“It’s nothing personal.” Bullspit! There’s no such thing as nothing being personal in the business world. No matter who’s involved in a business equation, people are either spending money they worked hard to earn, or are looking to earn the other person’s money through hard work. Unless you’ve won the lottery, any blood, sweat and tears poured into your business makes the scenario very personal.
If you’re running your business like a robot, void of emotion and looking at your clients like binary code, then they’ll eventually start tearing you apart like HAL 9000. You will get significantly more mileage out of your bootstrapped budget if you treat your customers like people. What’s the best way to do this? You’ve got to build relationships.
Especially in a world that’s virtually all virtual, prospects and clients want to know there’s a real person caring for them and their business. A prime example of this is the latest Allstate tagline stating that “You’re In Good Hands with Allstate.” Make your clients feel like they are individuals and that you will always be there for them and you will build immense loyalty. As you can imagine, customer loyalty bolsters your budget for several reasons.
For one thing, it’s always significantly more lucrative to retain clients than it is to shop out new ones. Even if you decide to raise your rates down the road, loyal customers will be willing to pay more because you’ve built up value with them. Your ideal clients should not take on the air of an accountant, constantly counting pennies, but should be looking beyond your fees and focusing on the positive results you’re producing for their business. If you’ve taken the care and time to build a solid relationship with your clients, then they’ll gladly pay more for the peace of mind they get from knowing you’re treating their business as if it were your own.
Transcending the business barrier and achieving a personal level to the business you do creates a third dimension. Any additional element you can add to your client relations serves to fortify your situation as a whole. Here we can apply the apples-to-apples scenario: You should always be thinking of how you can distinguish your apple from all the other apples out there. Especially in tough economic times, when businesses are having as much luck trying to stretch their budgets as they would using a timing belt as a rubber band, you need to illustrate as many value points as possible. If all other elements are equal in comparison, a client will remain loyal to you if you’ve established and maintained a personal rapport.
In addition, when you take the time to build a personal relationship with your clients, then you naturally garner a better understanding of what they want and what their business needs for the greatest success. A little extra TLC will then actually help save you time and money, as you’ll be able to handle their account more efficiently. And not that we’re encourage sloppy business, but a personal relationship will also help foster some added forgiveness for the occasional error!
Another huge positive for you bootstrappers is the fact that when you maintain a personable level with your clients, then they are significantly more likely to refer your business to others, increasing your word-of-mouth business, which is…uh huh, go ahead and let it roll of your tongue…free!
We often get involved with a business or industry based on an idealized conception. I had a friend with this experience in college. She started working at the tutoring center on campus because she loved the idea of helping people learn. The students she worked with, however, expected her to fix their mistakes and act as a proofreader. They were not interested in learning anything. Thinking her difficulties were based on the setting, she began tutoring for a specific department on campus, but her experience was the same. After spending two years following a dream that never became reality, she quit tutoring and became a reference librarian. Now, she helps people find information, but she is not expected to give them all the answers.
In order to avoid an experience like hers, ask yourself specific questions during your business discovery process. We have conceptions which go with certain titles, which may actually vary greatly depending on your specific industry. Networking mixers or chamber of commerce functions can provide excellent opportunities to find out more about your target business and determine if it matches your ideas and values. Make sure you are clear on the responsibilities and procedures you will need to perform to achieve success. Being informed will help you separate dreams and preconceptions from reality.
Any winner knows the secret to success. Anyone whoever finished a marathon, lasted 20 years or more in a relationship or even built a company from the ground up knows what the “secret” ingredient is. The simple one word answer is “Commitment”. However, many people will hear that word and assume it is “just too easy” and decide that it won’t work before they even try to become committed to their product, service, marketing plan or networking. Little do they know that they have failed ‘being committed to commitment’.
Bootstrapping & Commitment
Any bootstrapper knows that the goal is to get the highest return of investment from your business with minimal costs. but what will you do when your marketing plan or your various advertisements are just not producing the instant results you’re after? Do you tuck your tail between your legs and run or do you stand tall like a true bootstrapper and hold your ground? I hope you will do as I have and many others have and stick it out for the long haul. Many marketing plans fail in comparison to what your optimistic goals are within the first weeks or months. Sticking it out and being committed to your marketing is what will cause the tide to change in your favor.
Real life example
In the book Guerrilla Marketing, Jay Conrad Levinson talks about when he was hired on by a cigarette company in the 1960′s to boost their branding and help raise their profits. The main goal was to become one of, if not, the most influential cigarette companies out. They were currently ranked #31. Jay explained to the owner of the company that it would take time and the owner agreed and followed through with the plans and was committed to the marketing. A year after the campaigns started, they were still ranked #31. The owner was not shaken and stayed committed to the marketing and when you look today, they are they #1 most recognizable cigarette company out. One out of every five cigarettes come from this company; Marlboro. Without commitment it Marlboro would not be where it is today.
Remember next time you set out to create goals for your business or your life, commitment is what will make or break your accomplishments. If Thomas Edison can try 10,000 ways to develop a storage battery and keep going, why can’t we show some commitment to our goals and business plans? Bootstrapping is, after all, finding ways to grow your business with little to no money, and what better way to do that (for free) then by showing some commitment.
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