Ralph Waldo Emerson suggested, "If you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door." At E-Myth Worldwide, we tell clients, less poetically, that "if there's a way to do something, there's a better way to do something." In other words, differentiate or become irrelevant. But differentiation simply for its own sake can be a wasted exercise. Is the new mousetrap really better? That's open to interpretation, and the market -- your customer -- will decide. To remain competitive, you have to create products or provide services that approach, as closely as possible, what the customer considers "ideal." Your opportunity to differentiate yourself from your competition exists in that gap between what your customers ...

Your best customers are those who love doing business with you, and can't say enough good things about you. E-Myth defines these customers as your "advocates." Looking at your overall sales strategy, are you remembering to leverage these precious resources? If not, why? Asking your advocates for referrals Is your referral program reactive, or proactive? In other words, is your system set up to passively wait until someone decides to give you a name, or do you actively ask for the referrals? Some business owners fear that asking for referrals will make them sound desperate or needy, or that they will be bothering their advocates if they ask. This concern, however, couldn't be more off the mark; your advocates want to give ...

Every business, no matter how successful, needs a way to gather information and feedback from key constituents in order to make necessary adjustments and smarter decisions. When business concerns do arise, it's best not to make quick assumptions and then implement the first solution that comes to mind -- nor to address the symptoms of a problem but not the cause. Smart business leaders use every available tool at their disposal to monitor the health of the business, and take corrective action when required. At E-Myth, we believe that the most effective and efficient way to understand what is working, and what's not, is to solicit feedback from our customers, employees, and other key stakeholders and then actively respond to the fi ...

Innovating the Customer Service Process: How can you put more "service" in customer service? In the U.S., "customer service" is one of those phrases that have become almost meaningless from overuse. Almost every retail store these days has a "Customer Service Center," employees who wear nametags that read, "Customer Service Associate," and upbeat company slogans that say something like, "Customer Service is our Most Important Product!" Well, if that's the case, why does the person at the "Customer Service Center" make me wait for a manager's blessing for the simplest transaction? And why can't the Customer Service Associate answer the most basic questions about the product I'm interested in buying, or even simply smile once ...

I'm a recent subscriber to Netflix-that wildly successful nationwide, online DVD-by-mail rental service. This amazingly simple business model has already captured my attention-and my credit card. I've been happily receiving and returning postage-free movies from them for the last two months. Last week, a much-anticipated movie arrived in the familiar red envelope. When I tore it open, I found the disk was damaged. Not just scratched, but broken in half. Deflated (I'm impatient to a fault), I booted the computer and waited for the Netflix site to load, trying out various excuses I might offer to avoid having to pay for the damage. I immediately went to the "help" menu, where the short index included exactly the heading I wante ...

The manner in which you serve your customers is the foremost way to either support, or negate, your business growth. Effective businesses do more than survive -- they thrive -- by knowing what to say and do for their clients. But, for many business owners, it takes time to learn these things. The first step is to start listening, to try things out, ask the clients what they want, and slowly build a database of responses and actions that show you, through trial and error, how to serve your clients in a way that makes them come back time and time again. As your business grows, it is likely that you have given more thought to how you would like your customer service experience to be. But have you informed your employees about these th ...

Grow your Business by Differentiating Your Product or Service In an increasingly competitive world, how can your product or service stand out from the rest? The key is to redefine your offering so that it not only gains visibility, but gets noticed by those who matter the most - your target market. I observed my good friend, Ben, the owner of "A Baker's Dozen" donut shop, as he dealt with this issue. Ben sold several different types of donuts in a clean, well-located downtown shop that was known for its great customer service. Still, his business was struggling. As I listened to him describe his confusion as to why his sales were weak despite offering terrific products, it struck me that perhaps he needed to take a step back and c ...

What makes small businesses stand out from the shadow of large corporations? Their ability to take an active role in their community. While large corporations are usually more geographically dispersed, many do create intimate relationships with the communities in which they operate. A small business, however, is uniquely a product of its local environment, and therefore has a distinct advantage when it comes to creating real impact on local communities and the customers who live there. The Local Advantage A recently released book, "Small Giants: Companies that Choose to Be Great Instead of Big" by Inc Magazine editor-at-large Bo Burlingham, details how Zingerman’s, a deli and gourmet grocery that started with one store over twenty ...

"The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer." -- Peter F. Drucker, management author, teacher and consultant The lead generation and lead conversion processes focus only on creating new customers, but the client fulfillment process is concerned with keeping them. Optimal client fulfillment has two basics tenents: you must deliver on your promises, and you must provide something of real value to customers. Fundamentals aside, client fulfillment is about working to keep customers - and keep them coming back - because retaining customers is much less expensive, and much more profitable, than trying to find new ones. At its heart, the client fulfillment process of every business has the main components of: product strategy ...

Harvard Business School professor and acclaimed author, Clayton M. Christenson, recently detailed in a co-authored article that nearly 90% of new products sent to market fail. This is an astoundingly high number considering the amount of time, money, and energy that goes into researching, designing, and marketing most of these products, and it highlights the fact that no amount of creative advertising or demographic information can ensure the success of a product. From the E-Myth Point of View, this staggering statistic demonstrates a clear failure in understanding the relationship between client fulfillment and marketing strategies. Let’s explore some of the key linkages between these two important disciplines and outline a differe ...

The recent holiday shopping season was a time of hustle, bustle and, for some, a lot of stress. Correspondingly, many business owners experienced not only the happy ring of a busy cash register, but also the occasional unhappy sting of a customer's complaint. But the fact is, complaints can happen any time of year as customers' busy schedules and short tempers collide, leading to criticism about some aspect of your goods or services. Fortunately, you can choose to see a complaint as an important customer leverage point, and work to turn a negative into a positive. What you do about a complaint will determine whether the customer leaves your business in a bad mood, never to return, or whether you can satisf ...

The Essence of Client Fulfillment: Keeping Your Promises Client fulfillment is nothing more than doing what you said you would for your customers. It's keeping your promises. Consistently. Predictably. Time after time. You should do more than you promised whenever you're able, but you can't do less and stay in business. Not in the long run. The simple act of being in business is a promise. It says you are here to provide something of value, and to receive fair compensation in exchange. Oh, you can make occasional mistakes. That's human and forgivable. Your loyal customers will usually overlook an occasional lapse. But you can't frequently make mistakes and you can't consistently sell poor products or give poor service without b ...