Business owners slowly kill their own business by making small fatal flaws. They don't mean to do it. In fact, it was all in the process of trying to help their members. Are you guilty of making any of these fatal flaws?
1. Undervaluing their services. Many business owners feel that lower membership dues mean more clients. This may be true if you are looking to lease a car, or are comparing apples to apples. More often lower prices scare customers away from your business. Clients are looking for the best possible service for their dollar. Would you want a discount doctor, or lawyer, or would you want the job done right the first time?
2. Not providing proper value and recognition. The most important part of your business is your customer. Most of your effort must be focused on providing maximum value to your customer. Continually upgrade your education in your field, add services and benefits to your customers, seek dynamic partnerships. Do whatever you can to serve you clients. Remember, you would be lonely without them.
3. Not setting proper boundaries. As Business Owners, our clients sometimes become almost part of our families. Make sure that you set the appropriate boundaries between your personal life and your professional life. Letting your clients cross that line can lead to serious complications in your business. You could lose clients simply by personal life actions that they don’t want to be associated with in their business. Your clients will judge your personal life, whether you like it or not. The simple solution, your business clients are business, and your personal life can be an enigma.
4. Letting your customers have too much of an opinion on your business. Clients will believe that as your customer they have a right to an opinion on your business. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not telling you to be rude to your clients, but there is a difference between a survey and an opinion. Be polite and hear out your clients. They truly care about your business, they want to belong, and they want to feel important. The most important lesson is to have a strong enough commitment to you plan of action that your customers see that you are dedicated to a specific direction and that you appreciate them, but know what you are doing. Keep your clients involved by routinely surveying your clients to find out what they really want from your business.
5. Let your customer know too much about your business. If business is slow, if your are fighting red ink, or if you are preparing to buy the new Mercedes, your customer does not need to know that unless that is important to serving your clients. I recently visited a website where a business owner posted a history of their business including that they took it over after the business failed a couple of times. I wasn’t encouraged to join.
Gaining a client is one of the most difficult tasks in business. Make sure that you don’t have to repeat the cycle more often than your need to.
The Business Coach Peter Townshend helps small business owners find success and balance. Find more articles and solutions at http://www.businesscoachpeter.com
Peter values your opinions, he discusses and shares you opinions with his Inner Circle membership and invites you to join them, or email them at business-coach-peters-inner-circle@googlegroups.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_Townshend
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