Today’s business environment isn’t getting any easier, nor will it get easier anytime in the future. Business NEVER gets simpler. More competition, shrinking profit margins, increases in fixed and operating costs are just a few of the issues we deal with everyday. You can lament this fact or, you can take proactive measures to bullet-proof your business. Here are few strategies that can help:

Clearly define your business. The most successful business people know what they are in business for. They have one or two areas of specialty or expertise and they stick to what they’re good at. They avoid the temptation to try to become everything to everybody. In many fields, specialists tend to do better than generalists.

Have you found a niche market for yourself? Is your niche viable in your location/city/town/market? Are you the best at what you do in your trading area? Do you stick to what you’re good at or do you stray from this when revenues are lean?

Create and maintain customer loyalty. In today’s competitive environment, many business owners think that consumers are concerned only with getting the lowest price for the product or service they are buying. So, they spend money trying to attract new customers based on price which means they constantly erode their profit margins. Although price is a factor in every sale it is not always the most important factor. It is much more effective, not to mention profitable, to create and maintain customer loyalty. Here are a few questions to consider:

• Do you stay in regular contact with them?
• Do you know and use your customer’s names?
• Do you give them a reason to continue doing business with you?
• Do you know what your customers want or expect?

The benefits of investing your time, effort, energy and money to create loyalty include: more referral business, higher margins, and reduced advertising costs. It’s important to note though, developing customer loyalty is not something you do once in a while, it is the way you conduct and run your business.

Deliver outstanding customer service. Virtually every business recognizes the importance of delivering excellent customer service. Yet, few actually consistent execute. The excuses run from “I have to reduce my head count” to “My employees are just here to collect a paycheque” to “I can’t be in the store twenty-four hours a day.” Again, it comes back to why you are in business. Obviously, if you want to deliver great customer service on a consistent basis you won’t be the lowest priced vendor; it’s economically impossible to achieve this goal.

To deliver outstanding customer service you need to get personally involved. You need to determine what great service means to you and, even more critical, what it means to your customers.

Improve your selling skills. Constant refining of your sales skills will help you close more sales and/or increase the value of each sale. I don’t suggest you adopt or use aggressive, hard selling tactics. Instead, develop your skill at uncovering your customer’s needs, suggesting solutions that are appropriate to their needs, and overcoming objections. Learn how to engage the customer in the sales process and how to ask for a referral.