by Jimmy Harris
LOSE 30 LBS IN 2 WEEKS WITHOUT EXERCISING OR CHANGING YOUR DIET!
Skeptical? As a battle-weary warrior in the fight against fat, I can tell you that your skepticism is definitely justified. Short of major surgery, (which I haven't tried… yet) I've only found only three ways to actually lose fat. 1) Eat Less 2) Exercise more, or 3) Both. Unfortunately for me, only option 3 works fast enough to make a difference!
So, why do we continually hear of new EASY ways to lose weight? Because the people who are selling these systems know that they can fool "some of the people some of the time"… and that's all they need to turn a profit.
Recently, this hit home when one of my favorite customers called to cancel his service with us. "So where'd we go wrong?" I asked. "Nowhere" he said "Everything's been great. I have no complaints… I just found someone else who is offering the exact same service for a lot less money".
Like you, I know my business. I know what it costs to produce what we create, and I know what it costs to provide the level of service we provide. Unless this company was hiring their voice-over talent & scriptwriters from off-shore sweatshops, and getting all their background music from a music-pirating operation . . . I wasn't buying their claim.
But to be fair, I spent 3 days researching the company and the offer they were making to our clients. What I found didn't surprise me. Remember the Hertz Rent-A-Car's "Not Exactly" campaign? The short version of what I found is that this company is "Not Exactly". Enough said.
Unfortunately, several of our clients fell victim to this company's less than forthrightsales practices, and we lost more clients in one week than we lost all last year. The good news is, all but one of them reinstated their service with us as soon as they discovered the truth about their offer. (I haven't given up on that one remaining client either . . . stay posted)!
Has this ever happened to you? If so, then you have a GREAT opportunity to grow! I know it sounds counterintuitive, but each time we have been attacked by a competitor, very shortly thereafter, we grow more than we lost. Why? Because it makes us take a closer look at what we're doing, and then work very hard to STAY SHARP!
Here are 5-steps I've used to successfully grow my business each time I'm attacked by a competitor. To make it easier to remember, I'm using the first letters in the word SHARP.
Sell More: Whenever we lose a customer - which isn't very often - I'm reminded of something I heard 20 years ago about the Israeli army. Whenever Israel loses a single soldier, they take seven of their enemies. Now, I don't specifically target my competition's customers, but I do go to work to replace the one I lost with at least 7 more - preferably 10 or 20! I also do all I can to get the old customer back. It doesn't always work, but to date I'm batting better than .500!
Hone In: This is a great time to hone in on what you do best - whatever that is - and make it better. It's also a good time to hone in on what your weaknesses are and see if you can improve. Is there something you're not selling that you should be? Do you need to make your counter time faster? Offer free deliveries?
Appreciate: Take time to demonstrate your appreciation to your customers. A simple note or phone call can go a long way toward strengthening business relationships. And of course, the stronger those relationships are, the harder it will be for competition - ethical or otherwise - to get in.
Research and Revise: A few years ago we lost a bid on a 12-location deal. I researched and found that what the competition offered that we didn't was a web-interface. Three months and a few thousand dollars later, we had our own web-interface that was even better. Nine months after that, we earned that customer's business, and they are still our customer today.
Persevere: I saw a sign the other day that said "everything will be OK in the end. If it's not OK, it's not the end". While it was meant to be entertaining, I think there's a lot of truth in that statement. When you've done all you can, and there is nothing else to change… then just keep doing business the right way, and hold on. If you have a good product with superior service, you won't just replace the old business - you'll lead in your industry!
Well, that's it. And did you notice that I didn't mention price? That's because in my experience, it's rarely about price . . . but that's a subject for another article!
Till next month - Stay Sharp!
