The 5 Deadly Business Sins That Are Costing You Money

Even many entrepreneurs, small business and private practice owners who spend considerable time and money to research and develop their marketing plans fail to develop systems to capture their prospects’ information.
 
Feb. 20, 2013 - PRLog -- 1. Failing to capture your lead’s information

Even many entrepreneurs, small business and private practice owners who spend considerable time and money to research and develop their marketing plans fail to develop systems to capture their prospects’ information.

It is critical that every single lead must be entered into a database of some kind, even if it is just a simple excel spreadsheet. Without this information, entrepreneurs lose the ability to nurture the relationship with their prospects, as well as the information they need to track the traffic and conversion statistics that determine where their marketing dollars are best spent.

2. Failure to follow up

Even if the business owner has captured a lead’s contact information, this by itself means very little without follow up. Remembering that over 60% of people buy only after five attempts at follow up, it is essential to be disciplined not only in front end marketing, but in developing strong relationships with leads who have shown interest in your services or products.

Keep in mind that this does not mean simply barraging prospects with sales pitches, but instead giving them pertinent, valuable information that allows them to gain familiarity with your business and how it can help them.

3. Failing to deliver

Failing to deliver on marketing promises is perhaps the greatest abuse of trust committed by entrepreneurs. There are no great relationships built without trust, so ignoring what you have promised your prospects – either through laziness or negligence – is a sure way to lose business.

A general rule of thumb is to try and not only deliver on your promises, but whenever possible to over deliver as well.

4. Failing to be consistent

Dan Kennedy has made the distinction between getting a customer to make a sale, or making a sale to get a long-term customer. Many businesses look short-sighted at the sale, but smart entrepreneurs are interested in attracting people who value what you do for them and are happy to continue coming back time and time again.

This requires consistency. That means more than just starting off strong out of the gates with a great front end experience or initial follow up; it means being consistent with your follow up and efforts to deliver value to your clientele over time.

5. Failure to fix a mistake

The mark of the great business person is not how they act when things are going well, but how they act when they have made a mistake.

Although the customer may not always be right (in a given situation or for your business), if a mistake has been made in your business the question becomes: what are you willing to do to make it right?

Failing to acknowledge or fix the mistake will cost you your patient or customer’s business as well as the business of anyone they might refer in the future. But taking responsibility and going over and above to make sure that the mistake is corrected and they are rewarded for their troubles can help you to gain a fan for life.
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