accommodate my customers and I still do, but what I realised about 6 months ago, is that by not setting clear guidelines on how I was prepared to do business but also sticking to those guidelines, my business in the end was being dictated to by other companies. My company has done a lot of work with Government agencies and big business and many people who work in Article: I am pretty sure I have listened to and read at least 2,000 to 3,000 cost sheet and videos on selling, how to sell and customer service and one theme that I have found has been - The Customer Is ever Right? This is the main load of rubbish I have ever heard. If you take on this philosophy, from my experience, you will go penurious let me explain ... One of the most rife stories I hear bandied all through the customer service industry, is the case of a Manager at Wal-Mart who had an irate customer who had a set of tires and wasn't happy with them. She went to Wal-Mart and henpecked the manager and told him the tires were no good and the Manager gave her a full refund. The point to this example was that Wal-Mart didn't sell tyres and the manager went in addition and the call of duty and gave her a full refund. But as far as I am concerned, he didn't do the right thing, he should have politely informed the customer they didn't sell tyres. Could you honestly imagine giving a refund for a product in which you didn't sell. As a small operation owner, you would go down-and-out but... So, many of the customer service guru's use that story as the shining light in the way that we should be serving our customers. To me, that's crazy to be pushing such a philosophy. I wrote this memoir being I felt it was important as a small trade owner to share with you a few things I have learnt at close quarters coordination the needs of the customer to the needs of your proposition as a small line owner. But also, as a small deal owner that reputed in the philosophy of the Customer Is abidingly Right and how it scarcely sent me broke. For years, I have been in small proceedings and I had bent over transposed to my customers and I still do, but what I realised re 6 months ago, is that by not setting perceptibly guidelines on how I was prepared to do deference but also sticking to those guidelines, my program in the end was heartstrings dictated to by other companies. My partaking has done a lot of work with Government agencies and big vocation and many people who work in these organisations think they are high flyers and can railroad small impersonation and many of them do. When I started picking up work from some of these organisations, I would get a call saying, we want your training but this is how we are going to do business. We only buy services on purchase orders and that's the only way we do hammy acting and we will pay you in 30 days or on the draughty cycle run (which might be 90 days). If you want our line of duty you either draw our terms or we will go somewhere else. Now as a small proprietorship owner and somebody who wants to grow their business, you think, excellent, okay, yes sir, no sir, we underwrite your terms. Then you do a fantastic job, on time, within budget, then it comes down to payment. On some of our work we had to wait six months to be paid. Now like most small businesses we work on credit and heart of hearts so small we rely heavily on credit cards. But its this reliance that hardly destroyed my business. We found that being some of our large clients didn't pay us for six months, the interest from the credit card payments unmistakably cost us more than the movement in the first place. One of the government agencies I worked for had a policy of putting 10 people on a purchase order for training, but their policy was that you didn't get paid for any of the training until everybody on that purchase order had completed the training. In this particular case we had 2 people over a 12 month period become their course dates at least four times and in the end one person acquitted altogether. Now the training manager of this government wholesaling had the pertness to tell me that they didn't have to pay for any of the training in that they hadn't finished the training. In the end, I realised for the first time, why many of my larger competitors ended up going broke. They simply weren't getting paid and contemporary railroaded. It was at this point I realised one important lesson, the Customer Is Not ever and anon Right! I will say one thing, when you get to the point where you are in relation with to lose everything, your perspective changes and I think personally its incredibly liberating. I decided it was time to act and I learnt a very important lesson. This is my walk of life and I decide how I want to do business! Not my customers! In the end, I wrote to everyone of the customers who owed me money (we are talking tens of thousands of dollars) and I was quite weaken to them and I said, your failure to pay has damaged my business. The terms you wish to do effort on are no longer worthy and as such we no longer are prepared to say aye your business. Pay now or else and then I set out the rules of how I was going to do business. I figured in the end I would lose all of my big customers but it really didn't matter they weren't making me money, in fact they were losing me money in a big way since of the interest owed on my credit cards. So I didn't care. You know the funny thing, I never lost a single customer and now every single dealing pays upfront and with a credit card. It wasn't until I put my terms on that table that things changed. In reality, I should never have hand-picked their terms but I guess hindsight is a good thing. I did come to a really important realisation; I would rather have a small consortium that makes a profit, than all the trade association in the world but not make a single cent. If you are in job or thinking near upon going into employment let me share my strategies I now use for surviving my customers ... 1. I set the rules on how I want to do allegiance not my customer 2. Set very beat it rules on how a customer must pay for your services or products 3. If the customer doesn't pay cash up front (this includes credit cards), require them to give you potentiality to debit their bank account. 4. Be wary of any reciprocal trade that only buys using purchase orders only (Very few companies do this, many of them have credit so tell them you only visa payment by credit cards) 5. Don't be frightened to say No 6. Don't be frightened to say to a potential Customers, 'I am sorry, but your not the sort of customer I am looking for' 7. Don't be bullied into doing any product or service. Do only what you can handle and want to do. 8. Be bold and Stand Firm on your decisions 9. Be upfront to a customer if they are hurting your business 10. daily and hourly treat the customer fairly and equitably The world is a big place, there is lots of restraint of trade out there for you to go after, no customer is that important that they should be in a position to pauperise you.
I keep getting told by my doings mentor that self-imposed duty is supposed to be fun. I think it should be too, but its only fun if you have the money to enjoy it. |
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