Support Is Central

In every aspect of your business, assure that your eagerness to support your customers shines through. Make this a fundamental thrust in all you do. The name of your game must be: Build customer loyalty.

Can Customer Loyalty Be Sustained?

Many argue that it can not. Auto makers spend heavily each year to assure you come back and buy your next new car from them. Yet only about a third do. Not exciting results considering bucks expended.

Many also argue that on Web, this is most certainly true. That people shop for price. Period. There are two points overlooked in such a statement.

First, businesses that sell only on price will not succeed in long term. Those selling at low prices will tend to disappear. As they do, your fair price becomes more competitive. This trend has been in place for a time, and will continue.

Second, suppose you do waste some time and/or resources only to lose to a lower price. So what? Those who recognize support you offer will pay your price. They want reassurance you'll be handy if problems arise. As above, expect this trend to continue.

Your Business Productivity Plan

Still, your business can benefit from efforts to improve productivity. Nothing fancy is required. Simply ask yourself if there are any elements on your site that require resources, particularly time, that can be discarded.

In a sense, this may also amount to discarding potential customers. Still, if you are spending an hour a month maintaining a page that generates only ten bucks, take a close look. It's at least a candidate to be discarded. Else convert it to a static offer that makes no further demands on your time.

Wrapping Up

Track down customers being discarded by big business as they focus on downsizing and productivity. Grab them for yourself. Then hold on to them with great customer support. While you may lose a few to price, those who appreciate your efforts will buy from you again.

And it may pay to look closely at your business with view of profitability held by big business. If cutting some near-dead wood frees up valuable time, it may need doing.

Clean-up Nothing helps us to see more clearly than a good clean-up. Clean-up everything. Clean up your computer files, your computer programs, your accounting, your calendar, your files, your inbox your physical space, dust lights, vacuum dust bunnies, re-arrange furniture. Get rid of anything you haven't touched in three months. Clean, clean, clean.

Make a choice You have a choice in how you react to events that happen every day. Remember saying 'if life hands you lemons, make lemonade'. Choose your vision, choose your success, choose hope, choose to see opportunity, choose to explore possibility. Make a choice every moment of every day to feel courage and conviction of your entrepreneurial spirit.

Take pressure off When we are feeling threatened or pressured our thinking is less clear and our actions less rationale. Look at consolidating debts, or cutting back on your inventory orders, or sell unnecessary assets or apply for a credit line when you don't need it. All of these will help to ease anxiety that usually lurks somewhere between bottom-line and cash flow projections.

Become your own best compass Read media reports, watch trends, listen to experts but always think for yourself. You have a gut instinct for what works and doesn't work for you in your business. Pay equal attention to that instinct as you do experts. You are your own best compass and your entrepreneurial spirit is a willing guide.

Read great books There are great books that exist that can feed your entrepreneurial spirit. Books that remind you of hope, opportunities and possibilities. Read these books first thing in morning and last thing at night so that you recharge your brain when it is most receptive to this kind of information.