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Entrepreneurship solidifying client relationships

admin2 — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 15:40:21 +0000

By Will Corrente

I am a firm believer that client relationships are solidified during the holiday season. As a child growing up I would watch my father hand deliver poinsettia plants and other gifts to our top customers each holiday season. He knew a very valuable secret of small business ownership: show your customers personally how much you care about them and their business. Thank you cards, small gifts or tokens of appreciation go a long way in solidifying business relationships throughout the year and should never be eliminated.

But a hand delivered holiday gift takes it to a whole new level, the level of personal appreciation and interaction. Ever since as the owner of my own business and even during my years as a corporate executive, I do the exact same thing. In case you didn’t know, poinsettias are poisonous to dogs, so instead of delivering poinsettias as my father did, I instead deliver boxes of cookies. I order the cookies and had them delivered to my store. I then had my staff hand address them and include a personal message of appreciation and holiday cheer.

Will Corrente

I then personally delivered them to each of my top referral partners. The personal delivery is important especially when your business has grown beyond a one or two person operation. I want these key relationship people to know me personally, who I am, what I look like and to personally shake their hand to say thank you and happy holidays. Sure I could have had them delivered in an impersonal box with fancy corporate packaging to save time and effort, but that wouldn’t even have come close to expressing how important these strategic alliances are to me and my business. I wanted them to know that they were so important to me and my business and that I the owner, the guy they seldom speak with or may not have even known exists took the time to personally acknowledge them and their contribution to our success.

This is in person delivery also serves another valuable tool, it allows me to solicit direct feedback on our performance and to gain insight into additional customer needs and wants. After I introduce myself and present the gift I ask, are still hearing good things about us? Is there anything we can improve upon? Thankfully all of the feedback was good and there was nothing that was said that was in need of improvement.

If there were any negative comments or areas of improvement I would address and let them know of any further action I would be taking and when I would follow up with them on the result. I close by handing them my personal card and telling them I am always available to speak with them if they ever have any comments, concerns or feedback and please feel free to contact me. The holiday season is an excellent opportunity to show your clients how valuable they are to your business, how much you appreciate them and an excellent opportunity to solidify your most valuable relationships.

Will Corrente is Managing Director of Corrente Consulting International Inc. a small business entrepreneur consulting firm and professional connection company based in West Palm Beach, FL. Feel free to email him questions, comments or suggested stories at will@willcorrente.com or follow him on Twitter @willcorrente.

Where does sarcasm fit in your workplace?

admin2 — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:15:26 +0000

By Will Corrente

If you have been running your company for more than a few years, you have probably come to realize that your relationships with your team begin to mirror your other relationships in your life. And it therefore natural to develop a comfort level that can often lead to unprofessional communication behavior.

One of these unprofessional communication areas is sarcasm. Everyone loves humor, making people laugh and creating a fun and jovial work environment is something every business owner strives to accomplish. But when you use or allow humor to be used in the workplace, you want to make sure that it fosters an environment that is healthy, constructive and empowering for your team.

Will Corrente

Here is an excerpt of a conversation with Oregon based communication expert and consultant Pamela Cournoyer of Communicate With Class about using sarcasm in the workplace. Take it away Pamela:

“There are so many sweet opportunities to take a jab at others. It’s all in good fun, isn’t it? I hate to break it to you; if you lead as a supervisor, manager, department head or business owner – sarcasm does not belong anywhere you are interacting and communicating with others. Aspiring to a leadership or management position? No sarcasm for you either.

“Why do I suggest you leave sarcism at the door? Let’s start with Merriam-Webster’s definition of ‘sarcasm:’ ‘tearing of flesh, bite the lips in rage, sneer.’ 1: a sharp and often satirical or ironic utterance designed to cut or give pain. 2: a mode of satirical wit depending for its effect on bitter, caustic, and often ironic language that is usually directed against an individual. These are sobering definitions.

“When I am called into a workplace to improve relationships, one of the first trouble indicators I look for is the use of sarcasm by management and supervisors. Sarcasm is never uplifting, it is never encouraging and it is always at someone’s expense. Sarcasm undermines clear, direct and uplifting communication. A biting sarcastic word or remark can undermine years of positive, uplifting communication and team development. Those who use sarcasm at home towards their family members have no idea of the depth of wounding they may inflict. And it is no different at work either. In addition, sarcasm towards yourself doesn’t say much about how you feel about you, either.

“The idea is to find a way to laugh and have fun, in a constructive and positive manner and not at anyone else’s expense. Natural humor is all around us. If you consider yourself a leader, then it is your task to find a healthy way to replace sarcasm in your workplace. Remember, sticks & stones may break your bones but sarcastic words and their tone will bleed you out. Replace your sarcasm with positive uplifting words and empowering humor. A positive word from a leader is like an elixir, healthy, constructive and empowering!”

Ask the Entrepreneur

admin2 — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 15:38:44 +0000

Over the past several months, I have received numerous requests for advice from readers. Due to these requests and The Bergen News’ desire to best serve the needs of our readers we have decided to incorporate an “Ask the Entrepreneur” component to my column.

Recently, Please Login or Register to read the rest of this content.

In social media: it is quality over quantity

admin2 — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 15:45:01 +0000

By Will Corrente

There is a myth among social media and social networking neophytes that big numbers of friends, fans, followers, contacts and connections will equal big success for your business or personal brand. In reality, the quality of your connections and the depth of your relationship with them are substantially more important than the sheer number of connections. After all, what is the value of blasting your message to 1000 followers if none of them care what you have to say.

The leaders in social media who have thousands of connections, followers, friends, and fans know that ego has no place in building a strong and successful network. High numbers of friends, fans, followers and connections are the result of a plan and systematic process of engagement over several months and even years of relationship building.

Will Corrente

If you want to achieve the same level of success as the leaders in social media, then you must start your connection building with a small group of loyal connections with which you have created an interactive dialogue. In short, you must engage your audience in a dialogue about you and your company and how you can serve their needs. Engagement is completely different from traditional marketing messaging where you the company push out message after message trying to convince the consumer to do business with you. These old methods of marketing were one way communications, from you to the consumer. In social media the marketing channel is two way, you reach out to the consumer, the consumer responds and you reply back maintaining a dialogue. Your network expands and increases as other consumers hear the quality of what you have to say and jump into the conversation allowing you to influence more potential customers slowly expanding your network. True engagement is all about asking people what they need in conversation and then giving it to them.

By starting with a core group of quality contacts, producing quality respond-able content and focusing your message on the recipient instead of your company, you engage and build trust and likeability which leads to your core group referring and endorsing you and your products. You accomplish this in 5 simple steps:

1) Introduce yourself

2) Ask your connection about themselves; their needs, wants, etc

3) Listen to what they have to say,

4) Answer their questions and tell them what you can do for them based on their needs,

5) Always focus your message on them and their needs not on you, your product or your brand.

Making great connections is all about building trust and likeability slowly over time, one engagement at a time, one customer at a time and one message at a time. Once you have built a reputation for engaging in quality communications you will see your network and presence on your chosen social media platform increase and quantity will follow.

Ask the entrepreneur

admin2 — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 05:35:04 +0000

By Will Corrente

Recently, I received an email from a reader who has been a professional gambler for the past 30 years. Here is her inquiry: “I have been a Casino Gambler the past 30 years, and am well known in all casinos AC, Mohegan, Las Vegas etc. I decided to give seminars to customers about playing table games and have been in touch with casinos, but since I do not have a resume that shows I worked in a casino they are hesitant to hire me.” – F.K.

Dear FK: Three of the most important tasks a new small business entrepreneur must accomplish are: 1) Find customers, 2) Establish legitimacy, and 3) Sell your goods or services.

Step 1: Find Customers: In your business model you have 2 customers, the first is the casino who will hire you to offer seminars and the second is the seminar attendee. Treating the casino as your target customer is a very smart plan on your behalf. You have not made the mistake of trying to reach the masses on your own by hosting seminars online, at the library or at a local meeting center. In that model, you would have to expend significant time and effort to reach each potential attendee. In your model, the casino delivers your customers to you great job on step 1!

Step 2: Establish Legitimacy: Here is where you are facing your biggest challenge. The casino wants to be convinced that you are the best person to deliver these seminars to their customers. And in order to be the best, you must know the casinos and their industry. They want to know you have experience on the other side of the table. Do you know both the customer perspective and the casino perspective? Here it is up to you show them that you know something about their structure, their business, and most important, their customer from their point of view. Instead of writing a resume, write a sales letter, telling the casino who you are and why you are the best person to host these seminars; what experiences, insights and expertise you possess that makes you and your seminars better than any others available in the market today.

Step 3: Sell, Sell, Sell: Thinking about your product or service from the casino (your customer) point of view tell them how contracting you to host these seminars will either a) make the casino more money, b) keep customers playing, or c) encourage customers return to the casino over and over again.

If you think about your new endeavor as a business from the start, you will be able to lay the plans to target your customer, establish your legitimacy and sell them your services. Thank you for writing to me and the Bergen News/Press Journal.

Will Corrente: Small Business – Big Things (VIDEO)

BNG Admin — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 21:41:29 +0000

Small Business – Big Things from WillCorrente on Vimeo.

Enterpreneurship: Drive sales revenue with a marketing mix

admin2 — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 15:38:45 +0000

By Will Corrente

As a small business entrepreneur in this economy, you are undoubtedly facing a constant struggle to successfully and cost effectively advertise and market your business. Unfortunately, when it comes to marketing and advertising there is no single medium that is guaranteed to drive sales success.

Effective advertising and marketing comes from a mixture of mediums which must be tested to produce the desired sales and revenue growth. In addition, the type of business you own will also dictate not only the type(s) of mediums you should consider, but also the potential success of that medium on driving sales. Knowing where your customers have found you in the past is a good indicator of how new customers will find you in the future.

Before you embark on your trial and error quest of testing advertisements in various mediums, one of the most important marketing and advertising tasks you can perform as a small business entrepreneur is to ask your existing customers where and how there heard about you. But don’t stop at your clients; ask your prospects as well, every person who calls your business whether an existing client for years or a potential customer should be asked “how did you hear about us?”

After a period of weeks or months, tally up the responses and see what the data tells you. You may be shocked to find that although you spend most of your advertising on the yellow pages, most of clients have found you online. Or, you may find that the medium most successful at driving customers is referrals and word of mouth. Whatever medium you find that is driving your traffic is the medium in which you should consider expanding your advertising budget, and whatever medium you find that is lagging is the one that you should consider reducing your budget.

A client of mine owns and operates a general contracting business. By following this method of polling clients and prospects and tracking how they heard of his business, the data revealed that word of mouth referrals and his website were generating the majority of his leads and sales. Although he spent over a thousand dollars each month on yellow page advertising, virtually no clients or prospects found him using the yellow pages. When renewal time came, he shifted his advertising dollars and created a new marketing mixture. He eliminated the costly yellow page advertisement and instead focused on online advertising, Search Engine Optimization and other web based advertising mediums. In addition, he rolled out a customer referral program where he rewarded previous customers with service discounts, benefits and price incentive for any client who referred him to a new customer who purchased his services.

Successful marketing your small business is as much art as science. The effects of print, online, radio, email, direct mail, customer rewards, billboard, TV and other advertising mediums should all be tested and tracked until you find the right mixture that yields sales revenue success.

Grow your bottom line by building customer rapport

BNG Admin — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:04:56 +0000

By Will Corrente

Think for a moment about your favorite restaurant, why do you enjoy going there? Is it only for the food? Or, is it because you have been going there for so long that the wait staff, the host/hostess, the bartender, and/or even the owner have built a relationship and a rapport with you. When you arrive you are consistently greeted with a welcoming smile and perhaps a question or two about your work, family or events of your life. You feel special, known, recognized and appreciated, in short you have a rapport with the business. You are more than just a client or a customer; you are crossing the line to becoming a friend. The ability to build and maintain customer rapport is one of the most valuable assets a business possesses and is the key to developing loyal, repeat and lucrative customer relationships.

Recently, I spent the night out at one of my favorite local eateries, The Palm Beach Grill. “The Grill” as it is known to locals not only offers consistent quality and an eclectic menu, but a staff which is adept at developing rapport with its customers. As usual, I was greeted by the host with a warm smile and a “Will, how are you?” We exchanged pleasantries and asked each other about our week, mutual acquaintances, town events, etc. As I walked to the bar, the bartender whom I had not seen in several weeks also greeted me by name and engaged me in conversation as she asked if I would be drinking my usual Pinot Noir this evening. This type of customer engagement, rapport and relationship building is one of the best weapons a business has to influence a customer’s buying decisions.

I am tangible proof of this influence, on a Saturday when I am in the mood for dinner out; whether alone, with friends or with that special someone, the Palm Beach Grill is the first place that comes to mind. Why? Because I feel comfortable going there. I feel as if I am going to a friend’s house for dinner. A friend who greets with a friendly smile, who knows at least a little about me, who knows my likes and dislikes, and is committed to making sure my evening is as pleasant as if I was dining in their home.

This influence on buying decisions has also helped save many businesses in an economic downturn. Why? Because people want to do business with people they like, they stick with what’s familiar, what makes them feel safe, secure and comfortable. Proper rapport and relationship building creates a connection with your customers converting strangers into friends. And what is the golden rule of friendship, friends help each other out. I care about them and I want them to succeed so I may continue going to that familiar place. Like the old Cheers theme song, “sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name…and their always glad you came…” Make building rapport with your clients priority one and watch your bottom line grow in return.

Will Corrente is Managing Director of Corrente Consulting International Inc. a small business entrepreneur consulting firm and professional connection company based in West Palm Beach, FL. Feel free to email him questions, comments or suggested stories at will@willcorrente.com Follow him on Twitter @willcorrente.

3 Essential Skills of The Entrepreneur Leader

BNG Admin — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:42:12 +0000

By Will Corrente

As a small business entrepreneur, you must realize that first and foremost you are the leader of your business. Once you understand that one of your primary roles in your business is to be not only the CEO but the leader as well, you need to actively develop three critical leadership skills: Flexibility, Humility, and Focus.

Flexibility: As a leader of an entrepreneurial venture you need to be flexible to thrive in today’s economy. Changes in the economy, employee demographics, and customer expectations require the entrepreneur leader to periodically shift and adjust the path and direction of the business, correcting the course as the environment changes. If you are a leader who thrives on rigidity, picking a direction and dragging your people along for the ride, you would find it difficult to course-correct your business strategy fast enough either to respond to unexpected threats or to take advantage of unexpected opportunities. The flexible leader however engages the team when business conditions change and shifts direction as needed; the flexible leader’s proactive actions gets the team to step forward on their own without undermining the leader’s authority or appearing inconsistent.

Humility: Some of the best entrepreneur leaders I know are often the most humble. Developing humility in your leadership style lets your people know you are human and may not have all the answers all the time. The best leaders know that in today’s world, technology, access to information, and best practice techniques are always rapidly changing and it is impossible for them to have all the information all the time. If the course you selected needs to be changed because of new information or circumstances it is important that your team know that the buck stops with you not only for the good decisions, but also for the not so good ones. As a leader who practices humility you can effectively use humility in your course correction as an excellent opportunity to connect with your people on a human level, communicating that you are all in this together.

Focus: Entrepreneur leaders who are thriving today understand that focus is critical for business success, especially during these challenging economic times. Now is the time for you to focus your energy and resources on the critical elements that make your business successful. What is your strategic advantage that makes your business stand out from the crowd? Do you excel at customer service? Are you known for the outstanding quality of your products or services? Focusing on your haves instead of your have not’s is the key to moving the ball forward regardless of the economic environment.

Finally, successful entrepreneur leaders earn respect instead of command it, just because you are in charge does not mean you are infallible. The best leaders know that they occasionally have to put their ego aside and openly accept responsibility for mistakes. Being proactive in addressing and fixing an error is one of the best ways in which you can earn respect instead of command it.

Are You a Triple Bottom Line Entrepreneur?

BNG Admin — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:01:51 +0000

By Will Corrente

Triple Bottom Line (TBL) entrepreneurs are committed to building businesses which have a three-fold benefit model. TBL businesses look beyond mere profitability by focusing on two additional factors of People and the Planet. TBL businesses are built, managed and operated under the premise that if you run your company always keeping in mind the 3 bottom lines of People, Planets and Profit the enterprise will succeed and endure over the long term.

TBL is as much about attitude as it is about action. As a TBL entrepreneur, you operate your business under the premise that it is not here just to serve your needs and the needs of your customer, but also the needs of the environment, the investors and the people who are impacted by the business and its operations.

The three components of the Triple Bottom Line are: People, Planet and Profits.

1) People – this segment encompasses your business’s internal and external impact on people:

Internal: This is the human resource component of the TBL business. How do you value the people in your business? What are your hiring practices, work environment, raise and bonus policies, employee benefits and perks, etc?
External: How does your business enhance the community around you? How do you give back to the community? Do you sponsor the local sports team, adopt a local highway, maintain a reputation as an ethical and trustworthy member of the business community, contribute to charity, buy your equipment and supplies from reputable and ethical companies and importers who are also committed to ethical business practices? Do you stand behind your products and services so your customers know you care about them as much as their dollar?

2) Planet-this segment encompasses your business’s impact on the planet.

Materials Related: Do you maintain and follow a recycling plan? Do you recycle cardboard, paper, plastics, bottles and cans? Do you purchase green or recycled materials if they are available?
Energy Related: Do you maintain and follow an energy management policy? Have you contacted your local power company for a free energy audit to determine methods of reducing power consumption? Are you proactively minimizing your company’s negative impact on the environment by using energy efficient light bulbs and fixtures?
Environmental Related: How do you maintain the physical environment of your facility or business? Do you take steps to ensure you are not polluting the air and water?

3) Profits- this segment encompasses your profitability. Do you strive for a strong bottom line through sales, profits and return on investment for your investors?

Triple bottom line businesses are built, managed and operated under the premise that your company will grow and endure over the long term if you always keep in mind people, planet and profit. In an economic environment where resources are scarce and human capital is increasingly more valuable having a TBL focus is good business.