Guest Blogger, Russell J. White

Being indispensable to your customers is the defining edge between surviving and thriving in this new economy. How would your customers answer these questions about your business? If you are not getting the perfect answer you are looking for, you know where to put your immediate efforts to growing your business revenue.

1. Who is the first business that comes to the customer’s mind in your industry?

99.2% of people surveyed said they will do business with the first company that comes to mind for a product or a service. Customers, both consumer and B2B customers develop buying habits based on what business is foremost in their minds. In the age of overwhelming information getting properly position in the customer’s mind is key to sustaining a profitable business. 

The way to gain that top of mind position is by creating positive buzz. Are you giving them information of value, or are you just trying to sell to them? Do you know your market needs or are you just serving up what you have and hope someone comes along to buy it? Do you have a solid Internet presence where you are easily findable? Are you a “player” in your community and market where your name recognition is a given? If you aren’t the first choice, you are behind in the race. Get properly positioned.

2. How eager are your customers to come in contact with your employees?

Large companies thought they could save money by relocating call centers overseas; customers began dreading help services because the people on the other end were perceived to have poor command of the language and information the customer needed help on. Companies who created good products were getting their reputation hammered because of the service interaction.

Do your customers dread talking with your employees, consider them a neutral experience, or enjoy the interaction with your staff? The more enjoyment your customers get from your staff the more interaction they are going to want. If you have a fun knowledgeable staff customers enjoy talking with, why not give your staff greater opportunity to interact even more with the customers? Make the customer interaction personable. In fact, people make buying decisions more based on their feelings toward the individual they are working with than on the quality of the product. For many of us, product quality differences in the eyes of the customer vary only slightly. It is the relationship they trust and buy from.

3. What makes it worth the effort for your customers to do business with you?

Every buying decision is a choice. Maybe once you were the only competitor in town and now your customers have options closer. Once upon a time you had the most charismatic salesperson working a territory, who no longer works for you. Maybe you are the new player in town and you are trying to make headway in the market.

What are you doing to make sure your customers consider you a worthy choice that is worth the effort to do business with you? Too many businesses rest on their successful history and expect the flow of customers to continue. Others rely on a recognizable national brand they represent to bring in business. Nothing stays the same. When a city creates a new retail area, traffic patterns shift. When a competitor creates new technology, the rules of the industry change. When a competitor grows by acquiring other players in the market, you now have a new force to deal with. Companies go bankrupt ignoring these changes.

What changes have happened in your market to cause you to react and increase the reasons why customers should do business with you? Even better, how can you be proactive to increase your customer base?

As a small business you can’t out-spend the competition, but you can out-maneuver them to grow your business. 

 Russell J. White, President of PinnacleSolutions.org is one of America’s leading business growth strategists. He is an author, consultant, international speaker and business expert on leadership, marketing and growth strategies. Since 1991 Russell has worked with hundreds of clients.  He has been a frequent guest on television and radio. He is considered both a motivational speaker and a business expert.  Russell also writes and publishes the Grow Your Business blog.  Contact him at 803-984-9448 or RJWhite@PinnacleSolutions.org

On Monday, I did a post on the traits that leaders need to survive and thrive through this economy.  As a follow-up, Rick Telberg, of CPA Trendlines, asked what the essential traits of “followers” were in this economy.

I think my 4-year old son summed it up the best.  He started junior kindergarten last week.  In his classroom, there is a set of rules that the children must follow.  The number one rule is to “Respect those in authority.”  When we asked my son if he remembered what the number one rule was, he replied “Inspect those in authority.”

You will notice that the traits that a follower needs, align closely with the traits that a leader needs.  Followers need to “inspect” their leaders more than ever before.  They need to have a clear understanding of the leader’s vision and where he is taking them.   It will be extremely hard to work toward a common vision with a leader if you do not know what that vision is.

Followers also need to “inspect” the underlying values of a leader.  Is this someone that they want to follow?  Do your leader’s core beliefs, values, and ethics align with yours?  If not, perhaps it is time to follow someone else.   If they align closely, that is even more reason to put your nose to the grindstone to work toward the leader’s vision.

Just like leaders, followers must maintain a positive attitude.  Followers must resist the temptation to get drawn in to the negative talk that may be going on around them.  Turn the negative thoughts into positive actions toward the vision.  No one ever achieved a goal by moaning and complaining about it.

When things get tough – followers need to get tougher.  Stay persistent in working toward the vision and following your leader – even if he adjusts the vision.   Whenever there is a strong call for persistence and extra effort to get things accomplished, there is usually “negative” attitude that creeps in from someone somewhere.  As stated above, resist this urge. 

Take Care of Your Organization’s Customers.  There isn’t a single employee at any company who is not there to help serve the customers in some way.  Make sure the customers are taken care of.  Without them, no one in your organization has a job, not even your leader.

Rick Telberg of CPA Trendlines asked the question, “What are the essential elements for leaders and managers to succeed in this economy?”   I do not think that these essential elements change so much depending upon the economy.  A truly great leader will possess these qualities regardless of the economy.  The differentiating factor is that the poor economy seems to weed out some of the poor leaders that do not possess these leadership qualities.

Vision.  A great leader needs to have a clear vision of where he wants to take the company.  What should it look like next year and in five years? Not only should they have this vision, but they need to communicate it to their followers.  A leader will never get her followers to work toward a vision that she does not understand or consciously communicate. 

“Vision is a lot more than putting a plaque on the wall.  A real vision is lived, not framed.” – Ken Blanchard and Jesse Stoner in Full Stream Ahead!

Values.  A great leader needs to possess a strong set of core values.  He needs to consistently conduct himself in a manner that his employees respect and make them want to follow him.  A strong set of core values from a great leader will radiate throughout the organization. 

Stay Positive.  Are sales down this year?  How much?  20%?  30?  more?   A great leader needs to recognize this fact, understand the reasons why the sales are down, and have a vision of where he is moving the company forward.  A great leader does not focus on the negative.  Always stay positive about where you are going.  Just like your values will radiate throughout your organization, negativity will corrode every fiber of an organization like a bad virus.

Persistence.  When a football team that gets behind by two touchdowns stops trying as the clock starts to tick down in the 4th quarter, they are sealing their own fate.  As Jimmy-V said, “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.”  A great leader is going to face the obstacles that present themselves in a positive manner and find a way around these obstacles.  Do not be afraid of every little failure – keep trying.  Thomas Edison once said that he had not failed, he had just found 10,000 ways that did not work.  Could you imagine what the world would be like today had Thomas Edison not been persistent?

Ability and Willingness to Reinvent the Vision.  A great leader needs to be able to get his ego out of the way and move on.  He needs to constantly be able to reassess his vision and be willing to change it as circumstances dictate.  This is where many leaders ultimately fail because of their lack of persistence or their unwillingness to reinvent the their vision.  A leader can be a part of change or the company can change around him and lead to his downfall.

Last, but not least…

Take Care of Existing Customers.   This obviously relates strongly to the leaders values.  Every single employee in an organization should understand that it is their job to get and keep customers – even those that do not interact with customers.  A great leader should communicate this value throughout the organization and empower everyone  in the organization to make sure customer’s needs are met.

Too many small business owners spend too much of their time holding the line. They do things because “that is the way we have always done it.” This is foolish. To propel your business forward, you must get out of the same old/same old. Look for new ways of doing things.

This is the difference between a bureaucrat and a leader. A bureaucrat will say that this is how is it done because it has always been done this way. Bureaucrats hate change. Leaders embrace change. Find the leader in yourself and look at your business. What process can be improved? What can you do better?

Bureaucrats spend their time whining about the way things are – crying when things have to change. Leaders make change happen.

When the dust is settled, the only ones left will be the true leaders.