It is terrific to raise the bar as an entrepreneur and then reach it!
It is my hope that by working together, we will raise the bar, increase our standards and become better personally and professionally. I will be writing and doing what I write about. At the same time, it is my hope that you will the steps necessary to raise your own bar as well.
In your work as an entrepreneur, you must always look for ways to raise the bar, do a better job, to increase job performance and customer satisfaction. This is a well-known fact. What should become equally well-known is the fact that every entrepreneur who chooses, can become better. As a business owner, it is important to continue to read and learn about your chosen industry. One extremely easy way of keeping up with the daily news in your industry is to do a specialized Google Alert search. This will harness the power of Google to gather news articles from all over the internet about your specialized area of interest and deliver the information to your email inbox. Once you set up the Google Alert search, you will be able to keep up with industry updates and happenings by reviewing your email box each day.
As an entrepreneur, you can raise the bar by taking steps to improve customers service. I have never believed the old adage, “The customer is always right.” However, I do believe that customers should be treated with courtesy, respect and permitted to retain their dignity whenever possible. Good customer service does not have to mean, bending over backwards to satisfy every customer demand. Instead, it could mean that when mistakes are made, the customer is given an apology, an explanation of what went wrong and a statement of what will keep the mistake from happening in the future. As a customer, I have always appreciated it when a company treated me according to this formula. It has made me give companies who do repeat business, even it I could get a product or service at a lower price elsewhere.
Another quick and easy way for an entrepreneur to raise the bar is to start thinking that being on time means being 15 minutes early to every meeting. I have a friend who is an entrepreneur and he is late to every meeting. It does not matter if the meeting is in someone else’s office or his own office. He is always late. Being late to an important meeting is often seen as a sign of disrespect. If you do not show up in a timely manner to get a customer’s business, why would a customer believe you will keep deadlines once the customer relationship is established. Timeliness may not be next to godliness, but is next to profitability.
So there you have it, three quick and easy ways to raise the bar as an entrepreneur: continue to learn about your industry, work to improve customer service and be on time. Any entrepreneur who chooses, can be a better entrepreneur. So the question for you this terrific Tuesday is what are you going to do to raise the bar as an entrepreneur?
