ANTON RESSEL Consultant, ORT Jet
As a coach, mentor and small business champion, I am often asked what the most important thing is in determining business success.
Of course, there are many possible answers, including things like focus, passion, determination, vision… and all of these are extremely important to the success of any venture. But there is something that, to my mind, is even more likely to result in success if implemented properly and consistently right across your organisation – and that is making it easy to do business with you.
Sounds obvious, right? And yet you would be amazed at how many capable, intelligent and even visionary entrepreneurs do not manage to get this part of the equation consistently correct. Make it easy and enjoyable for people to do business with you, and they will – it is really that simple.
So what do I mean when I say make it easy to do business with you? Well, it is really all about putting yourself in your potential customers’ shoes. In tech terms they call it UX or the User Experience – what do they feel and experience when engaging with you, your team, your brand or your business?
Below are some practical tips that any entrepreneur can onboard in order to make the process of engaging with your company more simple, pleasurable and of course, easy!
Making it easy
- Do you have a simple, up-to-date and informative online presence, including website, Facebook page, Instagram where relevant, LinkedIn profile, etc?
- Do you have up-to-date price lists and other sales tools that contain all the information (and images, where relevant) that a potential buyer would need to make a buying decision?
- Are your goods and services self-explanatory, and, if not, does your marketing material make it very clear what you do and how you do it?
- Are all your necessary legislative and regulatory documents up-to-date and available as needed – including tax clearance certificates, BEE status, company registration documents, any special permits or licenses required for your industry, etc?
- Is your quoting and invoicing procedure easy to understand, transparent and efficient?
- Do your messages, phones and emails get answered quickly and professionally?
My advice, in closing, is to do an audit of how easy it is to do business with your company. Ask a friend to run through your processes as a client would, and provide honest feedback on what areas need polishing up. Where are the roadblocks and bottlenecks? What processes, especially customer-facing ones, need streamlining and reworking? In other words,
how can you make it easier for your customers to do business with you?
If you get this one simple area right consistently, the only worries you will face are what to do with all the profit you are making! ●
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