One of the deadly wastes that is eating up the profitability of your business is wasted movement.

Wasted movement leads to wasted time, energy, and possible damage to your products or injury to your employees.

The last time I attended a conference downtown, I parked in the city’s parking garage next to the convention center.

When you pull up to the gate, you need to push a big button on the ticket machine, pull your ticket, then drive your car forward about four feet to give the same ticket and advance payment to the attendant.

While I was waiting in line, I frequently saw cars pull staight up to the attendant. The attendant would then get out of the booth, squeeze past the car, push the button, return to the booth, and complete the transaction.

Do you see some wasted movement in this scenario?

My first thought was “Why have the button-pushing-ticket-dispenser if the customer has to always talk to the attendant?”

If you look hard enough, you’ll probably find similar wasted motion and time in your business. People will be doing something a certain way just because that is the way it has always been done.

To the outside observer, your business processes may seem as absurd as my parking garage example.

Take some time to audit your processes and see where you can find some easy things to change. Your business will, in turn, run smoother, and your customers will be processed faster.

This year, 2010, is the year of the Tiger on the Chinese calendar. More specifically, 2010 is the year of the Metal Tiger.

According to ChineseZodiac.com, the Metal Tiger is:

Assertive, competitive and sharp, once Metal Tigers set their sights on their goals there’s no stopping them. They’ll always do what’s necessary to remain at the center of attention. Metal Tigers tend to jump to conclusions; a behavior they need to work at improving.

Your business would be wise to learn from these attributes of the Metal Tiger.

Attack Your Goals

Imagine what would happen if you actually accomplished all those New Year’s Resolutions you set. Your company probably also set goals for this new year that, if reached, would bring some success to your business.

Don’t leave your goals symbolically on your paper or in that Powerpoint presentation. Break down the steps that stand between you and your goal and get to work.

The tiger is unrelenting in attacking its goals and you should be likewise. Success will surely follow.

Center of Attention

The tiger likes to be the center of attention. Granted, while nobody likes a selfish company, your business needs to be ever present in your customer’s mind.

When a prospective or current customer thinks about the problem you solve, you need to be the first one that comes to mind to solve that problem for them.

The tiger has a solid marketing plan for communicating how it solves a customer’s problem. The tiger is also hanging around where customers are talking and is able to offer its expertise to help and assist others.

Don’t be selfish, be helpful. You’ll be the center of attention because everyone will respect your advice and will seek you out to solve their problems.

Resist Jumping to Conclusions

Tigers tend to jump to conclusions. This can be a deadly sin.

One way to prevent jumping to conclusions is to rely on more data and analysis. Supplement your hunch or gut feeling with some data that show the way things currently are. Do they corroborate each other? If so, you may be jumping to the right conclusion.

Another way to combat jumping to conclusions is to take time to listen to customers. Listen to understand and you will make money.

Be a Tiger

Take a look at how you are running your business and interacting with customers today. What can you do to be more tiger-like?

Giving away your product or service can help grow your user base, however, you must be cautious in how you change your pricing structure after you have people relying on you.

If you’re even thinking about using “free” to attract customers, you need to read Chris Anderson’s book Free.

Additionally, you need to keep in mind that once something is free, people will expect it to be free forever. When you change the pricing scheme, your “customers” will be mad.

For a couple of years, I had used an online service to make sure my websites were up and running. This service was free and served my needs.

One day, without warning, I got an email that they were changing the free plan to only allow three websites to be monitored.

Uh oh.

I had twelve sites monitored by this service.

They said in the email that if I had more than three, then only three would be monitored.

Unfortunately, the website didn’t clearly show which three were still being monitored.

Instead of paying, which I assume was their plan, I jumped to another service which is still free.

This alternative service, mon.itor.us, makes money by showing ads and having a premium service to support their free accounts. Apparently, they had read Anderson’s Free where as the other company had not.

Remember that your current user experience is setting expectations with your users and customers of how things are and should be.

If you make changes and break that expectation unexpectedly, you’ll anger many and lose those that could very well have been nurtured and converted to long-term, paying customers.

The principles taught by William Edwards Deming helped bring Japan back from the wasteland of World War Two to the industrial and economic power it is today.

If his teachings can help a country recover that was devastated by war, think about what he can do for your business.

Among Deming’s teachings outlined in his book Out of the Crisis are 14 points that were focused on improving manufacturing.

When you apply these principles to your business, they can help optimize your business, improve your profits, and increase your customer loyalty.

What could your business improve if it created, delivered, and lived these points:

• Create a Constancy of Purpose Around your Customer’s needs
• Eliminate Inspection, Build Quality into Product
• Standardize and Train on Methods
• Partner with Like-Minded
• Continuously Improve
• Participative Management
• Drive Out Fear
• Eliminate Boundaries and Barriers between Departments
• Zero Defects
• Partner with the Front-line
• Measure Quality not Quantity
• Measure Inputs, not Solely Outputs
• Elevate the Data Constantly
• Management Must Support the Above

These concepts can be put to use on everything from manufacturing to call center management to how customers purchase your product.

Iterate over these points, one-by-one, and you will improve your business.

This week we celebrate Thanksgiving in the United States. It is a time commonly used to reflect on personal blessings but it is also an excellent opportunity to identify the things your business is grateful for.

As a small business owner, I’m thankful for:

• revenue growth
• loyal customers
• customers who pay in a timely fashion
• customers who refer their friends and family to me
• overhead costs that are shrinking (or at least not going up)
• reliable web hosting
• return customers
• lower gas prices
• competition that is giving up

What are you and your business grateful for? How can you show your customers?

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is a guest post from Joseph Eitan, founder of Photo Paper Direct.

The next sentence might raise a few eyebrows, but I am going to say it anyway. Winning new customers is much easier than keeping them as returning customers. After winning new business, so many things could go wrong during the retention process that customer retention becomes daunting for the business owner. However, retaining customers is extremely crucial to the health of your business, even though it’s not as easy as winning them.

5 Ways to Win New Business

1. Increase Your Customer Base – If the business has a good conversion rate, the math is simple. More customers will result in more business.

2. Cater for Different Marketing Channels – It is very likely that some of your customer base might be ebay users, some might be Amazon users and some will only look at the organic search results. To win new business it will make sense to diversify your marketing channels to reach as many potential customers as possible.

3. Check Your Prices – Customers are very wise these days. Before buying from you, they will research other offers to find the best deal, especially for branded products. To win new customers, ensure your prices are competitive.

4. Offer More Products or Services – True in many industries, customer taste changes, technology improves and new products are constantly introduced. To win new customers stay tuned to your market and add new products when possible.

5. Make Your Current Customers Work for You – Current customers can help immensely. Social recommendations are known to have a high conversion rate because friends or family tend to share a similar taste. To win new customers make sure your website has an easy way to share content (for example, an addthis.com button is an easy way to email a page) and do not be afraid to ask customers to share your products with others.

10 Ways to Keep Customers

1. Offer More Communication Channels – The days of communicating with your customers via email alone are numbered. To keep customers you must talk the same language using the same channels. Consider using Twitter, Skype and even a 3rd party online chat application to engage your customers.

2. Respond to Emails Within 15 Minutes – In the viral world, it is very hard to cause a customer to say “Wow!”, but it’s not impossible. Quality customer support in the shape of priority email support can cause that. To keep customers, make it a business policy to respond as soon as possible. In some cases, you might still respond while the customer is browsing the site, thereby increasing the likelihood of a sale.

3. Make New Offers – Some customer groups find price drop offers appealing, some find free delivery appealing and some are just looking for any excuse to spend more. To keep customers, always diversify your offers to keep your products as appealing to your customers as the first time they bought from you.

4. Openly Encourage Reviews (Good or Bad) – It is easier for customers to relate to other customers and to the problems or solutions they found when using your products if there is a place for them to talk about their experience. In order to keep a genuine brand image, encourage product reviews which will also help you spot any potential problems on time.

5. Actively Ask for Feedback – Similar to product reviews, the goal of asking for feedback is to find potential problems with your products or service which might put off customers from buying again. Consider signing every service email (such as an invoice, order confirmation and of course, company newsletter) with a request to provide feedback.

6. Look and Talk Professionally – To win and retain new customers, become an authority on the product or service you offer. The brand image, the language you use, and the level of service offered should all spell professionalism.

7. Do Not Distance Yourself – While your business needs to look and act in a professional manner, do not overdo it. Remember that your customer base has many potential returning customers, some with more knowledge than others. Avoid using buzz words, openly accept communication, and find the right balance between appearing professional and distancing yourself from your customers.

8. Fix Problems Quickly – If you find a problem with your products or service, act quickly and decisively.

9. Stay Competitive – As you already read, one of my top tips of winning new business is to be competitive. To keep new customers, you must also stay competitive, taking into account the total price of your products or service i.e. tax and delivery when applicable.

10. Surprise Your Customers (with a nice surprise, that is) – Do something beyond what you have to. Send a promotion code to loyal customers, create a high quality how-to guide sharing your extensive industry experience, or even send your customer a congratulations email on their birthday. Just show you really care.

What are your tips for retaining customers?

This is a guest post by Joseph Eitan, founder of online office consumables and print cartridges store Photo Paper Direct.

As a business, you may unknowingly be putting on a costume or facade that tarnishes how you interact with customers.

Frankenstein

Frankenstein is the classic monster built from a bunch of different parts. The result was a hideous creation that didn’t really work so well.

Your business is a Frankenstein if, to the customer, you appear as a hodge-podge collection of independent departments and divisions.

Your customers expect a unified experience with your company, regardless of your internal org chart and departments.

Don’t be Frankenstein.

Witch

Think of the wicked witch from Wizard of Oz. She had her signature cackle and always seemed to torment those around her.

Your company is a witch if, from the customer’s perspective, you are never giving them what they want.

You may be hiding behind company policies, or draconian procedures that make your customers’ lives miserable.

Don’t be a witch.

Dracula

The vampire Dracula could literally suck his victims dry. Are you sucking your customers dry?

Hidden charges, fees, penalties, unbreakable contracts, restocking fees, etc. can easily eat up all of your customer’s money.

Determine what is a fair price and stick to it.

You can upsell your customers but remember there is a difference between offering them something and forcing them to do something.

Don’t be Dracula.

Ghost

Ghosts are mysterious in that you don’t always see them. They come and they go without any rhyme or reason.

You are a ghost to your customers if you are an absentee business. If you never answer the phone, can’t be found behind the counter, and are almost impossible to reach, you might as well be a ghost.

Don’t be a ghost.

Who Should You Be?

Instead of being a monster or an evil creature to your customers, be something positive.

Perhaps you could be a:

• Transformer: changing to meet the needs of the customer.
• Fairy Godmother: helpful, making your customers’ wishes come true
• Buzz Lightyear: fighting for what is right and defending the galaxy from bad customer service

Remember, customers hate getting tricked and love treats, so act accordingly.

Happy Halloween!

If you quote a price to a customer, you need to honor that price.

This may seem obvious, but unfortunately, we live in a day where people and companies don’t always live up to their commitments.

When you honor a quote you’ve given customers, it is an important step in building a solid relationship with them.

We recently stayed at a beach condo on the Texas coast. When we made our reservations, the condo’s website had stated a certain price for the days of our trip.

By the time we checked into the condo several months later, their rates had increased. We realized this when we saw that upon check in, they had charged us more than we were expecting.

Armed with our original confirmation and quoted amounts, I returned and spoke with the manager to correct the problem.

After explaining the situation, she immediately (without argument or question) refunded the difference to me.

This was a huge relief.

You Can Diffuse the Situation

When your customers notice a difference between the quoted price and the actual sale price, they will get on edge or even angry.

The customer will come to you ready to fight, argue, and will probably be expecting the worse.

You can immediately diffuse any worries and conflict by honoring the original price.

Problem solved.

Remember: even though there was an error to begin with, the customer will remember the positive outcome and leave with a good impression of your business.

Recent years has brought the emergence of “mashups” to the internet. These web-based applications and sites combine or mash up content and services for different sources to create a unique and beneficial experience.

For example, a hotel site will show available hotels on a Google map. This mashes up the hotel information with a third party map service.

Mashups don’t just exist in the online world.

You have the opportunity to make something new out of components you already have.

For example, I recently ate at a restaurant called Moonshine. One of their appetizers is a corn dog shrimp.

Like the name implies, this is a shrimp skewered on a stick, battered, then fried just like a corn dog.

The outcome was a unique and delicious experience.

The chef took components that were already within his reach and created something noteworthy, remarkable, or as author Seth Godin would say, a purple cow.

Your business is in a similar situation. You sell products or services to your customers.

What would happen if you start combining those, mixing them up, and offering them to customers?

Can you deliver on an unmet need and open up more revenue opportunities for your business?

Try mashing up what you have at your fingertips and see what you can make.

Don’t let your business be distracted by bright, shiny objects.

With the passage of time, a couple of things are inevitable: new technology will emerge and new business practices will hit the market.

While some of these may add great value to your company and customers, they can too easily be a distraction that takes you off your core focus.

I was at a conference recently where the design and the layout of the stage completely distracted from the speakers and demonstrations.

Behind the keynote podium was a large bank of bright LED lights that slowly changed colors during the presentations.

These lights were too bright and since they were positioned right behind the speaker, they were downright annoying.

This was the first year I had seen these lights at this conference and I wonder why the sponsors used them. Perhaps this new technology came along and everyone thought “Wouldn’t it be cool if…?”

Unfortunately, whenever someone says “Wouldn’t it be cool if…?” you need to put on your analytical and rational thinking cap and see it this new gizmo merits the attention and implementation.

Progress is inevitable. However, it must be implemented on your terms in your business. Perhaps your customers aren’t ready for the latest and greatest widget. Maybe it’s just what they need.

Try to remove the emotion as you think through chasing that new, shiny object before you actually make the leap. Your business and customers will thank you.