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?
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Three great tips here. I used to be on time all the time. Now I seem to be late often. It is a symptom of me being disorganized and tryin to juggle to many things at once. I am working on getting better at my juggling act since none of the balls are worth dropping.
Also I feel like hardly any companies give good customer service these days. If you do you will have longevity and referrals from customers.
@Jess - that 15 minutes early tip has had more conversation than all the other tips combined. It is really true. My husband recently won a contract in large part because the was early to a meeting and the other party had a reputation for being late (sometimes hours late) for everything.
Love your "15 minutes early" tip. My biggest pet peeve is being late (or other people being late!;-) This helps create a sense of professionalism by telling others that their time is important to you.
I am going to set Google alerts. Such a simple thing to do, yet something I've overlooked. Thanks for the reminder! I am with you on this journey...great post!
--Danielle
Twitter: @DanielleASB
Blog: http://chatteroutloud.com
Thanks Danielle. I am now following your blog and even joined the breast feeding controversy!
These are three great tips to practice daily as an entrepreneur. Great post!
Also, your topics for this month's Terrific Tuesday look very interesting. I will look forward to reading about these topics on Tuesdays.
Hey Linda,I just came up with this the other day. Looking at this from a network mteirakng point of view, I've come to the conclusion that there is an indicator that will predict a persons success or failure, regardless of any other factor involved.I call it the What are you doing NOW test. At least until I come up with a better name for it. So here goes: Anything you're not doing in your business while you still have a job, you won't do after you quit your job. Meaning: If you're not posting to your social sites every day, if you're not posting to your blog regularly, if you're not emailing your list daily, if you're not on the phone prospecting daily, if you're not studying sales and phone techniques, guess what?You won't do it when you're full-time in your business and you will inevitably fail.My suggestion to anyone contemplating going full-time in their network mteirakng business is this:Take note of what you're doing. Are you making a list every night of things you must accomplish in your business the following day? Are you prioritizing that list, and resolving to finish those tasks? Are you working as long as it takes regardless of whether you feel like it or are tired? Have you consistently followed your plan for weeks, or better yet months? Are you making progress in your business now, or are you fooling yourself into thinking that when you have all day to work on it THEN you'll get some momentum going?If you can't honestly say that all of those things (and probably a few more) are true then YOU ARE NOT READY TO GO FULL-TIME.Keep your job until you have proven to yourself that you have the self-discipline to ensure that you are doing what needs to be done on a daily basis. Believe me, that bank account of yours will dwindle with frightening speed, and mindset won't refill it. Sure, you gotta have the proper (or at least a success oriented) mindset, but it's the actions you perform consistently that will determine your level of success.Dave Kotecki recently posted..
Shelda, I am glad you are looking forward to them. I am looking forward to doing the stuff in them!
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We should all be encouraged to raise the bar! Thanks for sharing!