As a business coach, I often see how business owners operate and I wonder at the seriousness of their business activities. If you don’t take your business seriously; how can you expect prospective clients to do so?
Some examples to see how serious are you about your business:
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They home-print their flyers or don’t have business cards and ask them about their website and surprise, there is no website. How you present yourself goes towards the impression you leave others. If your presentation is amateurish, non-existent or less than professional then this impacts on the perception you give others.
Response
Your response times are less than favourable. Do you take weeks to respond to emails or messages, or worse never respond? In business we are all busy, but if you cannot find a few minutes to handle a new client enquiry or send a promised email, then your prospective customers have got to be wondering how the heck you will find time to deliver an awesome service?
Focus
When I’m working with clients, their focus tells me a lot. If they are on our coaching calls and I can hear they are doing something else at the same time, I seriously wonder how important they see their own business. I have also been on calls where I am the customer and I can hear them typing in the background (not relating to our call) and sending emails whilst having a conversation with me. Do I feel valued? Of course not, hence when I’m on a coaching call I don’t even sit in front of my computer; you have 100% of my attention.
Dedication
Sometimes sadly I see business owners with a minimal care factor. Their passion for this business is minimal, their attention to customer service is minimal and often the period they will remain in business … you guessed it … will be minimal. If you are not passionate about your business, how can you expect others to be?
Everything else is more important.
This is one where a business owner chooses to make other things their priority. Catching up with friends for coffee, getting a hair colour done, having a manicure, beers with mates or even just sitting at home in front of the TV. If you are engaged in your business, then you’ll be spending a good amount of your time on it. It will be important. You will give it priority (within reason – I’m not saying you won’t drop everything to rush to the hospital for an injured child).
I can help you stay focussed on your business. Call me on 0411 622 666 or email donna@donna-stone.com.au.
Check this article out 7 things I Did for My Business Coaching Clients Last Month.
