How do you communicate with your customers?

Do you send thank you cards to your clients?

Did you know that not saying thank you to a customer hurts your business more than saying thank you helps.

Let me say that again.

Not saying thank you hurts your business more than saying thank you helps.

What I mean by that is our customers and clients expect to receive a thank you; especially if they spend a lot of money with us.  They expect us to at least acknowledge and thank them.

If I buy a house, I expect a thank you.

If I buy a car, I expect a thank you.

If I buy a Snickers I don't necessarily expect a thank you.

Big ticket items = increased expectations

If you don't send thank you cards to your clients, do you know what they are thinking?

They are thinking you don't care about them!

Studies show the reason why we lose 68% of our clients and customers is because they don't think we care about them.

Here is a simple solution I found to let my customers know I care about them.

www.leescardsonline.com

For $5.48 a year I can send 4 custom greeting cards to my clients to keep in touch with them and let them know I appreciate them.

How much is one dedicated, loyal, and happy client worth to you? Is it worth $5.48 a year?

If so watch this 3 minute video for more information:

www.leescardsonline.com

Once you watch the video, email me back and I'll be happy to help you get started.

Just recently, I felt so overwhelmed with everything that was going on in my life.  It seemed like every which way I turned there was something or someone that needed my attention.  I got bogged down in the day to running around that comes with running a home, a business, a radio program and then throw in a social life to the mix.  All of a sudden there just didn’t seem to be enough time for me in there.    

The first thing I did was get someone to help me with some business issues that were on a timeline.  A VA (virtual assistant) can be such a treasure at high times of work load, it can take the pressure off.  The second thing I did was prioritise the most pressing tasks at hand.  The third thing I did was sit down and read an e-book.  Probably something you would think would be high on the priority list.  I had heard about a technique for time management and so I googled this technique and came across a fabulous e-book.   I am so glad I didn’t do overwhelm for that hour and instead armed myself with a very valuable tool.  This technique is called the ‘Pomodoro Technique’.

As a business coach I coach people on time management so I should know what I should do.  Coaching can be just like the cook, who doesn’t like cooking at home, or the mechanic that never gets around to fixing their own car.  Well, coaches can be just the same, they never get around to practicing the time management skills they instill in their clients.

So, back to my hour time out of reading the Pomodoro Technique, I have to say it was the best hour I spent arming myself with a really easy technique to get myself out of overwhelm and back into productive mode.  Any of us can do overwhelm so well that we waist time agonizing over what has to be done and what hasn’t been done that we actually don’t achieve anything.  Next minute a few hours or even worse a whole week has gone by and nothing has been achieved.  Once I read the e-book, I decided to give it a go and see if it worked.  By the end of the day my ‘to do list’ had shrunk and I was no longer feeling overwhelmed and drained.  I somehow felt relieved and satisfied that I had achieved so much in such a short space of time.

Do you do overwhelm well?  If so, I recommend spending an hour or two and have a read of this e-book, you might end up just like me and pleasantly surprised.  Now, I don’t do overwhelm so much anymore, I do Pomodoro instead!


 

For weeks now I had been agonizing over a small issue I wanted to do with some of my technology.  I had surfed the web trying to find the answers, spoken to different people and racked my brains.  All to no avail.

Yesterday, I had a my regular catch up with a friend and fellow business owner.  We were discussing all the bit and pieces from the past month about business and life in general.  Through the discussion I mentioned my little technology issue.  My friend had also been pondering this same issue for the last month.  A small comment from my friend spurned a longer discsussion and from this, a couple of suggestions were thrown around and then voila!  The answer came to us both.  It had been sitting there all along, we just didn't know it.  You can imagine the elation we both felt at this little issue being fixed in just a matter of 10 minutes or so.

The conversation caused a Synergistic effect which helped solve both of our problems.  Synergy is the combined action or functioning, the co-operative action of two or more.  In other words, two heads are better than one.  As we joined forces on our little issue we worked better as a team to create a solution.  Two parts being greater than the sum of one.

I wonder how many times in our lives we can create a Synergy to build a better outcome for both parties?

It gets you thinking doesn't it? 

Do you know the saying "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"?  Basically, it means it is better to have a small actual advantage than taking the chance of having a greater one.

Just down the road from me there is a little shopping centre.  For the last two years there have been two vacant shops.  The leasing terms and the rental are very high,  small business owners turn away from renting the premises.  My husband and I regularly discuss if it were us we would sooner have both shops leased for a lesser rent than leave them empty and not having any return. 

Just this week, the little bird in the hand saying came to top of mind again.  For months I had been searching for a venue to hold my seminars.  I wanted a venue that the room was intimate but not too small, good lighting as I use a data projector and there needed to be catering.  Well, I found what was the perfect venue for my seminars and hired the room for the day.  I sent an email to the venue the next day letting them know how fabulous the room was, also how great their staff were.  (I believe in sending through positive feedback as businesses rarely get compliments.)  I decided I would also book the room again to use for my next seminar.  On the return email  I was informed the cost of the room had tripled.  I was very surprised as you can imagine.  The other part to this was that two of the participants had also considered that they would like to hire this room for their workshops.
 
Now I am not miffed with the venue as they have to make a profit also and their charges are their charges, that's life.  It did make me think though, how many days will the room stand empty as the hiring costs have tripled?  A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush don't you think?

Has this saying ever rung true for you in your business?  I would enjoy hearing your experience. 

Everyday we can be so consumed by all the work, family tasks, errands and business that sometimes we lose sight of the most important person, YOU.  Where do you fit in your life?
We can get so caught up in all the daily and weekly grind that we forget to schedule in time for oursleves.  I like to call it 'me-time'.  It may seem strange to schedule in time to take care of ourselves, yet it is so important.
Me- time can be anything from a massage, a walk in the park or a trip to have your hair and nails done, even reading your favorite magazine or book.
Taking care of ourselves is an important event in our busy schedules as it gives us the opportunity to refresh ourselves, our thoughts and opens the mind.
Me time is not a selfish act, it is about acting smart.  If we don't take care of ourselves our energy can be drained and our willingness to help others can also deteriorate.  A stressed person doesn't have time for others let alone themselves.
When you are plannihng your day, week or month include yourself in the schedule.  Block out some me time and include in the blocked out area exactly what you would like to do with that time.  You can consider plannig some small breaks throughout the day that can allow you some time for rejuvenation.  Each morning you might consider blocking out time to go for a walk, do some morning exercise or read the paper.  Blocking out a fun activity that you enjoy at least three times per week can make the working week not seem so long and onerous.  For me I schedule in some exercise classes at night to help break the week.   Just try it for a month and see your stress levels reduce as you spend more time on caring for yourself and scheduling the well deserved me time.

I have always been a dreamer, dreaming of the next 'big thing', the next step.  It seems when I put my mind to something I see it manifest.  Many years ago I had a dream of climbing the corporate ladder.  Within 2 years I had climbed the corporate ladder and held down a very successful position within a multi-national company.  I had very little formal training and by rights there were peole in simiar positions that had more formal qualifications than I did at the time.
In 2008 I also had a dream to have a radio show.  i didn't quite know how to get there, what to do or the how.  I wrote that dream down and all of a sudden it became a goal.  Now I had a goal I then had to set about putting into place some steps to acheive that goal.  One of the first steps as to open myself up to opportuities and look for them.  within 3 months I was regularly a guest on a Community Radio station program.  Within, 6 months I was co-hosting and within 9 months was presenter and producer of a radio program.
How did I make it happen?  How did I turn my dream into a reality.  I wrote it down, I looked for opportunities and I opened my mind to the possibility that my dream can be a reality. My dream went through the steps of a dream to a goal to a reality.
This has happened in so many areas of my ife.  It can happen for you to, just commit your dreams to paper and set your goal.