Raising Your Credibility in Business

In today’s ever growing competitive marketplace, business owners (especially small ones) need to do whatever it takes to grow their credibility with customers and clients alike.  This involves standing out from your competitors, having integrity and being upfront with your clientele.  One of the best attributes a business owner can have is credibility.  “Customers, vendors and even potential partners may choose to work with a company if they believe it is credible and trustworthy.”  Credibility is an intangible yet essential ingredient in making a successful go of your venture.  In business, your target market must believe that you are able to deliver on your promises and do the things you’ve said you’ve planned to do.  While there is no scientific way to measure credibility or to assure that others believe in you, here are some simple steps to building credibility in business.

First off, grow your social media presence especially on Twitter.  As I’ve referenced numerous times it’s an $8 billion company and one of the fastest sources of real-time information flow out there.  Social networking is about growing relationships so if you want to look like an important and credible business try to grow your number of followers on Twitter and tweet out significant information to your followers that show you are knowledgeable about your field.

Next, improve your SEO.  Search engine optimization is critical to being known as a leader in the marketplace.  If you want to be relevant, make it easy for people to find you on the Internet.  If your business website isn’t popping up on the first page of a Google search, you won’t seem as important to customers and clients and may be easily passed over.  This destroys your credibility.

Ask people to review your company on LinkedIn.  If you have other big name companies vouching for you, your credibility can only grow.  Have them review what you offer and how you do it better than your competitors.  Surprisingly, not many companies have reviews on their LinkedIn pages.  If you do, this will make you look more professional and credible.  Having the backing of other high profile companies is key.

Make sure your website is sleek, professional and modern.  Make sure you have a strong “about” section and bios of your employees.  Consider putting up video testimonials from employees, clients and customers alike.  You might want to put up links to any press you’ve received or articles in which you’ve been quoted along with industry awards you’ve won.  Every achievement you can highlight on your website adds to your credibility.

Try blogging.  Whether you write it yourself or outsource it, it’s important to give your customers and clients information that is of interest to them.  It’s not just about writing about what your company does or can do for the wider population but about increasing awareness of your brand and creating a dialogue flow and conversation.  This too helps increase the credibility of your business.  People will want to read your blog as a source of information on your industry.  A blog is a great place to showcase your knowledge about what is going on with the broader marketplace.

You might also consider being a guest contributor to other industry-wide publications.  If your blog has a strong following, that shows people are interested in what you have to say.  Start off by even trying to be quoted in an article and then reach out to publications and see if they’ll be willing to publish a piece you have written about your industry.  This can only add to your credibility as an industry leader.

Start a newsletter that you can send out to a wide array of clients, customers, investors and industry experts.  People may like what they read and post links of those newsletters to their own sites.  The more information you can give to your customer and client base the better.  Maybe as that grows, you might also consider writing a book at some point down the road.  Show people that you know what you are talking about and that you are indeed a credible source of information for your field.

Consider holding seminars and conferences.  Becoming a public speaker about your industry will indeed add to your credibility.  If people are willing to listen to what you have to say, this breeds trust among your consumers.  Think about sitting on a panel or being a moderator of one. Be visible.  Make yourself well-known in your field and your business can only benefit.

Think about creating a podcast or try to get on local radio.  If you have a podcast, bring on credible guests and take calls.  Answering peoples’ questions with conviction shows that you are knowledgeable and adds to your credibility in your filed of interest.

Get involved with your community.  Try volunteering at local trade shows or conferences.  You might want to go into urban areas and teach business skills to bright up and coming locals.  Think about creating the volunteer event yourself not just getting involved in others.  This shows a sense of motivation and that you care about your field and want to help it grow and pass on your knowledge to others.

Lastly, try submitting yourself to competitions and earn awards.  If you can achieve that, your credibility will surely grow.  These feats will show your client and customer base that you are an industry leader and that your company receives honors in what it offers.

As I’ve discussed today, credibility is key in growing your business and earning respect among your customers, peers and investors.  If you try some of the tips above, you just might find your credibility skyrocketing to new heights.

Here are some articles you might want to check out about increasing your credibility in business:

“13 Ways to Intensify Your Business Credibility”: http://www.thewritemarket.com/dotson/index.php?dotson=respecttitle=13%20ways%20to%20Intensify%20Your%20Business%20Credibility

“Build Credibility As You Build Your Business”: http://www.xconomy.com/seattle/2013/03/26/build-credibility-as-you-build-your-business/

“5 Tips on How to Make Your Business More Credible”: http://pamlawhorne.com/5-tips-on-how-to-make-your-business-more-credibile/

“How to Gain Credibility for Your Business”: http://ultimatebookcoach.com/how-to-gain-credibility-for-your-business/

Until next time…

Working Over the Holidays

With Memorial Day right around the corner, I thought we’d discuss working during the holiday season.  While it’s not ideal, in today’s crazy economy and the push for everyone to get ahead in business, sometimes working on the holidays can’t be avoided.  There are pros and cons to doing so.  It’s also important as a boss to know how to treat your employees should you indeed make them work over the holidays.  So what are some of the benefits and drawbacks of working over the holidays and how can you, as a boss, make it easier for employees to do so?

Not everyone wants to work on major holidays like Christmas or New Year’s Eve but sometimes that can’t be avoided.  Many small businesses do choose to remain open during the holidays to compete with bigger retailers and not miss out on revenue opportunities.  While most workers would prefer to spend quality time with friends and families, small business owners can do small but meaningful things to make employees feel appreciated when they do in fact ask them to work on holidays.

Should you ask an employee to work over a holiday, try giving them some choice in which shift they work.  Allow employees to trade off with other workers for preferable shifts and hours or switching holidays among staff.

Give back to your employees when possible.  Even if it’s just a handwritten thank you note, letting your employees know their extra hard work is appreciated goes a long way.  Maybe give them a small token of your appreciation like a $10 or $20 gift card.  Maybe even some holiday treats or cookies.  This might even lead employees to consider working the next year’s holiday.  “Making that connection makes the effort more real to employees that their work was recognized.  Get specific with them.  When employees make a link between anything the company does for them with their own effort, that makes a difference.”

Get festive.  Consider allowing a small office celebration for holiday work.  Think about letting employees dress down especially as clients are likely not to be visiting the office.  This keeps morale high.  Maybe even decorate the workplace so employees feel that they are still celebrating even though they are at work.

Make yourself visible.  Think about stopping by during the holidays and thanking your employees one-on-one for working over the holidays.  This is especially easier in smaller companies.  Consider gathering your employees all in one room and thank them for the effort they are putting in by giving up precious time with family and friends to indeed work over the holidays.  Smaller companies have a family-like feel and you should breed that feeling as a boss.  Telling your employees that you appreciate them, never hurts.

All that being said, as an employee, there are pros and cons to working over the holidays.  One pro is that not everyone has family and friends to spend time with over the holidays or there are those who don’t really want to spend time with those people.  Working on a holiday is a good option or maybe one could say a good excuse to having some time to yourself.  However, if you are one of those people that does want to spend time with friends and family, working over the holidays makes that null and void.  While you might not work the whole holiday, your time with them will be limited indeed.

A good pro of working over the holidays is that it shows your boss that you are dedicated to your job.  Accordingly, you are likely to be rewarded for your hard work.  A proceeding con, however, could be that it could set you up to work more holidays if your boss feels you are a go-to person to ask to work over the holidays.  Your boss might assume that just because you can work one holiday, you can work them all.

Another pro is that you are likely to earn extra money.  Bosses might tend to be generous with compensation to those that are willing to put in the extra effort.  One might get a better bonus or paid time-and-a-half.  That said, a con could be that you’re so busy working, you don’t have time to spend that money.  But, hey, putting it away in savings never hurt anyone.

As I’ve discussed today, there are pros and cons to working on holidays.  Showing your boss you’re a hard-worker, earning extra money, avoiding family and friends if you so choose.  There are cons such as missing out on that dear time with your loved ones.  Additionally, as a boss it’s important to show your employees that they are appreciated for putting in the extra effort to work a holiday and there are meaningful ways to do that.  While it’s not the perfect situation, sometimes working over the holidays can’t be avoided especially in small office environments so know what works best for you and when to say yes or no to working on a holiday and as a boss know how to show that you are grateful for the extra effort put in by your employees for their sacrifice.

Here are some articles you might want to check out about working over the holidays:

“The Benefits of Working on a Holiday”: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2012/11/21/the-benefits-of-working-on-a-holiday/

“Has Working on the Holidays Taken Over?”: http://justicewordlaw.com/has-working-on-holidays-taken-over/

“Why I Work During the Holidays”: http://www.quicksprout.com/2012/12/24/why-i-work-during-the-holidays/

 “Working on the Holidays Doesn’t Have to be a Pain”: http://www.newslab.org/2011/12/16/working-on-holidays-doesnt-have-to-be-a-pain/

Until next time…

Using Customer Feedback in Business

While analytics and data give entrepreneurs all sorts of insight into what their customers want from their products, sometimes it’s best to get answers straight from your customers themselves.  Customer feedback helps businesses understand why people do what they do; why their customers are using their products or the competition’s.  When you ask the customer what they want, you get a much clearer picture of what’s going on with your business and a much clearer picture of what can lead to success.  Customer feedback allows you to fix problems and head straight towards opportunities; opportunities to learn what your customers want, what they need and how to attack the marketplace for the greatest gain.  So how to use customer feedback in business?

First off, try using surveys.  “Surveys are the bread and butter for getting feedback.  They’re easy to set up, easy to send out, easy to analyze and scale very well.”  That said, make sure your surveys are short and to the point.  No one wants to spend 10-20 minutes filling out a customer satisfaction survey.  When your surveys are too long, customers ignore them or oftentimes give up answering halfway through which leads to poor results.  Additionally, when surveys are too long, customers rush through to answer them and don’t give the most useful feedback.  Getting quality answers is critical and keeping a survey to a few minutes can ensure that quality.  Try to keep your survey to five questions and definitely no more than 10.  Ask only questions that are relevant and that you’ll use.  “Every question should serve a purpose.”  If you ask extraneous, unimportant run-of-the-mill questions, you’re wasting everybody’s time.  Save time and gain valuable information by only asking essential questions.  Try starting with open-ended questions.  If you build a survey with multiple choice questions, you might not receive the feedback that customers are really thinking. By doing so, you limit yourself to answers that only reflect your assumptions.

Secondly, have a structured process for receiving feedback.  Whether you realize it or not, customers are always looking for better ways their needs can be met.  Try coming up with one or two questions to ask at check out.  Not just: “Did you find everything you were looking for today?”  But something more along the lines of: “Did the store layout help you find everything you were looking for today?”  Make sure your questions drill down to create essential answers.  When minor issues pop up too frequently, customers will start shopping around for better solutions to their problems and it’s only a matter of time before they’re gone for good.  Nip it in the bud before it happens with sharp, on-point questions that will lead to real time solutions.

Once feedback comes in, answer it.  If your customers are willing to answer your questions, be willing to answer them back.  Customers want to feel like they’re being heard especially if they took the time to even offer feedback.  They want to know you care about their input so show them you do.  One method I’ve seen before is a customer asking about the early release of an item or feature.  Try offering them early access to it in return for feedback.  For tech issues, connect them right away to your support engineers.  If a customer asks a question, give them step-by-step tips to resolving the problem.  Obviously you can’t always respond to customer questions right away, but try to at least do it in under 24 hours.

Reach out directly.  This option is often undervalued.  “If you want to truly understand somebody, you really need to go talk to them.”  Hearing the passion in a customer’s voice can be a great starting place to finding a way to really meet their needs.  Try running focus groups.  Offer free lunches for people that are willing to give their time and participate.  If you don’t reach out and talk to your customers, you never really learn what’s going on in their minds and how they view the products and services your selling.  You can get major bonus points with customers for asking for feedback in person.  While surveys are great and should be used (as long as you use them the right way), you can get more value from a face-to-face or over the phone conversation then you can from thousands of surveys.

There are many ways to get customer feedback but not all methods really work and often can be a waste of your time.  If you use the examples cited above, you can get the most out of your customers’ opinions.  Ask them pointed questions and show them that you care.  You’ll only get what you give.  While it’s essential to make it easy for customers to give their feedback, make sure you’re getting the right kind of feedback.  Your business can’t grow without loyal customers who want to come back for more.  Treat them right and show them they’re an essential part of your success and your business will surely head in the right direction.

Here are some articles you might want to check out about using customer feedback in business:

“14 Customer Feedback Tools for Small Business”: http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/2827-14-Customer-Feedback-Tools-for-Small-Business

“Is Your Brand Using Customer Feedback Efficiently?”: http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/brand-using-customer-feedback-efficiently-134903984.html

“How to Make the Most of Customer Feedback”: http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/07/how-to-make-most-of-customer-feedback.html

“How to Use Customer Feedback to Improve Your Business”: http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk/marketing/customer-care/understanding-your-customers/how-to-use-customer-feedback-to-improve-your-business

Until next time…