Customer service

Protect Your Business In Tough Times

Jun 15 2022

As we open up after the pandemic lockdowns, many businesses are yet to fully recover. In fact, some may never recover from the enforced closures and the extended reduction in demand as customers preferred to stay home to be safe.

While people begin to embrace this new world, it is still tough out there.

This means we have to think of ways to protect your business in tough times.

While it may not be possible to be fully proofed against these times, what is possible is to secure your business as much as possible by following some common-sense business strategies.

These strategies can be either “defensive” or “aggressive” strategies.

As your profit performance drops it is difficult not to panic and to tighten all your spending. However, you can tighten things too much. While it is natural to seek defensive strategies such as cutting costs, it is important to keep in mind the more aggressive strategies – those that your business should take to ensure that you are the one in your industry survives while others are closing down. Read More

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Managing a Mature Business – Marketing For Continued Growth

Jan 18 2022

Welcome to our continuing series on Managing a Mature Business.

Last year we published two series of articles on Starting a Small Business, and on Growing Your Business, and we started this current series on Managing a Mature Business. We finished the year with Managing a Mature Business – How to Keep Innovating and in this article, we move on to discuss how to market for continued growth. If you want to catch up, all the articles in all three series are available at Teik Oh Dot Com.

As we have seen before, the challenges in a mature business are different from those of a business startup or a growing business. Activity has plateaued. Your product may have been superseded nor the market may have changed. Following our earlier articles on managing cash flow and continuing to innovate, you may have changed your product or business model and have to attract a new target market.

As you try to reinvent yourself so that you can start the cycle again with a new growth phase, you can no longer rely on past reputations and previous histories with your old customers. Even if you are continuing your marketing activities – these may need to change.

So, what do you have to do to continue effective marketing for continued growth?

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The Right Way To Reduce Business Costs

May 25 2021

When I was learning how to be an auditor, one of my early mentors told me: “There’s the wrong way to do the wrong thing, the right way to do the wrong thing, the wrong way to do the right thing, and finally the right way to do the right thing. As an auditor, you’re always looking for the wrong ways as well as the wrong things!”

I had to think about that.

But he was right. You shouldn’t ever do the wrong thing, whatever way you try to do it.

It’s also equally wrong to try to do the right thing in the wrong way.

All this is a long way of saying that when times are tough and we try to cut costs in our business – which is the right thing to do – some of us go about doing it in the wrong way.

Let’s look at how to reduce the costs of running your business, in the right way.

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Planning – Where Do You Want To Go?

Oct 27 2020

The first stage of any planning exercise is to define where you want to go.

Imagine starting on a journey to visit mum without knowing where she was? Imagine getting on a plane to go on holiday without knowing where the plane was going?

Without knowing where you want to go, you cannot take steps to get you there.

Obviously, it is the same in Business Planning. In order to know what to do to make your business grow and be successful, you need to decide what you want the business to be like when it is successful.

This week, I’m going to show you how to do that in your Business Planning process.

The clearest way to define what your business will be like when it is successful is to create a Vision Statement and define it for measures of success.

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Why Customer Service Systems Are Better Than Maple Syrup On Warm Pancakes

Oct 01 2019

We had a cold, wet and stormy winter this year and I spent the whole winter wanting to go somewhere dry and warm!

But if that was not to be, then I hankered for some comfort food – and what’s more comforting than a plate stacked with warm, soft pancakes drizzled, nay, swimming, in maple syrup?

Have I got your attention now? Feel the warmth and the love? Well, that’s how a really good customer service system makes me feel because a good one can wrap itself around your customers and make them feel like they are eating a big plate of lovely warm pancakes and spoonfuls of maple syrup!

It’s all about having a system. In fact, I have a free eBook on How To Create Your Self-Running Business by creating a systems-based business that you can get here.

Let’s see how a customer service system can be better than maple syrup on warm pancakes.

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Increase your sales through a highly focused marketing plan!

SMART Marketing: In this book, the owners of a small business are led through the SMART Marketing 7 Step Process to produce a marketing plan targeted at their most desirable customers. Any business can use these principles and in 4 to 6 weeks implement a plan to get them through the door! Find out how...

The SMART Marketing Workbook: Companion to “SMART Marketing”, this workbook sets out the SMART Marketing process in 7 workshops for you and your staff to complete questionnaires and templates that at the end, form the marketing plan you need to sell your REAL product to your REAL customer! View now...

Category - Customer service

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Protect Your Business In Tough Times

Managing a Mature Business – Marketing For Continued Growth

The Right Way To Reduce Business Costs

Planning – Where Do You Want To Go?

Why Customer Service Systems Are Better Than Maple Syrup On Warm Pancakes