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As a business owner, you know what it’s like to lie awake at 2 a.m. Maybe it has happened when you are excited and full of new ideas for your business. More often, it’s because you are worried about issues you will face the next day. Sometimes, it’s because you just woke up with the solution to a problem. I’ve experienced all those emotions about my businesses over the years. Awake at 2 o’clock? is where I share them with you, and hopefully help with answers that will let you sleep.
John F. Dini, CExP, CEPA
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Small business owners are the Hunters of the 21st century. We are 3% of the US population, and yet we create over half of all American jobs. As Hunters, we may not be inclined to manage by the numbers or stick to systems. Are you a Hunter or a Farmer?
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How prepared are you to exit your company?
The Assessment breaks down the four major categories of exit readiness; Finance, Planning, Operations and Revenue/Profit.
Tag Archives: sales management
Giving Referrals: Fire and Forget?
We all appreciate getting referrals. There is a feeling of gratification in knowing that someone thinks enough of your work to send a friend or associate your way. Referrals are usually the life’s blood of most small businesses. When I … Continue reading
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Sales: Do You Have Customers or Clients?
Whether you have customers or clients is more than a matter of semantics. Some businesses use the term “clients” in an attempt to class up their image. Attorneys usually have clients. Kentucky Fried Chicken doesn’t, regardless of what they might say. Nordstrom? … Continue reading
2 Responses to Sales: Do You Have Customers or Clients?
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Is Distribution Dead?
It’s difficult to talk to any owner of a small distribution business without hearing complaints about competition from the Internet. Their criticisms are pretty universal, regardless of the goods being distributed. “Customers call with prices they claim to have found … Continue reading
2 Responses to Is Distribution Dead?
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Passing on to clients – thanks.
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John….SAP/IBM Global Services has taught companies to ‘save’ through better logistics. Ship full truckloads not LTL. Thus the growth of Amazon and others as a ‘redistributors’.
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Left Behind
As business owners, most of us understand that the people who help us get our company to one level may not be the folks who can get it to the next. A great salesman may not be your next sales … Continue reading
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Proactive, Preventative Sales
Sometimes a topic rises to the top of my long list of candidates because it seems to come up repeatedly. It may be a coincidence (probably is), but a single business ownership issue is raised in multiple coaching sessions or … Continue reading
One Response to Proactive, Preventative Sales
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Some excellent points. I can see where I was short-sighted in thinking I was locked into a company, when it was really a personal relationship I had — and when that person left, I was starting all over. Thanks.
Ha! Love the Shaw comment…
Thanks John.
This is one that I’ve always wondered about as well…I never liked the word “client”, felt like those using it were trying to sound important…I’ll never be a lawyer so they’ll always be customers (buying something)…
Clint.
John, thanks for your article. I agree with your distinction between the two. Perhaps, though, it does not go far enough.
It seems to me that “customers” purchase goods and services which have been commoditized; that is, items for which little value derives from an ongoing relationship with the supplier or intermediary providing the commoditized goods or services.
“Clients,” on the other hand, purchase some goods, and more often services from people or businesses whose approach, advice and supplementary services they trust and value. Therefore, the elements of “trust” and “value” figure into the distinction between the two.
Finally, those of us who have clients need to recall that the meaning of “trust” and “value” must be based on the buyer’s personal perception … not our own. Too often, we focus on what we believe is valuable rather than focusing on “value” as defined by the client/buyer.