by Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

A true story. One of our relatives in a nearby town was having trouble with her furnace and needed a repair person. She called the man that had been taking care of her furnace for years. He came over and found that all he had to do was reset the furnace and everything would be fine. He said that there would be no charge and showed her the switch so next time she could reset the furnace herself. He was not gone 15 minutes when the furnace conked out again.

Not wanting to bother the repairman again that night she and her daughter, who was visiting, decided to add more blankets to their beds, tough it out and call the repairman in the morning.

The next morning the daughter called the repairman, and he proceeded to blast her for bothering him, read her the proverbial riot act for bothering him, but in the end, with some persuasion grumbled he would come later that day.

He never showed up!

Whereupon the daughter called another company, they sent a man out right away. There was something wrong with the furnace, it was missing a part. They fixed it in 30 minutes, handed her the bill and went on their merry way.

Now here is where the story gets interesting.

The daughter was very active on social media, especially Facebook…I think you can see where this is going.

The daughter promptly got on Facebook and told the story including naming names and recommending that no one should ever use this repairman again. Her post went out to over the 200 people to whom she was connected!

Wow! What repairmen should have realized was that in this new world order people are connected, and people talk to each other, especially when they have been poorly served enough to be angry.

Just imagine for a minute the kind of negative publicity this repairman is now getting!

But the real point here is that no person or company, or organization, should ever talk to their customers the way this repairman did. Nor should any person serving the public ever complain about doing a job for a customer.

The rule of thumb pre-social media used to be that if a customer has a complaint, he is going to tell a number of people and in the end, about 100 people would hear about it. Now in these days of social media that number increases to literally hundreds if not thousands of people. And if the story is bad enough it could go viral, then millions of people could see it.

Those of us in business should always appreciate our customers and the business they send our way. The minute we stop doing that, and let the customer see, that is the day your business will stop growing. And that my friends is no way to be growing your business.

by Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

Years ago, one winter when I was out of town on business, enough snow had fallen – as it will tend to do here in Maine, – that my dear wife was concerned about the snow load on the roof. When she saw a crew working clearing a neighbor’s roof, she put on her boots and her winter coat to go talk to them. The fact being that she had been on the phone all morning trying to find someone to come over and clear our roof, so she was relieved when she saw the men across the street working on a roof.

When she approached them and found the man in charge, she asked him if he had time to clear our roof as well.

He looked at her, smiled and then told her they were all booked up, but he said, “I might be able to fit you in but it’s going to be expensive.” “How expensive?” she asked, knowing that be­cause we have a big house with a lot of roofs, what it should cost, and so she thought she was prepared to pay the price she normally paid, which yes, was not cheap but worth it.

But she was hit with sticker shock when this man quoted her a price that was well over twice as much as what she normally was used to paying.

“Are you sure?” She asked, “That’s much more than we normally pay the people who did it last year.”

“Sure, but they’re not here, now are they? Sorry, lady, but that’s the price, take it or leave it… and I could charge you even more if I wanted to. So, what’s it gonna be?” he said impatiently.

Not seeing any other way, and the snow falling heavily with signs of it keeping up for the rest of the day, she reluctantly agreed to pay the price he asked.

Now, as you can imagine after that, my wife would go out of her way never to use that man’s company again. In fact, although not a vindictive woman, she could not help but tell many people the story of what had happened. And yes, we never used that company again. In fact, it has been years since I have seen his truck around the neighborhood, so I suspect that he has gone out of business. Not a surprise, really.

If you want to run a successful business you have to always ask for a fair price for the services you perform. Sure, you can play that supply and demand game if you want. You can raise your prices when the demand is high, but in the end, you have to be fair and treat people fairly because if you don’t, if you take advantage of people, especially when they are in need, they will never forget and when things get back to normal, they will never buy from you again.

On the other hand, if you come to their aid when they are in trouble, when they really do need your help…and you help them, you’ll have a customer for life and that is the best way to grow your business.

by Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

No matter what your customers ask, always find a way to help them. If they ask for something that you don’t normally do, then find a way to do it. IF it is a service that you don’t or cannot possibly do then find someone who can provide that service and either partner with them to provide your customer what she needs or introduce them to the customers. Regardless, the role of any service company is to be helpful in any way that we can.

Here are a few examples:

You run a successful landscaping company and your customer’s fence is in need of repair or replacement. This is not something that you do, but you know someone who does. It’s in your best interest to make the introduction. Actually, you have a choice of either making the introduction or acting as the prime contractors and handle the fence repair company as your subcontractor. Thus, not only servicing your customer but expanding your business and your revenue as well.

You run a car repair shop specializing in revitalizing classic automobiles. Your company handles all the mechanical and electrical as well as the body work, but you don’t do interiors; upholstery and such. That’s when you find the best upholstery and interior rehab and you partner with them making you a full service provider. Your customer benefits, your new partner benefits, and your company benefits, it’s a win, win, win situation and it does not get any better than that.

These kinds of partnerships all start out with you trying to meet your customers’ needs in the best way you can.

The best result of these kinds of strategic thinking is that it will allow you to scale your business well beyond your own in house capabilities.

The second best part of this is that as you start partnering with more strategic partners, they in turn will provide you with some business opportunities, as well. This will be additional business that you don’t have to take the time to chase.

When you share with strategic complementary businesses you all grow and profit to the point where you all get much more stable and stronger.

But the key is to find the right partners. Here are a few suggestions for what to look for when looking for the right partners

• Make sure they are the very best at what they do. They are going to be representing you, so you want to offer your customers the best in the business.
• Make sure they have the same values, ethics, and morals. If not, this will not work.
• Make sure there is the right chemistry between your companies. You can partner with the very best company in the world but if you don’t get along it will not work.
• Make sure they “allow you to be generous”. You want a partner who is truly going to look out for you as much as you want to look out for him. If your partner is always measuring and comparing both of your contributions to combined business effort, that will not work.

Always remember that a true partnership is when entities come together and accomplish things far greater combined than they could individually.

Developing true synergistic cooperative partnership is one of the best ways to make your customers happy and, yes, of course, grow your business.

by Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

“Corporate purpose is at the confluence of strategy and values. It expresses the company’s fundamental – the raison d’etre or overriding reason for existing. It is the end to which strategy is directed.” – Richard Ellsworth, From the new book, Red Goldfish, by Stan Phelps. Here is what Mr. Phelps says about Purpose

“Purpose is becoming the new black. It is emerging as a guiding light that can help businesses navigate and thrive in the 21st century. Purpose is an aspirational reason for being, that is grounded in humanity, is at the core of how many companies are responding to the business and societal challenges of today.”

Okay, here is my take on this. When you talk about purpose you are talking about the reason why you are in business, why your company is in business. Think back to when you started your business and try to remember why the business was started way back then?

Every single company was started to fill a need. Somebody at some time saw a need to provide something that would fill a need, whatever that need was. That is and has always been the basic reason for any business to start…to fill a need.

Now think back, what was that need? Why did your company start in the first place and what need did it fill then? Is it still filling that basic need today? Is your company still doing what it was founded to do in the first place?

Focusing on your company’s true and basic purpose is the very best way to find your direction if you have lost it. It is the perfect way to re-align your company if it has come out of alignment or keep it in alignment at all times.

• Purpose instills clarity.
• Purpose guides both short-term decisions and long-term strategy at every level of an organization, encouraging leaders to think about systems holistically.
• Purpose guides choices about what not to do as well as what to do.
• Purpose channels innovation.
• Purpose is a force for and a response to transformation.
• Purpose motivates people through meaning, not fear. It clarifies the long-term outcome, so people understand the need for change rather than feeling it is imposed upon them.
• Purpose is also a response to societal pressures on business to transform, to address global challenges, and to take a long-term, more comprehensive approach for growth and value.
• Purpose taps a universal need to contribute, to feel a part of society.
• Purpose recognizes differences and diversity. Purpose builds bridges.
• Purpose helps individuals/teams work across silos to pursue a single compelling aim.

Now let’s talk a minute about the differences between an organization’s Mission and its purpose. Mission is always talking about where we want to go, it focuses on where we want to be someday.

If your company has a clear and well-defined purpose it will help you not only attract the best people with the same passion for the same purpose, but it will keep them passionate and engaged for years to come.

Now ask yourself, what is your company’s purpose? Why are you in business in the first place? And probably the most important question: is the purpose for your company the same today as it was when the company was started years ago.

And one more question: is your company’s purpose obvious? Does everyone in your company, and I mean everyone, know why you are in business? What is the purpose of your very existence? Having a strong and clear purpose is the best way to grow your business.

by Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

How often do you ask yourself that question? How often to you ask you customers that question? Think about that as a different approach to your messaging and your advertising strategy. The true purpose of any business is to find a need and fill it. No less but often a lot more.

Yes, they hire you because they have a need for what you offer.

People need to be fed; they need a restaurant.

People need to be fed pizza; they need a pizza parlor.

People need to have their house remodeled; they need a contractor.

People need a new bathroom; they need a plumber.

And… well, you get the picture.

Now the next step is to dig a little deeper. This mean finding out things like.

What do people consider a great restaurant? Or another way to look at it, what do people hate about restaurants?

What kind of pizza do they prefer? Or another way to look at it, what do people dislike about pizza parlors?

You see where this is going right? You will not have a business without customers. And you will not have a successful business with happy, contented and most importantly repeating and returning customers. And the best way to do this is to find out what they like and give it to them.

In the end it is all about not only giving customers what they need and want but it is also figuring out how to give them more. It is about something called the customer experience.

Customer service is one thing. Customer service is giving the customer what they asked for. It is about making sure that they are getting what they want when they want it. It means taking care of a customer when they come into your store. It is about mowing their lawn or plowing their driveway the way they asked you to do it. It is about giving them what they expect, what they pay for. That is customer service and that is a certainly a good thing.

Customer experience is taking it to another level. It is much more than giving the customers what they want it is delighting them as well.

It is the extra handful of fries that Five Guys throws into your bag of fries.

It is the car repair service department that also washes your car before they return it to you.

It is that special sample of new top shelf Tequila that your local Mexican restaurant asks you to try out.

It is that beautiful poinsettia that your landscape company leaves at your door at Christmas.

It as all of these special things that lead to great customer experience that goes beyond merely satisfying your customers but keeps them coming back for years and years and that is the very best way to grow your business.