Playing with the big boys means that business owners have access to a larger customer base and the potential for faster growth and larger profits.

However, being a smaller player in the big leagues means that small to mid-sized businesses have to do more with fewer resources in order to keep up with larger companies and establish their place in customer’s minds.

Good marketing advice is a critical part of improving your business strategy. While business owners are sometimes unwilling to spend money unless they’re purchasing something tangible in relation to their business, paying for expert marketing advice is as important an investment as hiring quality employees. In the long run, good marketing can only help increase your sales and build your brand.

A well-run, efficient company will, of course, be more successful than one in which the skilled workers are bogged down with chores like data-entry and record keeping.

A highly-skilled worker’s time is expensive. The hours they, and you, spend on tasks like handling payroll and keeping up on ever-changing tax law could be better spent on delivering high-quality products and services to your customers. Hiring an umbrella company to handle some of your record keeping and administration duties frees your staff to concentrate on more important tasks – such as growing your business.

Employee training not only builds value for your company, it also saves you time and money. Peter Schultz once said: “Hire character. Train skill.”

As a small-business owner, you’ve already gone through the process of screening and hiring quality people. As your business grows, it makes more sense to offer your staff training, to keep their skills fresh and current and to stay competitive as an employer. Your staff is your biggest investment, and training helps ensure you’re getting the most for your money.

Social media should be part of a solid marketing and advertising campaign. Business is about relationships, and those relationships, in a global economy, are largely built through electronic communications. Building a network helps you create focused marketing that reaches a target audience.

Depending on the type of product or service your company offers, and whether you have the time, interest and skill available, a blog can be a powerful tool for building an online identity that your customers can relate to. Don’t have time or inclination to write and keep up on a blog? Consider hiring a freelance writer. A small investment can bring big returns.

An online presence needs a foundation. A Facebook page is a great way to reach out to your customers, but to be taken seriously in today’s market it’s important to have a website.

The design doesn’t have to be complicated, but it should include contact information, including a phone number customers can call for service and a physical address, if applicable. If your site includes sales, the electronic shopping cart should be readily accessible. Everything about your online presence should be directed toward making the customer experience a positive one.

And since managing people involves leadership, what kind of a leader are you?

The Oft-repeated problems in management and leadership

These are the oft-repeated questions asked by business owners, managers and supervisors in many seminars and one-on-one consultation, as far as I can remember. These are age-old problems in management and leadership.

How do you get your workers’ loyalty?

Again, how do you get the loyalty of your workers? Once you have gained your workers’ loyalty, how do you hold their loyalty for long?

Winning the loyalty of your people in the workplace may not be difficult. But more difficult is making their loyalty last, and make them stay in the organization.

This is so because of competition, where some firms just “pirate” your good people to join them by offering them bigger pay, incentives, and more fringe benefits.

Leadership and Motivation are the key

Through the years I have observed that the best way to gain and hold the loyalty of your personnel is to show interest in them and care for them, by your words and actions, in everything you do.

This involves leadership. And what kind of a leader are you? Leadership is action, not position. This means you must develop leadership ability.

Leadership ability is what you’re capable of doing, that you must know how to motivate your people. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.

A good manager or leader knows how to act, to do. If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.

Leadership is action

In the final analysis, it is wonderful when the people believe in their leader.  But it is more wonderful when the leader believes in the people, in their capacity to work productively, to be efficient and effective.

This way, the human resources in the organization are maximized to bring results, more output, higher profits.

It boils down to managing people, in leading them, getting their loyalty and retaining their loyalty, for effective business performance.

I recently attended the Winning Disciplines for Success event at the SMX Convention Center at Pasay City, Metro Manila.

In attendance are more than 2,000 go-getting, change-making, success-driven individuals from all walks of like.

I saw celebrities, business executives andstudents come together with one goal in mind: to learn how to be successful.

The half day event left a lasting impression and further strengthened my ideas about how to achieve success in all aspects of my life. In those 5 hours of talks from Francis Kong and his powerhouse guests, I learned more than my brain could probably absorb.

I thought I’d pass along the most valuable life lessons I learned. Because it doesn’t matter if you’re an executive or a student, we can all benefit from a few winning disciplines that would catapult us to success.

1. The key to success is delayed gratification or personal discipline.

 Francis Kong kicked off the event with a fresh insight on discipline. He says that the word discipline has a negative connotation because it reminds us of what our parents and teachers have inculcated in our minds. When in fact, discipline is not just about rules and regimen. Personal discipline was illustrated in a video he showed about the Marshmallow Test. Children were offered a marshmallow but told that if they could resist eating it for a given time, they would be given 2. Kids who passed this experiment later became successful in life.

 2. We all have a special software wired into our head called imagination.

 When an award winning director tells you, you have creative power, you better believe it. Jeric Soriano talked about potential and how we can harness our power to create. He talked about 3 simple steps: First, change the way you think by changing the pictures you see in your heart. I never realized that we can consciously choose our thoughts in the same way we choose our clothes each day. Second, change the way you speak. Jeric reminds us that words carry a powerful creative force. He says that the words we put into our minds turn into images. The impact therefore becomes even greater as a mere word we place on our mind grows organically first into several images then into scenes and eventually into a storyline. Third, change the way you react to things. He says: “Don’t tell God how big your problem is, tell your problem how BIG your GOD is.”

 3. Don’t just dream- make your dream come true!

After Jeric, his very talented film director son Paul Soriano spoke next. Paul share how he came back to the Philippines after growing up in America. He wanted to be a film director and at age 25, he approached Gary Valenciano by saying, “Hey let’s make your music video!” Talk about young confidence! He told us that the burden of the film maker is how to present a story. “There’s a lot of great stories out there,” he says. “But if you don’t know how to tell it, it’s still bad.” He reminded us that we have to take that extra step- dream and execute it!

4. You can look like your 25 year old self.

Dyan Castillejo was so inspiring as she hops onstage saying “I feel like I’m just 25!” And she really looks it! Dressed in spandex and high heels, she looks like the embodiment of youth. She shared a fewtips on how she keeps healthy and feels great in her 40s. 1 Decide to make exercise a happy necessity in life. She came with her weights and exercise ball. She showed a few exercises that can be done on a daily basis. 2 Set new goals like joining triathlons, learning a new sport, go outdoors and make it fun! Dyan has been training ever since she was a kid. So she learned to make things interesting by trying new things and switching her exercise routine regularly. 3 Good nutrition is very important. She talked about how we should have a “colorful” plate and that meant a balanced diet.

5. Earn you authority- don’t just inherit it.

Butch Jimenez tells the story of how, as a son of a business tycoon, he had difficulty proving his worth to his employees. Eventually, he had to find his own way in business and formed business ventures such as Trumpets and GMA films. He had to earn authority and not just inherit it from his father in order to achieve business success.

6. You will always attract what you are.

Francis Kong ended the event by talking about Emotional Discipline. He stressed that “We are not necessarily attracted to another person because of their strength, but we are usually attracted to another person because of our own weaknesses.” It was a welcome reminder that we have to choose well when it comes to our life partner. We have to constantly improve and develop ourselves in order to attract the best partner we could ever have. Someone who shares the same desire to be successful in their niche.

I walked away from that event with so many things to think about and reflect in my life.

Life after all is composed of habits and disciplines that in themselves seem trivial, but when perceived as a whole, determine if we make it as winner.

About the writer. Lois Yasay is a trainer by profession and a traveler by passion. She is slowly realizing her dream of making a living by doing what she loves. She blogs at  Passion in Action and is currently working as a Project Manager for Inspire Leadership Consultancy.

Sharina told me, by e-mail, that she is a Singaporean who lives in Hong Kong, and owns a store selling cell phones and cell phone accessories in Hongkong.

Indeed, as a management consultant, I am well aware that many businesses could not earn enough, while a great number go bankrupt. There are many studies that every year about 80% of new businesses die. Even existing enterprises collapse.

What are the reasons why businesses collapse and fail?

Well, the main reason is still the same year in and year out: lack of marketing strategies.

Sure, the market is there. People are buying products and services everyday to meet their needs and wants.

However, it is the lack of strategies or the inability of the owners of these failed businesses to sell to their target market, to their niche, that is the main cause of business failure.

I’m always saying that marketing is the most important function of business, because without a market there is no business. Thus, to make your business survive, you need marketing strategies.

To make your business grow, you need marketing strategies. To make your business profitable, you need marketing strategies.

The following are the five tested marketing strategies to help you grow your business and make it profitable.

1. What is your business? What is your business mission?  Why does your company exist? What is its reason for existence? These are the basic questions. Like in any human situation, you cannot handle any business unless you know what it is for.

Therefore, you must know why you have put up your business in the first place. This is the first step in designing marketing strategies.

2. Who are your customers? Your business is to serve your customers to generate revenue and profit.  It is important to have a niche in the market, that segment, class or groups of customers  who need your products and services, and serve them well.

In the face of competition, having a market niche is a key to business success.

3. What are your Strengths and Weaknesses? It is necessary to know your strengths, for example, quality products and services, friendly customer service, good customer relations, competitive pricing, good location. It is also important to know your weaknesses, for example, lack of funds, limited marketing knowhow, poor promotion, etc.

Knowing your strengths and weaknesses can help you a lot in devising marketing strategies that work.

4. What are your Opportunities and Threats? Opportunities are those favorable factors outside of your business that can help you achieve your objectives, like increasing demand for your products and services due to increasing population, availability of funds for expansion.

Threats are those unfavorable factors outside your business that can hinder you from achieving your objectives, like intense competition, sluggish demand, economic downtown.

Knowing your opportunities and threats can help you devise marketing strategies that will maximize your opportunities and minimize your threats.

5. What will you do now? Having designed your marketing strategies, the best thing is to implement them. Take action. Your strategies are useless if you cannot implement them.

With the foregoing five basic marketing strategies as a guide, the rest is up to you on how to grow your business and make it profitable.

source of image: businessmp.com

Every business exists for their customers.

Because it is the customers who create the demand for a business’ service or product, they are considered to be the most valuable asset of a company. However, all companies will always be subject to the Complaining Customer, who is mostly the cause of a faulty service or low quality product.

Most of the time, if these encounters are not handled appropriately, loss of customers could result. This is bad. Fewer customers would logically lead to less income. You could say that this is not a desirable situation for every existing company.

Handling customer complaints is an essential aspect of running a business. Business owners should realize that positive outcome of complaints. They should realize that these complaints should give the business a renewed idea on how to serve their customers better.

Customer complaints are valuable because through it you can gather the feedback of your customers. This article will feature 5 steps in handling complaining customers. Learning these steps will increase the chances of retaining or even having a better relationship with complaining customers.

5 steps to handle customer complaints:

1. Hear to what they have to say

Complaining customers want to be heard. They want to express their frustration, so allow them. Listen first to what they have to say and let them say it. Always give room for them to burst, just listen. Their sentiments are valuable; this is where you’ll get the feedback about your services or products.

2. Apologize and Empathize

Frustrated customers want to hear your apology. Especially, if it’s the fault of your personnel or a flaw to company’s procedures, they deserve your sorry. So, say it, apologize and try to put your feet in their shoes. Empathize, tell them that you understand what they feel and you’re deeply sorry about it.

3. Offer a solution

Customers who experienced bad service or received a lemon product deserve to be well compensated. Offer a solution for the problem. It should be attainable and feasible. Promise only what you can deliver. You can also give him/her possible options of your proposed solution. Lastly, be fair always.

4. Implement the solution

Make sure the promised solution to the customer is met. You don’t want to frustrate a customer the 2nd time, so be sure to deliver what you say you will deliver. You can also monitor the status of the solution and update your customer about it from time to time. This will make your customer feel that they are valued and they will appreciate it. Always deliver the solution with a smile, be merry.

Complaining customers, even if most of the time they are irate, are assets to businesses. Handling them appropriately with a smile and a toned down voice will prevent you from losing them and even turn them from frustrated to loyal customers.

Through them, you get feedback as to what they are experiencing with regards to your products or services. Knowing these will help you improve the quality of the products you deliver or the services that you offer. Always remember that your business’ existence is reliant to your customers, without them there is no business.

Author bio:

Jessica Francisco is a cheerful 25-year-old with an odd sense of fun. The least of her broad range of hobbies include swimming, hiking and listening to the music of Michael Jackson. Jessica is also one of the editors of Luke C. Roxas.

He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc., the largest technology company in the world by revenue and profit, with more than 49,000 employees and US $ 65 billion annual sales, as of 2010.

At the time of his death on October 5, 2011, Steve Jobs was widely described as a visionary, an industry pioneer, and an icon of the global consumer electronics.

Steve Jobs was also famous for his quotes on business, technology and life. I have compiled some of his most well-known business advice and words of wisdom, as follows:

Business Model

 “My model for business is The Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other’s kind of negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. That’s how I see business: great things in business are never done by one person, they’re done by a team of people.”

Focus and Simplicity

“That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

Stealing Great Ideas

“Picasso had a saying: ‘Good artists copy, great artists steal.’ We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas. I think part of what made the Macintosh great was that the people working on it were musicians, poets, artists, zoologists and historians who also happened to be the best computer scientists in the world.”

Doing Something Wonderful

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”

On Loving Your Work

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

 Don’t Sit Still

“I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next.”

On the Value of Time

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone’s else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma -which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”

On Death and Choices in Life

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”

-o0o-

*source of image: businessinsider.com

These were the questions of Marcy to me yesterday. Marcy is a start-up owner of a fast-food restaurant in a good location. She was telling me her restaurant attracts new customers everyday,  yet many customers were not coming back in a month.

Marcy’s dilemma is common. I also heard bank managers talking about signing up many new accounts in a month, yet, also losing just as many old depositors during the same month.

Why is this so? I think this is a problem of customer retention. It seems that many businesses and companies have no policy on customer retention, on how to make customers satisfied and happy and thus, making them patronize the business, again and again.

But if you look at it, customers are the heart of any business – whether a restaurant, a bank, a hardware, a hospital, etc. Without customers, there is no business.

In the face of competition, where many companies sell the same products and offer similar services, one best way to differentiate your business from that of the competitors is through customer service.

Thus, making new customers is just as important as keeping the existing ones. Existing customers, those who patronize the business, not only buy more goods and services, but also refer new business.

Customers also affect not only sales revenue and profit, but also employee morale and their performance. If the customers are satisfied and happy, the business will be stable, and the employees are more likely to stay.

This results to reducing employees’ turnover, cost of hiring new employees, training expenses and customer service mistakes by new but inexperienced employees.

It all boils down to having customer retention policy, which is also part and parcel of customer service.

 * source of image: loyaltyandcustomers.com

In fact, the principles of management – planning, organizing, leading and controlling – are applicable anywhere, anytime, and in any situation.

However, if you observe the way politicians manage the country or even the city, or the way business managers manage the companies producing shoddy products and lousy services, or how many school administrators run their schools turning out incompetent students later on, etc. you will notice that most managers became managers only by accident.

These people mentioned above, for example, are there not because of skill, talent or ability, but maybe because of something else.

For instance, politicians became the president, governor, or mayor, etc. because of vote buying during elections. Or managers and administrators appointed to be such in the corporations or in the schools by their bosses because of “whom they know” in the organization, and not of “what they know” for the job.

The results: incompetent management, causing the decay and downfall of the organizations that they manage.

Yesterday, I compiled ten (10) wise management sayings from famous authors, business executives and leaders, to highlight the importance of management and for us to learn and apply the lessons in our daily life, in business or otherwise.  These sayings are what I call management advice for everybody, as follows:

“Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results, not attributes.” – Peter F. Drucker, management guru.

“Earnings can be pliable as putty when a charlatan heads the company reporting them.” – Warren Buffet, investment guru.

“His promises were, as he then was, mighty; But his performance, as he is now, nothing.” – William Shakespeare, world-famous poet and dramatist.

“It is no use saying “we are doing our best.” You have to succeed in doing what is necessary.” – Winston Churchill, British prime minister.

“The value of achievement lies in the achieving.” – Albert Einstein, world-renowned physicist.

“It is an immutable law in business that words are words, explanations are explanations, promises are promises – but only performance is reality.” – Harold S. Geneen, business executive.

“Even a correct decision is wrong when it was taken too late.” – Lee Iacocca, business executive.

“Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.” – William Butler Yeats, poet.

“A business that makes nothing but money is a poor kind of business. “ – Henry Ford, industrialist

“It is the quality of our work which will please God and not the quantity.” – Mahatma Gandhi, Indian non-violence leader and thinker.

 Indeed, management is not knowledge but action; it’s only authority is performance, not words and promises.

 *source of image: businessinsider.com

I believe that more than anything else, management is the art and science of managing people to achieve the company’s goals and objectives. It means treating people kindly and with respect, and developing their potentials. After all, it is people who make the organization works. Without people, there is no organization.

However, it is common knowledge that many managers, from the top of the organizational ladder down below, are incompetents; some are lacking in managerial talents and skills, and even experience.

That is why, many organizations – both profit and non-profit – collapsed and are collapsing, because the people running the organizations failed in managing.

This means the people in the organizations, especially those tasked to manage, have lost their missions and visions. Like in any other human endeavor, one cannot manage and do unless he or she knows what it is for.

These concepts of management found their application not only in business, but also in other fields of human activity. After all, the principles of management which are planning, organizing, leading and controlling, are applicable anywhere and in any organizations, business or non-business.

Talking about management, a story is told about a Buddhist monastery, once well-known and vibrant, but became a decaying organization for lack of management.

As a result, the abbot of the monastery that had fallen into decline was deeply troubled. Monks were lax in their practice, novices were leaving and lay supporters deserting to other centers.

To find solutions, the abbot traveled far to a sage and recounted his tale of woe, of how much he desired to transform his monastery to the flourishing haven it had been in days of yore.

The sage looked him in the eye and said, “The reason your monastery has languished is that the Buddha is living among you in disguise, and you have not honored Him.” The abbot hurried back to the monastery, his mind in turmoil

Buddha, the Selfless One was at his monastery! Who could He be? Brother Hua?…No, he was full of sloth. Brother Po?…No, he was too dull. But then the Tathagata was in disguise. What better disguise than sloth or dull- wittedness? He called his monks to him and revealed the sage’s words. They, too, were taken aback and looked at each other with suspicion and awe.

Which one of them was the Chosen One?

The disguise was perfect. Not knowing who He was they took to treating everyone with kindness and respect due to a Buddha.

As a result, the monastery had regain its mission and vision. The monks’  faces started shining with an inner radiance that attracted novices and then lay supporters. They started to manage again, resuscitating their organization.

In no time at all the monastery far surpassed its previous glory.

*source of image: en.wikipedia.org

That is part of an e-mail that I received yesterday from a reader in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a lady who introduced herself as Aisah Ang. Miss Ang told me she is an office employee of a trading company in Kuala Lumpur, and she wants to start her own business.

Being a business owner myself, I know for a fact that having your own business is fun and challenging. In addition, if the business is profitable, it can make you financially independent.

Moreover, having a business of your own can make you your own boss; you become the employer instead of an employee. That is why, to many people, their own business enable them to realize their dreams of having a lot of money and travel around the world.

The question of Miss Aisah Ang seems simple enough but many would-be entrepreneurs are looking for answers.

So, to start and grow your business, what resources and steps do you need to take? What are the guidelines? Actually, there are no hard and fast rules. “Different strokes for different folks”, as the saying goes. But in general, here are some of the important tips to start and grow your own business.

1. Business Plan. Before starting your business, you must have a guidepost, a blueprint for success. This is the business plan. It must be a clearly laid out plan touching in all facets of your business to provide you with the direction and guide for implementation.

Without a business plan, then you can’t get anywhere. A business plan will map out what you need to succeed and how you will achieve your goals and objectives, including your profit objective.

2. Market Niche. A good business plan must include a market study, but a market niche is important, the reason why I’m emphasizing this. Your business must have a specific target customers, with their own needs, wants, tastes and preferences.  You must know what your customers need, so that the products and services that you will offer must answer their needs. It is only when you provide customer satisfaction can your business grow and succeed.

3. Capital. How much capital do you need?  You must have money to cover capital outlay and revolving or operating funds for your day-to-day operations.

Any business requires some form of investment, and you will need to know how much you have and need, to sustain your operations before it can generate income and profit.

Some entrepreneurs believe that it would be good to start your business while you are still employed, so that you have a “fall back” position, e.g. some income to live on while you are still building your business, or a job in case your venture ends in failure.

4. Customer Relations. As mentioned earlier, providing customer satisfaction is a basic requirement, without which your business will not prosper.  The way you run your business and relate to your customers will spell the difference between success and failure. Be prepared to “go the extra mile” with your customers. Care about them and provide them with quality products and services that they need.

5. Skills, Experience, Attitudes. You must treat your business as a full time job and manage it professionally.

Having the five basic requirements as discussed above will help make your business grow. Starting a business is easy, it’s how to make it grow and profitable that is hard. But starting your business right will enable it to grow and become profitable. The rest is up to you—if you have what it takes.

*source of image: greatpinaec.com