When you watch Sherrie and Sonny on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, you have to wonder how much of the excitement for their business is real versus an act for the camera. . You might be wondering, how two people can be that excited about hot dogs after 10 years. After spending an hour there, I saw that it’s not just about the hot dogs. It’s about serving people and having fun in a relaxed environment.

What Bothers Me About Most People Trying to Make Money Online

When you listen to the advice that the “Make Money Online” gurus regurgitate, you hear terms such as: SEO, Keyword Research, Niche Marketing, PLR, Sales Letters and other techniques they have sold people on about making money online. These “gurus” are trying to sell you a dream of no work income and many people fall for it hook, line, and sinker.

A man of no understanding has vain and false hopes, and dreams give wings to fools. – Sirach 34:1

The Truth of Any Business Online or Offline

To succeed in any business, you have to have a passion for what you are doing. No matter what blueprint you have been sold, no matter what road map you are following; in order to be successful, you have to put in a lot of hard work to be successful.

Here is the kicker, if you have passion for the work you are doing and the people you serve, then it won’t seem like work. Yes, there will be some things that seem like work, but if you have a goal of serving others and having fun, then the work will be a necessary evil.

No matter what business you are in, if you are not passionate for that business, then you are going to fail. It is from the passion that you grow and in growing, you will be a success.

You Will Fail if You Are Not Passionate About Your Business is a post from: As A Dude Thinketh
As A Dude Thinketh is written and edited by Chris Elliott. Chris helps small businesses figure out what their big idea is, how to get it to market, and how to get people to notice their wonderfulness. He is also a dynamic speaker and trainer in personal growth and public speaking. Do you need help with your next big idea or speech? I encourage you to talk with me to see how Chris can be of service.

If you liked this post, then you should also check out:

1. 5 Reasons Smart People Fail at Creating On-line Businesses
2. Are You Trying to Trade A Monotonous Job for a Monotonous Business?
3. That is Not How This Business Works

“Hello. This is Cindi from XYZ Corporation. I am calling to let you know that a major mistake on our part needs to be corrected by you, our customer. I know that you pay us quite a large sum of money to provide a service, but we just wanted to let you know how much we don’t care about you and want to make your life as difficult as possible.”

I am exaggerating the conversation a little, but on my end of the phone that is what the conversation felt like. Where in the customer service manual does it tell you to call your customer and tell them that they need to drop everything they are doing to fix a problem that you created?

Naomi Dunford of Ittybiz posted a blog post talking about a similar situation she encountered on the plane ride to Las Vegas. In both Naomi’s and my situations we encountered the same mistake that large companies make when trying to streamline a customer facing process; big companies love to make it more difficult for a customer to give them money. In Namoi’s case, the airline could have been out $10. In my case, the company I am dealing with is leaving about $80,000 of receivables in limbo. Multiply Naomi’s example by ten thousand customers or my by two or three, and we are talking real money.

In case you are wondering, yes, this does affect you. Big company or solo entrepreneur, anytime you are offering a product or service online, you have to consider the method that you will bill your customer. Do you only accept PayPal? What about checks? What if the person only has cash? The method of payment you choose might scare away some potential customers unless you can offer them all.

So maybe you are one of those companies that let people pay anyway they like. How do you get your customers to the point they have to pay? Do you hide your prices from your customer behind an icky sales letter? How about requiring your customer to beg for a quote? What other hoops do you have in place to make your customers jump though in order to give you money?

Here are some examples of ways you make it difficult for your customers to do business with you:

1. A Loyalty card that is required for special pricing (Grocery Stores)
2. Having a contact form to request a price quote (Web Designers)
3. Asking your customers for too much information before providing an estimate (Technology Service Companies)
4. Sending your customers information about pricing changes in legalize (Phone and Cable companies)
5. Developing pricing plans that mathematicians can’t figure out (Cell Phone companies)
6. Hiding product information behind sales letters (Marketers)
7. Waiting to inform customers of customization and delivery expenses (Car and Furniture companies)
8. Provide information to browse offerings (Real Estate companies)

I understand that you want to make your internal billing process easier, get leads, and lead people to make rash purchasing decisions. That is OK, but you do not have to do those things at the sake of the sanity of your customers.

Put yourself in the shoes of your customers. Are you someone that is easy to do business with? If not, how can you make it easier for someone to engage you? I know that this is an area I need to work on. What about you?

How to Lose Customers is a post from: As A Dude Thinketh
As A Dude Thinketh is written and edited by Chris Elliott. Chris helps small businesses figure out what their big idea is, how to get it to market, and how to get people to notice their wonderfulness. He is also a dynamic speaker and trainer in personal growth and public speaking. Do you need help with your next big idea or speech? I encourage you to talk with me to see how Chris can be of service.

If you liked this post, then you should also check out:

1. How to make your speaking, e-mail marketing, and blogging more effective.
2. How Not to Do Free Content
3. Why IKEA Will Someday Rule the World

A few weeks ago, I went with my girlfriend while she picked out a new couch at a high end furniture store. It was a miserable experience that only keeps getting worse. The experience has been so dreadful, that I am going to rank furniture shopping up there with painting and moving in the top things that I loathe. Let’s break it down and see what we can learn from this situation.

The day my girlfriend purchased the couch, we encountered amazingly horrible customer service. The person that “helped” us (I use that term loosely), was pushy, rude, and did an exceedingly awful job of explaining the options available to us. I left with the opinion that since we were not purchasing a whole house of furniture, the salesperson wanted to go out of her way to make the experience as miserable as possible.

During the process I learned that you could get the couch with any fabric you desired but if you wanted something beyond a neutral cream, it would take 8 weeks since that is a custom order. 8 weeks to get something that we wanted in a day or two. It made me wonder what kind of production process they are using, because it is not a very customer friendly one.

The long delay

Let us fast forward 6 weeks. The couch is supposed to be delivered in 2 weeks. My girlfriend gets a phone call from the “helpful” sales person telling us that the fabric she picked out is back ordered and they won’t have it in stock until maybe sometime in January. My girlfriend can either accept the delay or pick out another fabric and wait an additional 8 weeks for the couch to arrive.

Why IKEA works

This wouldn’t have happened if we went to IKEA. At IKEA, you find what you are looking for, go to the warehouse, put it on a flatbed, and then load it into a truck. You can even check the website before you go to the store to make sure that they have what you want in stock. If they don’t, then you can easily arrange for them to ship it from another store to your house. It is a very effective and customer focused process and is the reason why more IKEA stores are being built while “high end” stores are going bankrupt.

So how does the “high end” store compete with IKEA?

1. Improve the customer experience in the store

The sales staff needed to be trained on how to treat customers with respect. From the moment we were approached by the salesperson to when we left, we felt that we were an annoyance and not someone whose purchase helped make sure the salesperson got paid that week. Your staff needs to realize that without customers, they don’t get paid.

2. Teach your sales staff to focus on building long term relationships with clients

Since my girlfriend just wanted a couch and not a new house full of furniture, we felt that were given a lower level of service. The service we have been given since the purchase has also not encouraged us to make any more purchases from this company. You have to make every sales experience stellar, so that customers feel that you have provided more value then they have paid for in their purchase.

3. Bend over backwards to get the product to them quickly

This will be the key reason that IKEA will put many stores out of business. We live in a fast paced world. If you cannot get the product to your customer in a timely manner, then they will go someplace where they can get the product quickly. In my girlfriend’s situation, they should offer to send her the color they have in stock (which is very neutral) until the fabric she ordered is in and they can have a slipcover made and shipped to her at no additional charge. Wouldn’t that endear her to their store in the future? Companies need to realize that their customers appreciate getting products faster . . . not slower.

4. Improve the customization process

If you offer customized products, then you have to get them to the customer in a timely manner. It shouldn’t take you 8 weeks to have a slipcover made and shipped to the factory. Putting hurdles in front of your customer will cause them to go somewhere else where they can load the color they want onto a flatbed and have it home to enjoy before dinner. If you are going to offer customization, then make it a fast, efficient, and customer focused process.

Right product, right place, right time

If you are not focusing on getting the right product to your customers at the right time, then you will soon not have any customers. The market will move to where the product is available and many of the high end stores will soon find their doors closed and IKEA will rule the world.

Why IKEA Will Someday Rule the World is a post from: As A Dude Thinketh
As A Dude Thinketh is written and edited by Chris Elliott. Chris helps small businesses figure out what their big idea is, how to get it to market, and how to get people to notice their wonderfulness. He is also a dynamic speaker and trainer in personal growth and public speaking. Do you need help with your next big idea or speech? I encourage you to talk with me to see how Chris can be of service.

If you liked this post, then you should also check out:

1. How to Lose Customers
2. That is Not How This Business Works
3. Is This How a Business Helps Their Community?