Don’t do this if you want to keep your customers
Keeping in touch with customers doesn't require brain surgery but often has a huge impact on customer retention. Here's an example of where a couple of companies might have kept me as a client if they'd made more of an effort to keep me happy.
Over the last few weeks I've finally finished consolidating my pensions into my SIPP (Self Invested Personal Pension). This means transferring underperforming pension funds into another pension so I can manage it myself.
But the thing that struck me about the process was this: at no time did my two old pension providers ask me why I was transferring and/or whether there was anything they could do to convince me not to switch.
In fact they'd done nothing other than send me me annual statements about how my pensions were doing, which was usually depressing news anyway.
Now it's possible that I might have stayed with them if I'd felt like a valued customer. But, just like most financial services companies, they treated me just like a number. They didn't even attempt to give me a reason not to close my accounts.
To be honest, I've never been a demanding customer. I guess I did like most folks and just expected that they'd look after my pension money and make it grow through sound investments. But they didn't even do that. Worse still is they didn't encourage me to review my pension investments, didn't invite me to consider additional services, didn't give me any idea what was going on with my money.
In contrast, my new pension provider gives me plenty of information about what's happening with my money, they give tips and help on making investment choices, provide updates on market conditions and also let me know what's happening with my pension fund. Further to that they don't bombard me with loads of paper, which I like very much.
Now I know that the features of my new pension provider are nothing technologically advanced but they do the simple stuff very well indeed. And they do it just because I'm a client and want me to stay that way.
So, don't do what Scottish Widows and NPI did, which was to completely ignore your clients. Instead keep in touch with your customers and let them know that they're valued. It could be as simple as a monthly 'insider tips' email but it may mean a whole lot to those who buy from you.
More to the point, if you want to keep your customers then make them feel valued and informed. It's easier than you might think.
How to focus on what you want and not what you don’t
On Tuesday I went to a meeting organised by a friend of mine, Julia Canham, who is a business coach. At that meeting I reaffirmed some of the things I've had in mind to get on with but the most important thing it brought to mind was to put more into focusing what I want from what I'm doing.
In short, I'm going to put more mental and physical energy into what I want.
Now that might sound simple and obvious but it's actually not that easy.
Let me explain:
In our lives we have constant distraction. We're bring bombarded by messages and things that require our attention and it's easy to spend your life running from one problem to the next.
Do you often think that just surviving is enough and you're struggling to feel as though you're making progress on your goals?
There's no great secret to fixing this, you just need to spend more time thinking about and then working on what you want (or where you want to go).
Bus as I mentioned earlier it's not that straightforward, or even very easy. The biggest problem is that we're all in the habit of responding in certain ways to certain occurrences, even though many of those responses aren't helpful.
Let me give you a couple of good examples:
You're sitting at your desk working on an important task. In the corner of your computer screen a little box pops up letting you know that you've received an email.
Do you stop what you're doing to go and check it out or continue with what you were working on? Or better still, do you switch off your email for a while so you can more easily focus?
Most people would check out that email, then most likely respond and then attempt to get back into what they were originally working on. They've been conditioned to believe that email needs an instant response (it rarely does).
Another example:
You've decided to use your lunch break to go to the gym and get some exercise. While on the way there you see a friend you've not seen in a little while.
Do you stop for a chat and use your lunchbreak to catch up as best you can or do you stop to say hello but explain that you're on your way somewhere important and will text later to arrange a meetup?
Most people would stop for the chat since we've been conditioned to not be rude to people.
The problem is all about conditioned responses. But to get more out of what we want we need to examine those responses, work out if they're helpful or not and then change them as needed.
So, here's a simple (but not altogether easy) solution to this situation:
When you know you're getting distracted stop what you're doing and ask yourself if it's taking you where you want to go. If the answer is no then ask yourself if you can change what you're doing right now.
You'll be surprised at how often you can make small but positive changes like this when you begin to realise what's going on. Doing this as often as possible will begin to eliminate distraction and give you the room to focus on what you want and thus get more of it done.
Where’s the money?
With the economy looking like a rendition of Dali's melting objectscapes, where does the solopreneur turn when the money tide is a long, long way from turning back to the shore?
Do you run to the feet of the ones who have Already Made It and take sage advice for a certain monthly sum?Maybe you'll head for the hills and the green life style you always promised yourself ? Or, (and worst of all if you love your autonomy) perhaps you'll sign up for the Great Job Hunt. Get a salary and get safe.
Feelings of panic in difficult times are natural. Actions following panic (or gloom, despair,or the thought that maybe you should never have been so foolhardy as to try to go it alone) are unlikely to lead in the direction you desire. What to do? Well, recognise the panic and then stop. Stop, stop, stop. Right now. Step back and reflect.
Where does money come from? It comes from great ideas: from giving wonderful service: from following a burning desire to do something with love and passion, fun and/or skill. Sometimes it comes from people selling trash to people who don't know any better - but I am talking about a sustainable flow of money.
Because money is an effect, not a cause, and you are cause, it actually comes from (or because of) you. Because of your thoughts, beliefs and actions. The difficulty with trying to get more money is that it is likely to take your focus away from doing what you are very, very good at. You can fall into the trap of dissipating your energy in the struggle, by scattering your efforts widely - or losing heart and the will to continue.
In times of trouble, I ask myself this question over and over again.
- "Do I still love what I am doing? Do I care about the people I am serving?"
- "Is what I am doing, making my product or service even better?"
- "Am I concentrating enough on creating a compelling message and am I absolutely sure I am doing enough to connect with my current and potential customers?"
- "Have I got lost in the detail and ended up being an administrator instead of an innovator".
- "What do I wish to experience, express, create? What are my desires?
Not goals, desires. Here's something to do that you may find sustaining in this awkward time. Partner your desires with the feelings you want to experience by having those desires met, and then write those feelings down. Look at them. Play with feeling them now. Remind yourself that this is what it's all about - living with those feelings, in that e-state. Anchor them somehow (I have them as word art on my wall) and make them visible Because money is an effect you will cause it to come to you when you are in alignment with your best and most creative, serving and empowered self. Sir Rich didn't have any munneh in the beginning did he? He operated out of a public phone box . . . you know the stories as well as I do. They caused it. So can you, if you are truly doing what you just couldn't live without doing!
Debs de Vries
"Beyond the Veil" http://thewellnessaudioshop.co.uk/blog
Looking for ideas on starting a business?
Many people today are looking for ideas on starting a business. With redundancy looming for many the allure of self-employment is growing.
But what if that's you and you're stuck for ideas on what business to enter?
Well the obvious answer would be to start in business doing what you're doing in employment. This demands that you have some kind of saleable skill (such as accountancy or web design). If that's you I strongly suggest you read E-myth Revisited by Michael Gerber
But what if you have no particular skill or knowledge to bring to the business world?
In that case you're going to have to do some research into what you could possibly sell, (because it's all about selling at the end of the day). Or, put another way, what people will possibly buy (there's no point in selling something that nobody wants to buy).
So here's a thought that might just help:
Last night, during a discussion at a networking event, a comment sparked my memory of an interview given by Anita Roddick, the founder of Body Shop. She was never one to shy away from being blunt and often controversial and she said (and I'm paraphrasing here):
"If you want a business idea then find something that really pisses you off. Find a solution to it and sell that solution to others. Because if it pisses you off the chances are good that others will feel the same way".
So there you go, if you're thinking of starting a business and are stuck for ideas just bear in mind what Anita said.
Not all bank bonuses are bad
Since the chief of RBS, Stephen Hester, has said no to his £900,000 bonus I think it's time to make the case that not all bankers bonuses are bad.
Hester is a unique case, he is head of a bank that is largely owned by the UK taxpayer. However, he's done well in his role to stabilise the bank and make it more secure and less prone to excessive/risky lending and casino-style investment tactics.
However, we've since learned that one of the traders at RBS is in line to receive a bonus of around £4m. And many folks will wonder what he (or she) did to warrant that kind of pay packet.
The fact of the matter is that most bank traders are paid on performance, they get a basic salary and then a bonus depending on how much profit they've made for the bank. In all honesty, most traders in banks earn less than £100,000 a year (which for some readers will still seem like too much).
However, if the high flying traders bring in millions of pounds worth of income to the bank, the profits of which are then passed to shareholders, is it so bad if they get a hefty bonus?
I'm not sure it is, and here's why:
You see, most traders are salespeople. They go out on behalf of the bank and peddle financial products to other financial and investment institutions.
In many ways they're very similar to almost any salesperson. If they don't sell they don't earn.
I used to work for a well known home improvements company. I was given a small basic salary and then very generous commissions on what I sold. The scope for earning a considerable income was definitely there. But if I didn't sell I didn't earn.
As it turns out I didn't sell and didn't earn and didn't last long in the job (I since realise that I was a little too honest to close the deal on the day).
So, if a bank trader brings fifteen million pounds of profit into the bank, is it unreasonable to give him/her a bonus of over a million? I don't think so, and I'm not sure the shareholders would be all that bothered either.
If owned a business and my top salesman brought in millions of pounds worth of sales and profits I'd not be shy in giving her a hefty bonus.
So, if someone is bringing in the profits for a business then bonuses aren't necessarily a bad thing.
Disagree? Feel free to tell me why by making a comment below: