Are you finding it hard to meet your sales target? Are you experiencing revenue loss? This may be sign that you have some prodigal clients which you are allowing to slip away? Prodigal clients are your inactive clients. They are those who have not patronised your services for quite some time. It may be ages that they last ordered from you and you might not even have noticed it. If you are really serious about increasing your revenue, then you need to take a look at this set of customers.

The easiest way to instantly increase your current client base is to regain your inactive clients. It is not only less costly to maintain existing clients, it is easier for you to introduce your new lines of products or services to them. They have purchased from you before and hence can make up their mind on time as regards subsequent orders. So, what do you do now?

You must identify how many of your old clients are no longer actively purchasing from your company. You will then go a step further by finding out why they cease to be your customers. Here are some reasons why some of your clients may have stopped buying from you:

1. Something totally unrelated to you happened in their life that has caused them to stop dealing with you.
2. They probably have every intention to start dealing with you again but just have not gotten around it yet.
3. They experienced a problem during their last purchase.
4. Your after-sales service is not helpful to them.
5. They can no longer benefit from your product or service.

You can keep naming the reasons. You may need to call up some of these clients and find out from them. This will definitely benefit you. The best way to reinstate your lost clients is to simply contact them. Make an appointment to visit them or call them if a visit is not possible. You can also choose to send them a letter. Tell your lost clients that you noticed that they have not been buying from your company and that you sense that something is wrong. Make sure that you communicate both humility and concern. Remember to focus on them and their well-being.

If your client falls under category number one stated above, your call will awaken them into buying again. If your client falls into category number two, you must take the opportunity to tell them how much you value their business and apologize for the problem they encountered. Do something special to make up for the inconvenience they experienced. At the end of the day, you may not be able to win all your inactive clients back but you will surely have a clear understanding of how to keep your customers. And the end result? Your revenue will be on th increase.

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Are you letting go of your prodigal clients?

Technorati Tags: sales, customers

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Is your business suffering an economic downturn? Are you currently going through a tough time in your business? Then, you may need to read carefully what I am about to share with you.  Having a well-thought business concept is one thing, achieving business success is another thing. One of the reasons that you will succeed in business is the people you have in your network. The best asset you will have at any time is the business relationships you have created.

The business relationship you have built with your customers, employees and vendors is the only competitive capital you have. You must nurture a network of personal and business relationships. This takes effort and diligence. Always remember that everyone is a prospective client. So, treat everyone that way. Try to stay in touch with the people you meet through e-mail or other forms of communication methods.

Always ensure that you follow up with someone that you meet within twelve to twenty-four hours. You can simply send the person a quick note through e-mail or even an SMS and leave mental reminders as to who you are. Remember, you are going through all the trouble to meet other people. You might as well make sure that you are noticed. By the way, e-mails are very convenient but there is nothing like a handwritten thank you note to catch a person’s attention. You can also go one step further by calling the person to follow up.

If you want to build and maintain relationships successfully, you must build on your first meeting. Learn the art of staying in touch with your contact. Always remember that it is only through repetition that you can become a fixed element in your contacts’ memories. Much after you have established this relationship, you can ask them to introduce you to their network of contacts. This might be set of people who might be interested in your business. Not only will a referral get you in the door, this will enable you to grow your network.

One point worth noting is that it takes patience to grow your network. You must be patient when it comes to building relationships. This takes time and the last thing you want to do is to rush things. Ask for nothing at the beginning of the relationship. Focus on what you can give. Give more than you can get. Wait until you have gained people’s trust. When you are trusted, they will refer business to you without you having to ask. So, what do you think?

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Build It Before You Need 2

Technorati Tags: business, success, business relationships

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Do you spend your spare time or invest it? Spare time? Yeah…You read it well. Everybody has got spare time irrespective of who you are. It does not matter if you are a busy business owner or a manager in a company. Everybody has some time of the day when you are not doing anything related to your business or your work. So, how do you spend this time? Do you just allow the time to roll away or you sow it into your future? There are so many things you can do in your spare time to invest into your future. One of such ways is to invest into the development of your mental muscle.

Developing your mental muscles will give you the power to accomplish anything you want in life. It will ensure that you are always ahead of your peer. Moreover, it will prepare you for the opportunities that lie ahead and it will make sure that you are not missing opportunities. If you are looking at ways of developing your mind, you may need to read my previous write-up on developing your mind. I was able to highlight some of the things you can do to ensure that your mind is charged for what lies ahead.

Another way you can spend your spare time is to work on your pet-project. What is it that you have always wanted to do? What is your passion? What is it that you would rather do than what you are being paid to do now? Your spare time is an opportunity for you to try your hand on it. The beauty is that you don’t have to resign from your present place of employment before you start. You can start by devouting your evenings and weekends to the fulfilment of your passion. You only need to tell yourself that you will give it all it takes. It is going to place a lot of demand on you and it might mean that you will cut out froma lot of activities. But I bet you, it is worth every minute you commit to doing this.

Many successful business men started this way. Michael Dell, Richard Branson, Bill Gate etc. all started this way. So, why can’t you take this route? One other advantage this will give you is that you will be able to learn how to fail forward. Since you are only committing part of your resources to this, the failure of the project or the business will not harm you but create a platform for you to learn how to do things in a better way. You will learn many ways in which you should not do things and this might turn out to be an invaluable lesson you will need if you eventually decide to pursue your passion full time.

You can also use your spare time to build your network. God has not created us in isolation. He created us to work with others on a daily basis. I have not seen anybody that live his dream to the fullest without the help of others. If the successful people already make use of this principle, it will do you much good to take this serious. One of the last things you will want to happen to you is to need help and for nobody to be available to help you. So, start today by sowing into the emotion bank of people.

Make it a conscious effort to reach out to others anytime and anywhere. You must make sure that your social and event calendar is always full.The more connections you establish, the more opportunities you are given to make even more connections. What are you waiting for? Start today. Send that email. Make that call. Invite a colleague out for lunch or dinner. Include other people and watch your web of contacts grow.

These are some of the ways I spend my spare time. What about you? Share your thought and let us learn from your experience. You will defintely succeed.

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How do you spend your spare time?

Technorati Tags: business owner, business, employment, opportunities

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What do you around you? Big problems or Big opportunities? Do you move around and all you see are problems? What you see today as problems are actually opportunities in disguise. We are continuously faced with great opportunities brilliantly disguised as seemly unsolvable problems. Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The greatest success stories were created by people who recognized a problem a turned it into an opportunity.

Concerned with the overwhelming challenges and burden associated with the enormous dependency on cash in the country, InterSwitch came up with a solution that is gradually changing the economy to a cashless economy. The company’s system support s automated customer transaction from multiple channels such as ATMs, mobile and Internet. Currently, over 1000 ATMs are connected to InterSwitch system.  Besides, cards carriers can shop on several merchants web portals enabled by WebPAY, an InterSwitch Internet gateway payment system. This has really changed the way many transact businesses in the country and is also increasing the net worth of the company.

The most interesting thing is that nearly all problems have multiple solutions. In all problems, there are opportunities (probably several) if you look for them. Different definitions of the word “problem” result in differing attitudes, some proactive, some non-reactive. The proactive person sees problems as challenges, opportunities and even games. Look at a problem as an opportunity for change and improvement. Are you currently facing a serious problem at work? You need to make up your mind not to allow the problem to overwhelm you.

Problems do not need to happen in response to pressure from external factors or horrible events at work. Deciding to have a fresh awareness and a new point of view will allow you to see possibilities for improvement, no matter what the circumstances around you. Any area that might be improved could be a problem for you to solve and thereby gain recognition in the workplace. Look for potential problems areas at work and solve them before they get out of hand. And you know what? That might be your stepping-stone to the promotion you so desire.

Developing a proactive, positive attitude toward “problems” will not only cause you to be happier and more confident at work, people will like you better. The problem-solving attitude allows you to respond with enthusiasm to enable positive changes, especially at work.  Problems are a gateway to Success. A problem can emerge from realizing that the present is not perfect, while the future can be better. Start from where you are and move up. This creates an attitude of hope and results in actions for positive change. Faith in achieving your hopes and dreams gives you permission to challenge yourself to improve your future. So, it’s not a problem, it’s a step up! This should be your motto henceforth.

Many successful people have seen problems and turned them into opportunites. You too can do the same starting from your present situation. You only need to start seeing problems as opportunities in disguise. What is it that annoys you in your environment? That might be a clue to the problem you need to solve. What are you waiting for? Look beyond the problems and start seeing opportunities that will launch you to the next phase of your life. What do you see now? Problems or Big Opportunities?

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What do you see? Big Problems or Big Opportunities?

Technorati Tags: success, business

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