...Do You Follow Through?

One of our business owners is rehabbing a building to move his business to soon.  The nightmare stories he has been telling me of contractors is worth mentioning.  His biggest issue with contractors for anything from electricity to painting has been getting them to show up.    

Contractors will show up and give him a quote then agree to come in and do the work. Then just never show up.  How is this possible?  Can you imagine running your business this way?  Would you give someone a quote for a service or good and then just never follow through? 

Apparently this happens all the time.  What would a good contractor be able to do if they actually showed up and did the job as promised?  So many small business owners out there are running their business like this.  They have no one to organize the jobs for them or they may overbook themselves or get a bigger contract and never go back to the other contracts they wrote and fulfill those.

I am just amazed at the work that goes to other contractors because people do this type of business.  Do you fulfill every contract you write?  Do you do the work you promised to do making sure that the client is satisfied with the work? If you have answered no to any of those questions, you need to be rethinking the work you do.   A lot of people get business based on referrals or they don’t even get the call because they get a bad reputation for not following through or doing the job they said they’d do.  

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...It Pays To Be Nice

My husband and I were driving through our neighborhood this weekend and one of our neighbors was getting yard work done.  The man doing the yard work threw up his hand enthusiastically like he knew us.  He has done this on many occasions.    

My husband asked if I knew him. I said no.  Then I said you know I think he is just being a smart businessman. Of course my husband looked at me with that quizzical look, waiting on an explanation. 

What I told him was that a smart business person is always friendly wherever they are especially when out on a job, when they have on a shirt with their business name or driving a vehicle with their name on the side.  If I needed to hire a lawn person which person am I going to choose?  Would I choose the one in my neighborhood who is always friendly and waving, the one who never looks up, or choose one out of a list?  Maybe I’d get a referral, but if I didn’t, I’d go with the friendly person who seems approachable.  

Business owners and their staff do themselves a disservice when they are unfriendly or rude to others in the line of their work.  I’ve seen it happen and you always remember the person who chose to be helpful.  It just gives you a good feeling. 

So, business owner, how do you and your staff treat others when you are out on a job?  Not just your customers but anyone you come in contact with?  Remember that a friendly smile and a wave might just get you business.  And even if it doesn’t it probably makes people feel good and that’s worth spreading.  

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...Right or Happy???

Would you rather be right or happy?  That’s the question a business owner’s staff asked him. They all tend to have strong opinions and sometimes he just wants to be right and not listen to them.  

What about you, with your employees?  Do you always have to be right?  Do you have to have the last word? 

Developing an environment where staff feels their input will be listened to can be very important.  The reasons you hire staff should be the reasons you listen to your staff. In other words, you hired those individual staff for the unique talent, education and personality they bring to the job.  So it’s important that you listen to them.  

When you have a meeting and ask for input, make sure you are not arguing every idea that is suggested.  Sometimes, ideas need time to germinate.  We need time to work through the idea to make sure it’s something we want to act on or pass on.   

Allowing staff the time to voice opinions can help bring your staff together.  In the end, it’s your decision as the owner of the company. You don’t need to remind staff every time they make a suggestion, but you always know that.  

So, do you want to be right or happy?  Maybe if you listen to your staff and process what they have to say, you might be both.  

Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter

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...It's Summer Time

It’s that time of year again.  Summer vacation.  What is that you say?  A vacation?  Oh you must not understand, I run my own business, I couldn’t possibly take time away from my business, you say.  Oh but yes you can and most importantly, you should.  This is not rocket science and it’s been written about many times.  This is worth repeating this time of year.   

So many business owners are work frenzied beasts, afraid that taking time away would mean their business would not run.  For sole proprietors I get that.  Some people have no employees to fall back on when they need time off. 

So, let’s address that group first.  It’s still possible to take at least a week off and keep your business running, but it will take some planning.  There would be very few of your clients who would not understand that you would be out of touch for a week’s vacation.  Make sure you train your clients to be without you for that time, assuring them that you will handle everything even with a break.  Just make your deadlines later, and inform your clients about what is going on.  

Now, can you be totally free as a sole proprietor?  Maybe, maybe not.  It’s all in the planning, making sure clients know you are taking time off and will make sure the work is done for them. 

Now, what about those of you who have employees?  Again, training and planning.  You need to make sure that your staff is well trained and competent to work without you.  The staff you hire should make you feel confident that work will be handled whether you are there or not.  This is one of the most important things you can do for yourself, your clients and your business.

Everyone needs a break and needs to unplug.  Everyone needs time to reenergize themselves.  It makes you a better business owner when you have time to yourself and can feel good about leaving the business behind for a little while.   

You Want That Written Down?

My husband and I are doing a few home projects this summer.  One includes painting a large part of the inside of our house and having a few hard wood floors refinished.  We decided to call in a few professionals to get quotes.  One man came in and gave us a quote verbally to do one room the floor and the painting.  I was not happy that he did not put it in writing but he and my husband had worked it out so I thought, let it be.  What a mistake!  He came in unprepared each time, took a long time to finish, and then charged us more than he apparently had quoted my husband.   

So, I thought I would just see if it was possible to get a written quote out of him.  He came to finish up the project and my husband was out of town.  So I told him I wanted a written quote and he informed me that he had spoken with my husband and gave him a quote verbally to do the rest of the house.  I handed him a piece of paper with all the rooms listed, what I wanted done and a place for the quote.  He then said he didn’t have time that evening to give me the quote.  Really?  He didn’t have time to quote what was going to be a large project?  What he told me was clear.  As long as he could get away without anything in writing, he could charge us what he wanted.   As you can guess I told him thanks but no thanks. 

How do you treat your clients?  Do you and your employees always stick with what’s quoted?  Do you make sure that each potential or current client understands what work will be done and what the price will be?  These things can make or break a client’s confidence in you and your company.  As for our house, my husband and I have decided to do it ourselves.  And we found someone who has provided us with a written quote to handle those things we can’t do ourselves.   The other guy not only lost our business, but a larger job I had planned to refer to him if he had done a good job with our house. 

Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter

...Do I Have to Beg You to Take My Money?

 

I was shopping at a Big Box store (think Sam’s or Costco) the other day.  When I went to check out they had two registers open- two- count ‘em –two, with lines trailing down the aisles.    I was talking to the lady behind me and said that I hate to have to beg someone to take my money. 

This happens at this same store on the weekends also – which I don’t understand.  Managers know what times are busy and what times they need to have people on cash registers, yet you almost always have to wait and wait for a line to open. I don’t mind waiting in line, but I do mind seeing only two cash registers open with people backed up in the aisles waiting on service.   

So, I’m wondering when you are running your business- do customers have to wait a long time for your service or product?  Do you or your staff call people back in a timely fashion?  Do you say on your voice mail that you will call back by the end of the day and fulfill that each and every time?  If you don’t, you will be losing potential customers and current ones too.  The old saying is true- you should always under promise and over deliver.  This builds your customer confidence. 

If people find it a hassle to get in touch with you or you do not return phone calls or deliver goods/services when you say you will, those customers will go to someone who will. I can tell you that when our Big Box store membership comes due this summer we will be checking out their competitor to see if they do a better job.   

Midwestern Yoda

“Hang around with people who are better than you are,”  Warren Buffett

Another great quote from the Midwestern Yoda! As he has been so aptly named.

I have always believed this concept to be true.  Hanging out with people who are better than you, leads to you bettering yourself. As the same concept is true- hanging out with ne’er do wells usually leads kids down the wrong path, as did hangin’ out with the “wrong crowd.”  You always hear the neighbor on the news saying “Well he was a good kid until he started hanging out with the wrong crowd,” after some heinous crime.

So shouldn’t the same concept be true for hangin’ out with people who are better than you? I don’t think he meant better than you in the snobbish way. But rather, better than you as a person, as someone who has more education, more training or even a better job than you.  What it does for us is it makes us want to do better.  When we hang out with people who are achieving amazing things, we want to achieve those things too.  

Why not take that concept and use it find people that you want to be like.  As a young college student I always looked for mentors at school, women who could teach me to be like they were. I did this when I got out into the world of work. My mentor was someone who ran a nonprofit. I knew one day I would do the same thing, so I watched her, who she worked with, how she handled situations, and how she resolved conflict and moved up.  This served me well as I was growing into my career.

Who we hang out with as friends and colleagues can have a huge impact on what we do.  So, look around and decide, am I hanging out with the people who make me want to be a better person? If not, maybe you need to start keeping better company.