by Kathleen Hawkins, President

Times are tough, life is challenging, crime rate is up and the economy is down. That is all accurate. However, every day, I talk to someone who blames their business troubles strictly on the economy.

I have to stop and ponder….”Is that really the only reason their business is not flourishing right now or are they missing key elements that are actually in their control?”

Stop for a moment and reevaluate your business.

Are you focusing on price and product instead of what your customers are actually hoping to get in you?

These are the 5 characteristics every customer is looking for when they hire or do business with a business:

1. Qualifications: This goes beyond the obvious. How does someone know if you are qualified to do the job? Is it the degree hanging on the wall or the acronyms following your name? No, it is what others say about you, your reputation in the community. That is why it is so important to focus on developing relationships instead of focusing on sales. Have you requested endorsements from your best customers? Do you have a sales team of customers promoting you sending you referrals? If you don’t, maybe you should ask why?
2. Dependability: People want to know they can trust that you will deliver what you say you will, when you say you will do it. In Photography business, we have lots of customers who pay lots of money prior to their big day and trust that we will do what they have contracted us to do. With the fragile economy and the amount of small businesses going under, how can you build your business where people know they can depend on you as well? Again, it is about your reputation in the community. How do other people with in your community view your business? Are you a stable, dependable source, or are you holding on by a thread?
3. Appearance:Have you reevaluated your Appearance lately? This directly conveys your client’s perceived value of you and your business. How do they feel when they walk into your office? What level of success is your personal appearance portraying? What do they envision when they see your marketing materials? What perception to they get when going to your companies website? People do judge people based on appearance. How are they judging you?
4. Communication Skills: This is key. This can be the effectiveness of your marketing collateral copy, the qualifications of your receptionist, or your ability to adequately do a 60 second infomercial at a WOAMTEC networking meeting. If you are not a good communicator, you need to align yourself with a team member who is.
5. Critical Thinking Skills: People want to hire and do business with people that can think things through. This is the ability to spot assumptions, weigh evidence and more importantly see things from more that one point of view. If you are a one way is the only way type of business leader, it will hold you back. Customers don’t always have to get their way, but they want to know you have at least seen their point of view.

WOAMTEC  strives to create an atmosphere where our members can create relationships to promote their qualifications and dependability. The social element of WOAMTEC gives women a reason to put on that extra special outfit or make the connections needed to redo their website or design new marketing materials. Lastly, the focus on ongoing education helps build interpersonal skills and develop communication strategies and adept critical thinking skills.

You see, regardless of the economy, people are still spending money and they are still doing business. The question is…Are they doing business with you?