Business Beware Blog: Giving Your Business a Voice

Are You Aware of Business Beware?

How Bad Customers Can Cost You Money

Bad customers can cost you money easily.  Anyone who has had a difficult customer to deal with knows this.  You can spend countless hours working with a customer and you lose money out of it.  This is why it’s so important to pre-qualify your customers.  Business Beware is also a tool to help you do just that and at least have a heads up about certain problem customers in your area.

We had a great show this past Saturday and our theme this month is “Building a Better Business.”  We had Tim from ConstructionDeal.com talk with us about their site and how they can help contractors with new leads and projects which is huge with the way our economy is at the moment.  We also had a caller tell us that he fired his first customer the other day after listening to our show a few weeks ago.  Now how awesome is that?  We always upload our shows via BlogTalkRadio in case you miss them or you can download them on our radio show website.

Also mentioned in this episode: Mike Michalowicz, Instride Therapy
Send in show questions at info[at]businessbeware[dot]biz

This Saturday we will be broadcasting live at the grand opening for lifestyleexterior.com and special guest will be Scott Gerber.

Put Your Business Cards Everywhere

Some things are so simple BUT simple is always the best way to go.  One of the best ways to get your name or business out there is to use your business cards to your advantage.  Put them everywhere!  It can be somewhere simple or even more creative.  Yes, you always hear to hand them out when you meet someone or get the chance to talk with them about it or in other words when you “network.”

That is great but you never know where your potential customers are that may have never known about your product/service/business.  It could be at a gas station, grocery store, library who knows!  I was in Best Buy the other day and the lady at the check out saw my wallet with our sticker and she goes “I love that!  Can I have one?”  I immediately handed her some stickers and business cards as I was about to head to the radio show.  Now how perfect was that?  Even when you are out to eat and you leave a tip, leave a business card.  The worst thing they can do is throw it away but if you have something worth knowing about I guarantee they will take a double look at it.  What’s the point in having a bunch of business cards if you never pass them out or leave them for others to have?

In this video I show you just how easy it is to do what I just told you.  I was picking up some Starbucks the other day and decided to put practice what I am writing about…

**The book that the Business Beware card is in is Mike Michalowicz’s book “Toilet Paper Entrepreneur”

Snobbishness Is Not Attractive

What is more annoying than a bad, rude, irate customer?  That would be a snob.  And as you know we are on the business owners side but that does not mean there are not some bad businesses out there. 

Just a few weeks ago I went to a store that I had actually never been to before and heard great things about.  I had the chance to see it and visit with the employees and I loved the atmosphere at this place and the employees were awesome.  If you are familiar with our “business spotlight” section then you know that we love to spotlight companies that we think others should know about.  Well I wanted to spotlight them and talked it over with a few people there and with the manager and he said that would be awesome.  After hitting it off with everyone and putting up the information, blogging about the place, and telling others about it I wanted to eat my words.  I got a phone call from the owner about spotlighting his store on our site and he was mad that he was not asked or aware about being on the site.  He said he did not want to be associated with it etc. and I said okay no problem I can take it down but may I ask why though?  He first says “I don’t want to be associated with “the customer is not always right.”  And honestly I can totally understand this (even though his employees and customers in the store that day loved it).  He goes on to say that our reviews are “neutral” and we are only 2 years old and basically that he would consider it down the road.  So what else does this say?  Well it boils down to that in his mind we are not big enough for him…hmm in my book that is a snobbish remark.  We simply gave him free advertising, great word of mouth and more.  Who turns that down?

Our site is focused on problem customers yes, but the site is a way to work out situations before going to court or litigation etc.  Businesses pre-qualify customers everyday and we are another tool where they can pre-qualify them basically.  But not all businesses and business owners are right or perfect (nobody is and we admit that).  If business owners act like this to their customers or those who try and reach out to them while spreading the good word, you are only hurting yourself.  I was ready to let a TON of people know about this place but now I don’t even want to step foot in it.  This is sad, a great business, employees, atmosphere but a too good business owner that has his nose turned up ruined it.  I’m a business owner too and know what it takes to run a business but I am also a consumer too so when business owners act like that, yes it’s wrong.  My advice to fellow business owners is don’t be a snob because it is such a turn off to consumers.  That’s a deal breaker.

Have you ever dealt with snobs as a consumer or business owner?

Firing Bad Customers: Just Do It

Business owners if you have a customer that is causing you more problems than actually helping your business, it’s time to fire them. 

Each week at Business Beware we search around for great businesses where we talk with them about what they do, interview them and get their opinions on what they think about the slogan “the customer is always right.”  It’s absolutely amazing how business owners get fired up about bad customers because they put a stink in the air when they’re around.  We always hand out our stickers (created by our awesome partners at Websticker.com) that say “The Customer is NOT Always Right,” and they go nuts over them, especially restaurants!  So many take the sticker and put it on the front of their stores where customers walk in and see it.  It’s hilarious BUT think about it… if customers see this sticker it might make them think “oh I guess I can’t get away with my usual free meal stories…”  How many people that are in the food/restaurant industry have people that eat the whole plate of food and then decide to say it was not good and they want it complemented?  This happens daily around the world.  Now if you put the Business Beware sticker in the front of your store, your customer might think twice.  It definitely works according to the owners at The Reef Cafe.  They said “we put the sticker right as you walk in on the hostess stand and we have had some walk out that we had before that were irate customers and literally some of our employees cheered after they walked out.” 

Let customers know that they can’t keep getting away with what they do, it’s honestly like “stealing” from your business when they do.  Send us an email right now and we will mail you some free stickers for your business.  Send an email to info[at]businessbeware[dot]biz so we know who and where to send them to.  Just do it.

Is Your Business Social?

Okay so we all know that social media has taken over by storm with the Internet and if you’re not on it people tend to give you a blank stare.  Are you as a small business using the tools like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.?  Most of you aren’t I know because many of our members at Business Beware are small business owners and contractors that have no idea what social media is.  Many would argue that most small businesses are actually on there but if you really look at it, many of them may have signed up because of all the fuss and after a short time they gave up on it.  Maybe it’s because they didn’t know what to do with it or how to run it or thought this is stupid and I don’t need this.  Who knows but they are great tools to use and a great way to communicate with your customers. 

I was in a food place the other day and they had a sign up on their wall that said “follow us on Twitter” so after trying the food I tweeted about their store and said how awesome the food was.  They then replied saying “so glad you loved the food and thank you for stopping by!”  Now how cool is that to communicate with a business through social media with people who come into your store? 

People want to know who you are and when they can put a personality or face with your store or business they feel like they know you and can relate to you.  It’s definitely an advantage to use the social media and “tweet” about yourself but it also may open the door to meeting some great people you would have never come across if you weren’t involved in it. 

We encourage small businesses to take advantage of the social media tools out there.  You don’t have to go over the top with it all by any means.  Start small, see how it goes and go from there.  If you need help we are more than happy to help you with it too because it can definitely get confusing when first starting out. 

Is your small business involved in social media?

You Know You’re A Bad Customer When…

You know you’re a bad customer when…..

1. You eat all your wings and then when the waiter comes back you say “these wings were terrible. I want the meal free.”

2. You follow the service tech around the yard telling him how to do everything (why did you call them out then if you know it all?)

3. You order coffee and let it sit there while reading or messing with your computer and then say to the employees “this coffee is cold and I want a brand new one.”

4. You order your food and waiting in line you yell at the employee “why is it taking so long, what is wrong with you people?!”  (considering it’s only been 5 minutes since you ordered)

5. You call an install business asking if they sale parts.  When they tell you they don’t you reply with “well how stupid is that?  who doesn’t sell parts?  why are you even in business then?”

***More to come and just a note– these are true stories from in and around the workplace.  If you have stories, would love to hear them.  Visit us at Business Beware for more information.

Are You Protected With LifeLock?

Who knows of LifeLock?  Well if you don’t you must not get out much these days that’s for sure.  Yes, Todd the CEO is the one who drove around NYC with a large car that had his SS# on it for all to see and he dared anyone to try and get his information.  With the protection of LifeLock, your identity is secure.  What an awesome way to show your faith in your product and service, we give him double props on that. 

LifeLock will be here to talk with us this Saturday during the show.  We will have the awesome Mike Prusinski on the show to talk with us about how you can protect yourself from scams and identity theft.  I’m telling you, this is crazy.  There are some things you would NEVER think people would do to get your information, but they do!  Also if you are a listener this Saturday they will give you the first month FREE and 20% your lifetime membership with them.  NOW THAT IS A DEAL!  We will reveal the code later this week  to take advantage of this and we will announce this on the show as well so don’t miss it!  This Saturday 11am to noon (est).  For more information on the show, visit our official site. 

Are you protected?

And of course if you have problem customers put them on Business Beware!

Mike Michalowicz Is The Man

I love what Mike says here “Success is not determined by your background or your cash on hand. It is exclusively dictated by your beliefs. If you truly, emphatically believe you will succeed, you will. If you don’t, you won’t. In this section you will learn how to master enabling beliefs and destroy limiting beliefs. Your entrepreneurial mastery depends on it.”

Mike motivates you to be an entrepreneur who can work with less and make it a success.  You don’t have to have a lot of money to make a successful business and that is what “The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur” is all about.  What are you going to do with three sheets of toilet paper compared to a whole roll?”

We have read Mike’s book and are HUGE fans of it and definitely recommend it to all entrepreneurs as a must read.  Mike is going to be on the Business Beware Show this Saturday (5/22) so make sure and tune in!  For more information on how and where you can listen in, visit our radio show website.  Please email us with any questions you have for Mike too and we will gladly read them on the air.

Check out this video where Mike is wearing our “got business beware” shirt  on his “on a roll” videos.

Make sure and check out Business Beware so you can warn others about difficult customers who have become bad apples in the group….

Sarah Shaw and Entreprenette.com

We got to talk with the lovely Sarah Shaw on our show this past Saturday about how she came up with Entreprenette.com  She is helping people take their big ideas and make them a reality.  She created handbags known as “Pinked” and they were featured in Legally Blonde, Friends, Will & Grace, America’s Sweethearts and more.  She has also been featured in numerous things like Oprah Magazine, Acess Hollywood, In Style, Lucky Magazine and more.  For more information on Sarah and what she offers, check out her site Entreprenette.com 

Listen to our interview with her right here!

Tune in to the show each Saturday from 11am to Noon (est).  If you are outside the listening audience you can watch us live in the studio on our website or listen on your iphone, blackberry or smartphone.  And of course if you do miss it you can listen to the show on our Blog Talk Radio page too.