It's all about relationships

Here’s a truth: Your business will be as successful as your team allows it to be (unless you want to do all the work for all your customers by yourself). With that in mind, what is your relationship like with your team?

Ask yourself the following:

• Do I know much about them?
• Do I encourage their development?
• Do I have a training program in place?
• Do I encourage them to take small risks and grow??

If you want your people to feel the same passion about your business as you do, you need to foster and nurture your relationship with them.

But your team isn’t the whole picture: You should also focus on your relationship with your customers. If you look at why customers stop working with you, the statistics are amazing:

Death and other:?One percent

Move:?Three percent

Sold by Competitor:?Nine percent

Product/Price:?14 percent

Perceived indifference:?68 percent

That's right - 68 percent of your customers move to other suppliers because they do not think you appreciate their business. That number is unbelievable, especially when you consider the acquisition cost of a new client. How many times does a customer have to buy from you for your business to make a profit (after you include advertising, and so on)? If you don't know, you should.

What are you doing today to ensure that your?A?and?B?grade customers know that you appreciate their business?

Taking control of the hardest part: your thoughts

Owning a business includes many external challenges: The market, new competitors, changing customers, managing cash flow, and so on. We’ve talked with many owners and find that one thing that they could control, but do not, is the space between their ears.

To rephrase this, consider the following scenarios:

• What happens when a football team puts in the prevent defense? It prevents them from winning.
• What happens when a salesperson thinks about a prospect and hopes they don't buy from someone else? The prospect buys elsewhere.
• What happens when players shoot free throws and focus on not missing? They miss.

Thinking – being intentional – about your relationships with both your team and your clients, will deepen those relationships.?

Bottom line: Focus on what you want to happen not what you want to avoid. This opens space for you to create possibilities and plan for success.

"Only?Action?gets you closer to your dreams - do something today that your future self will thank you for."

- COACH?

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