SimpleBiz360™ Podcast

One of the best insurance policies for a successful career, is to develop a mindset of continuous improvement. With this mindset, your career can become more lucrative. Without it, you run the risk of hitting a dead end. Is it time to take out a new career insurance policy? Support the show

The answer should be 36 new business tools. Settle for nothing less. Imagine doing this for 5 years? Do it, and watch your career take off! Support the show

This is a great look in the mirror type of an exercise. Some of us do business with the utmost passion, and often times our excitability can be mistaken as anger. Double check the way you talk and interact with associates, customers and executives. Are you projecting, genuine passion, or does your excitability project as anger? Support the show

If you want a contagious business quality to help grow your business, then try your hand at displaying genuine enthusiasm. Customers crave authenticity, transparency, and truth from suppliers, and they can sense one they run into a phony. So when they run into someone who is genuinely enthusiastic, it goes a long way to creating a healthier business relationship. Support the show

Customers want easy to understand product explanations. Brevity and clarity should be the horses pulling our product carts. Does this sound like your company? If not, we encourage you to find ways to become brief, clear, and understandable (BCU) to customers. Support the show

New managers, new leaders, new employers, and potential job opportunities all want to know what we have done in our careers. However, so many executives have been burned by people who say they did something, but never prove it, nor can they prove it. If you want to set yourself up for success, and get the best career opportunities, then start saving your business accomplishments in hard copy forma...

This is all too common with face-to-face interactions. If you choose to consistently invade the personal space of a buyer, then be prepared for the possibility of losing that customer. Very few people like to feel crowded, or boxed into a corner. Above all, no one likes to smell the hot breath of someone standing too close to us while they are speaking!   Support the show

When displeasing repetitive patterns continue without any change, aggravation grows, and customers disappear. Eventually the rubber band of customer grace breaks, and they are lost for good. It is essential for companies to determine their displeasing stress points. Promise keeping is an action that speaks to customers. Repetitive, and empty promise making becomes meaningless noise. We urge you to...

Many products require subcontractors to play a vital role producing what has been designed. If the final product quality is compromised, we have to alert these partners, and ask for them to modify their production in order to achieve success. Is there a disconnect in product production, or is the REAL disconnect hidden in the lack of clear expectations we gave our production partners? Support the...

Lost customers are the death of most young businesses. Finding out why customers are defecting is essential to long-term sustainability. How do you find out? Talk to your customers, and spend time thinking about things as if you were the customer. Sweeping the reason or reasons under the rug will surely send the business to the boneyard. As business owners, we MUST figure this out, and then we mus...

“SPINIPULATORS” combine spinning plus manipulating to wreak internal, and external havoc. These truth-distorters vomit false narratives designed to elevate themselves at the expense of other teammates. We can knock them off their perch with facts. Document timelines, conversations, and emails. If you persistently follow these three suggestions, you will eventually defeat most of these crafty narci...

Most customers are smarter than we give them credit for. Perpetual excuse- making vendors put themselves at high risk for a short business life. Many buyers can easily detect vendor BS, and the quick penalty is a lost customer. Sadly, often times these unhappy buyers will share their frustrations with many other people. If you are a vendor/supplier, maybe it’s time to focus on results? Maybe it’s...

Calculating all the variables that go into a establishing a standard cost is an arduous process. Like it or not, this is where we have to put on our lab coats, and become a doctor of details. Bypassing certain cost components can be deadly to a small company. Are you being a doctor of details? Support the show

I started a business in 1990 and it suffered from a fundamental mistake. We built our financial projections based on $69 a transaction. However, had I done my research, I would have discovered that the area market rate was $45. The company lasted for 15 years, but it limped along with moderate returns on investment. What about your company? Have you done your competitive pricing research? Support...

Do you charge customers for warranty, shipping and handling? If so, are you sure that’s the way you wanna do things? When customers pay for mistakes they didn’t make, they usually disappear into thin air. Think about it! Do you really want to partake in this upside down behavior? Support the show

Customers like companies that proactively pave the way for smooth transactions.. Reactive companies do very little paving, which usually results in clunky, and troublesome transactions. Proactive companies eliminate obstacles before they occur. Reactive companies wait for obstacles. Which reputation do you want for your company? Support the show

Employee buy-in can be much deeper, and more productive if management leads by example. The days of executives telling employees to do one thing, and then they do another are long gone. Managers who grab an order and row with the team become an inspiration to the entire organization. Is it time to row with the team at your company? Support the show

Do you advocate for customers? How often? To what degree? Do customers bear witness to instances where you deliver on advocating for them, or do they just hear empty words? We all have inter-company directives, goals, and objectives, but the employees don’t chip in and pay invoices for the goods and services we provide to customers. So, why don’t we put the customer needs above ours? Afterall, cus...

“I’ll explain our price once, but I’ll never apologize for our quality.” The words of Terry McManus were defensible. So many business people operate in a “Word Salad World” where empty statements cannot be converted into provable claims. First of all, is your product or service good enough to charge a premium price? Secondly, if so, can your company prove it? Have fun defending your premium price!...

Schemes and scams are a fast track to the business boneyard! Customer are way more intelligent than scammers give them credit for. Maybe it’s time to do a full company-scrape for any unwanted schemes and scams being conducted by your personnel? If you are intentionally misleading customers, it’s just a matter of time before it all caves in on you. Maybe today is a good time to start deploying hone...

During my career I have witnessed dozens of executives avoid managing tough business situations. Why? I’m not totally certain, but most of the times it seems rooted in mistaken identity. In other words, they see their obligation to manage as an eventual path to confrontation. Not liking confrontation, the executive turns away, avoids managing altogether, and the problem festers and mushrooms. If t...

Proactivity is a wonderful business quality, but sometimes unique situations require reactions to solve an issue. Contingency plans can’t always be planned out, but many times that can. Has your company ever examined the various contingencies that can be mapped out to help mitigate future calamities? Maybe today is a good time to start planning out contingencies? Turn the mission into a fun collab...

“When you’re wrong, admit quickly and emphatically.” Dale Carnegie’s sage wisdom remains as powerful today, as when he uttered them 90 years ago. Humility is an endearing human trait that is dissolving away in modern business. How about going a little “old school” to show customers you own your mistakes? Your buyers will reward your honesty and humility. Why? Because you are not blame-shifting lik...

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” Harold Geneen’s simple, yet powerful words can be a bright light in a dark room. Company performance, and customer perception has to be convertible into metrics that can paint a factual picture. Without them, it’s like trying to navigate a path in a dark hallway! Support the show

Using acronyms can often sound like cryptic, mumbo-jumbo to the customer ear. Perhaps it is time to exchange unfamiliar acronyms with names, and descriptions that customers can actually understand, and relate to? Support the show