Avoiding More Common Mistakes

Last week, we took a look at Gene Marks’s article for The Hartford, wherein he explained many of the common pitfalls that small-business owners fall into. This week, let’s take a deeper look at a few more critical mistakes you should avoid. Don’t Overwork Yourself Marks admits that “running a…
VIEW FULL POST

Avoiding Common Mistakes

Gene Marks, writing for The Hartford, has posted a great list covering many of the common traps small-business owners fall into, especially when they first get started. Many of these observations are important even for veteran business owners, so let’s look at a few today. Don’t Ignore Your Customers As…
VIEW FULL POST

The Trust Economy

Reputation is everything. It encompasses every aspect of your business, from the quality of your products to the care you show your customers. It’s word-of-mouth, and it’s the number of stars on Google Reviews, Yelp, or whatever else. Perhaps most of all, it’s a measure of your business’s trustworthiness to…
VIEW FULL POST

How to Safely Reopen

Stay-at-home orders began on March 19, 2020 in America, more than 440 days ago at the time of this post. Since then, nearly every business has had to contend with closures, reduced staff, social distancing implementations, supply-chain interruptions, and much more. Many restaurants became to-go only, and even doctors switched…
VIEW FULL POST

Why Employees Should Care About Net Profit

Anyone who has ever looked at a business’s financials will quickly understand the difference between gross and net profit. But for clarity sake, let’s define them. Gross profit equates to how much money is made on a sale after deducting its production costs, while net profit is what’s left over…
VIEW FULL POST

Using Mystery Shops to Coach

You’ve made the decision to start mystery shopping your company, and now your first reports have arrived. Perhaps they’re a mixed bag: some did great, others so-so, and a few poorly. How should you, or those employees’ manager, use this data to instruct them? Reinforce When discussing what went well…
VIEW FULL POST

The Make-or-Break Ratio

We’ve often discussed the importance of delivering exceptional customer experiences every time. The Customer Experience (or CX) encompasses thoughtful customer service, a detailed sales process, and great products and services. Your business must deliver on all three consistently, whether we’re talking about at the restaurant table or the hot-tub showroom.…
VIEW FULL POST

Never Force a Customer to Call Twice

While it’s true that people’s attention spans are growing shorter every year with our on-demand, always-connected lifestyles, what’s also diminished is our patience. There’s hardly ever any need to wait for anything now. Think about it: Want a product? Your favorite online retailer can probably deliver it in under two…
VIEW FULL POST

Is Mystery Shopping an MLM?

A question we sometimes get from potential mystery shoppers is whether the kind of work we do is actually multi-level marketing. Given that there have been scams associated with both industries, the question is fair. And the answer is straightforward: no, it’s not. But read on for a detailed explanation…
VIEW FULL POST