First and foremost, recommend owners,
commit yourself to providing quality. This establishes and maintains
credibility with your customers.
"You
must be willing to commit yourself to supplying the absolute best product of
the industry you go into. Not being an also-ran but telling yourself, 'I am
going to throw a touchdown every time I open the doors in the morning.'"
Deliver
the best possible product or service and do everything you can to ensure that
your customers are satisfied. This is the creed by which small business owners
everywhere live. Upholding it is a constant challenge.
Another
business owner put it in direct terms: "Your customers are going to
dictate whether or not you are going to succeed. If you don't please them and
if you don't listen to them, you won't succeed."
"My
theory in business," explained one owner, "is if I do a good job for
you, I hope you tell one or two of your friends. If I do a lousy job for you,
you're going to tell everyone you see. Never forget that you have
competition."
It's
important to build and develop credibility because it builds your business.
Yet, as one owner stated, "Growth and reputation are the hardest things to
come by."
The
owner of an interstate trucking company explained that "the one common
thread through every type of business is people. It's still a people's
business. You'd better have credibility. You'd better have the talent to do
what you're supposed to do, first of all, but that's only just a part of it.
Get credibility and maintain that credibility. Know that the people you're
servicing are going to say good things about you to other people - because
that's how you're going to build your business."
This
commitment to quality is indeed vital. Just look at how seriously small
business owners take it: "Make sure your quality of work is still top-notch
and has been from start-up. Make sure you haven't slid or suffered, that your
name and your recognized quality are still there," advised one.
Customers
are the foundation of your business. Thus, it is absolutely essential to do
everything possible to please them. Often, initiating dialogues with customers
can be of enormous value in helping to provide better service. "We wanted
to evaluate the reputation of the company we purchased," explained a
printer, "so we went directly to clients to find out exactly what they
thought about it."
"The
response was tremendous," he continued. "They'd never had someone who
really cared enough about their business to ask them how they wanted the
products produced for them. That feedback on a direct basis with my other partners
was invaluable. It turned things around for us."
Small
business owners find that quality is still the best way to please customers.
"Make that product better than anybody else can," advised an owner.
"Do the best job that you possibly can."
As
a business grows, it's important to maintain quality - but when sales begin to
increase, it can be a major challenge to keep the original commitment to the
quality and benefits of your product. Thus, most businesses set a goal for
controlled growth.
"Whatever
credibility you may have built up on your reputation or your performance
suffers if you've got more work than you can handle," offered an owner.
"You can't properly perform it. You can't properly manage it. Your work
starts getting shoddy. That will destroy quite a bit of effort you've put into
getting there."
Sometimes satisfying customer requires taking extraordinary measures, but
owners believe it's the best way to maintain their reputation and protect their
business.
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