Business Coaching

What's the difference between succeeding and not failing?

What is success? Is it just not failing?

It’s more than that, really. Not failing is really just breaking even, because not failing is just about the same as just scraping by.

How does that feel? Probably not the best…but at least you’re still in business.

The difference between succeeding and not failing ultimately comes down to no margin of uncertainty. As a small business owner, you decide which will happen.

When we fail at something, whatever it is, life is teaching us a lesson. What’s the difference between those who are successful in life and those who are not? The successful ones learn from their failures and follow those lessons, while the losers end up doing the exact same thing, or nothing at all, and most importantly, not learning from their mistakes when they failed.

In the business world, it’s exactly the same. Those who succeed will do things using what they’ve learned in all of their past failures. Those who don’t succeed but who just “not fail,” will  The trick is to try something out, and if it doesn’t work, understand why and then do it again with that information in mind to make it work for you.

What does it mean to you readers to succeed and to just not fail? What’s the difference between the two? Business owners: in your business, what carries you over from just “not failing” to success?

Besides less expensive flights, Southwest Airlines is widely known for its customer service.

How important is customer service to your business?

A recent American Express poll showed that 61% of Americans felt that customer service was more important to them now because of the economy. More importantly, 9% of Americans said they would be willing to pay more for services if the company gave them outstanding customer service.

American consumers are also more likely to come back to a business if they’ve gotten quality customer service. Almost 81% would come back again, while almost 52% said they wouldn’t return to businesses that offered poor customer service.

A great example of quality customer service and its positive effect on the bottom line is Southwest Airlines. Southwest has been one of the most profitable airlines in the world over the last decade and that can be directly attributed to their attitude about customer service.

They consider themselves a customer service company that just happens to provide airline transportation to their customers and that has led to stability and growth.

Remember, over the long haul, your business cannot be faster, cheaper or even better than other businesses all the time. It’s just not possible. But businesses should be consistent and, more importantly, have a strong team that can deal with challenges and assuage any issues your customers might have.

For this reason alone, customer service is incredibly important and can be the difference between your company succeeding and failing.

In your non-business life, do you like to deal with people that are unpleasant, uninformed or just generally clueless?

If you don’t, then why would you want to deal with them when making a purchase?

Employees are hired for a reason and should be trained to provide pleasant, informed customer service. If they aren’t pleasant and well-informed, that is a management issue that needs to be resolved.

Creating quality customer service has never been more important for any business’ bottom line, as the results of the latest American Express poll shows. Check out the survey here.

How does customer service affect your business? Do you think you could create more customers if you and your team focused on customer service?

Yes...that's a beer in a squirrel. A dead squirrel.

Next time you find roadkill, you’ll be looking at a marketing idea from a Scottish craft brewery.

Scottish craft brewery BrewDog produced a beer with 55 percent alcohol called “The End of History.” But that’s not its highest selling point, according to BrewDog —  this beer comes packaged inside a taxidermic rodent. At £500/$760 per beer, and from photos of the product, at least it’s not just roadkill wrapped around a cheap beer.

What BrewDog did was take an “out there” idea, and combined it with an in-demand product — a beer with a high alcoholic percentage. Combining two otherwise completely separate businesses and products might not normally work — such as beer and taxidermy — unless it’s very well-thought out and marketed well.

Oh, and in case you were wondering: the first batch of the beer served in dead rodents sold out on its first day on the market.

Can you think of any other small business that has combined a highly unusual product with its own to test and measure how that effects sales? Why do you think this idea was so successful?

India's Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal displays the low-cost tablet at its launch in New Delhi.

Do you want an iPad?

Many business owners see the benefit to owning one, but with the price starting at $499 and a lot of people tightening their belts around their finances, now might not be the best time for them to splurge.

But what if you could get something similar to an iPad for about $35?

That is what developers in India are hoping as they recently unveiled a tablet PC similar to the iPad.

The Indian tablet PC was developed through a sponsorship by the Indian government in response to a project completed at MIT a few years back.

At MIT, Nicholas Negroponte built a $100 laptop computer intended for underdeveloped countries or poor people all over the world.

After the prototype was released in 2005, the Indian government decided it could do better. They went about developing an even cheaper computer that could be used by students in India.

Now that affordable computer is developed and ready to be produced, once a manufacturer has been chosen for the project.

The Indian computer uses the Android operating system and will come in three screen sizes from five to nine inches. It will be equipped with 2 GB of RAM, Wi-Fi connectivity, and a 2-watt power supply. A solar power option will also be available for an additional charge.

The computer will be equipped with many open-sourced applications. Standard on the tablet will be a web browser, the OpenOffice office productivity suite, a PDF reader, video conferencing capability, a media player, content viewer, and remote device management capability.

So why is the new Indian tablet PC so much cheaper than the iPad?

The main reason is the fact that it doesn’t use a hard drive like the iPad, but instead uses a memory card similar to the ones used in cell phones, giving it less power to handle certain tasks.

Another reason for the low price is simple business. The iPad was made by Apple to specifically drive profits while the Indian tablet PC has been developed by the Indian government to help that nation’s students learn and build a better standard of living.

The $35 tablet PC is part of an ambitious government-sponsored technology initiative that aims to bring all 25,000 colleges and 504 universities in India online with broadband connectivity and make course material available via the Internet. The government may even subsidize the computer, lowering the price to about $20 for students.

What do you think of this cheap alternative to the iPad? Would you be interested to own one? Could it help your business? What about the Indian government’s commitment to innovation? Would government commitment to innovation work where you live?

The iPhone 4 still has unresolved issues.

In the wake of  Apple’s press conference and all sorts of issues with the new iPhone that are making people unhappy, Apple unveiled details of its bumper/case-giveaway program today while at the same time announcing that there will be further delays on the availability of the white iPhone 4.

“White models of Apple’s new iPhone have continued to be more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected, and as a result they will not be available until later this year,” Apple said in a statement. “The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.”

Why the white model is more challenging to produce than the black version was not explained.

But to deal with the antenna issues now, Apple is giving customers who already bought an iPhone 4 a “bumper,” or phone case. The cases ship in 3 to 5 weeks once customers request one.

Here’s how to get one: download an iPhone 4 Case Program app from the App Store and launch the app on your phone using your iTunes Store account or Apple ID. You then select your bumper or case. Apple will check the serial number to verify you have an iPhone 4.

In addition to Apple’s own bumpers, you can choose cases from Incase, Belkin, Griffin and Speck.

For iPhone 4 purchases made before July 23, you must apply no later than August 22; otherwise customers must apply within 30 days of your iPhone 4 purchase. To qualify for the program, customers must purchase an iPhone 4 by September 30, 2010.

For those who’ve already bought a bumper from Apple, they’re eligible for a full refund including taxes and shipping fees. If the bumper was bought by credit card, Apple says it’s already refunded the account, though it may take a full billing cycle for the refund to appear. If you paid cash, check or used a gift card at an Apple Retail Store, you must return to the store with your receipt by Sept 30.

As announced on its earnings call earlier last week, Apple expects the bumper/case giveaway program to cost the company about $175 million.

Anyone think these antenna issues are going to cause iPhone users enough of a hassle to get them to stop being a faithful Apple customer?

Brad Sugars is a successful author and entrepreneur, and became financially retired at the age of 26. With that kind of track record, that probably goes to show that he knows the way to become rich.

Knowing this…Brad Sugars probably can teach you how to think rich, act rich, and learn how to become and stay rich. Sign up for his Entrepreneur’s MasterClass and find out how.

The MasterClass is a three-day intensive course Sugars teaches in Las Vegas. Attendees learn secrets for financial freedom and business success straight from the man himself.

Interested? Who isn’t interested in making their business more successful, or inching closer to financial freedom? Watch the above promo for the class to see more, or click here to register.

If you’re interested in finding out where your business’ top problem areas are and how to overcome those problems with a business coach, click here.

Playboy.com is trying a new nudity-free venture.

For years, some men have been saying that they read Playboy just for the articles. Now those men will have their chance to prove it!

Looking for ways to grow their brand and revive themselves from an economic slump, Playboy has debuted a new website that will not feature nudity called TheSmokingJacket.com.

Playboy has struggled with its online presence for years as they straddled the line between pornography and pop culture. Their newest foray into the online world is an attempt to increase their web presence during normal work hours.

“A lot of our audience logs on (to Playboy.com) after work and we saw that we were missing a golden opportunity to reach guys when they’re online the most: when they’re sitting at their desk, not working, sending e-mails to their friends,” said Jimmy Jellinek, Playboy’s editorial director.

Of course, this move comes at a time when Playboy is struggling. Stock prices have plummeted to about $5 per share, down from $15 per share just a few years ago.

As the company continues to flounder, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner is trying to cement his legacy.  He can probably best do this by ensuring that Playboy isn’t swallowed up by one its competitors, as Penthouse recently tried to do. It is the company’s hope that the new site will be the impetus the brand needs to make gains in a field it started nearly 50 years ago.

What do you think of Playboy’s new online venture? Would you read Playboy without the nudity?

Galina Zenin, a music enthusiast, runs a daycare called Bonkers Childcare. Before she had an ActionCOACH she didn’t have any sysytems or procedures in place.

Because of this, she was unable to take any breaks or go on any holidays…her business was “out of control.” With the help of ActionCOACH David Guest, Galina was able to bring organization into Bonkers Childcare, and as a result, she now has time to work on her music. Having an ActionCOACH improved her business and gave her more time and freedom. Watch and see how above!

There are positives and negatives to social media marketing.

Marketing is the life blood of any business but many companies spend too many of their resources on marketing campaigns that don’t lead to real and substantial results.

How can companies get the results they want from marketing campaigns?

Online advertising already accounts for a $55 billion market, but the fastest growing aspect of online advertising is social media marketing. Over $2.5 billion was spent on sites such as Facebook or Twitter last year, a 14% increase from the previous year.

There is no doubt social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are changing the way businesses advertise. But do the benefits of social media advertising outweight the benefits of traditional advertising?

One of the best aspects of social media advertising is it doesn’t cost a lot of money. In a recent interview on the Today Show, SillyBandz CEO Robert Croak said his company spent, “nothing on advertising” because they allowed the brand to advertise itself through word of mouth on social networking sites.

Social media advertising helps keep you in touch with your customers; you can review feedback, both positive and negative, and even conduct informal surveys or customer polls to find out what people want to buy from you.

There are a few negatives, however, and the biggest negative might be that if social media is used incorrectly, it can create a negative buzz for your business.

When businesses use social media marketing, there are some things to remember so you don’t generate negative buzz:  Social media accounts must be continually monitored to ensure customer content is positive and constructive, and all questions and comments must be responded to in a timely manner. Not doing so can have customers questioning your motivation or commitment, which can hurt business and allow disparaging comments to last, not only in cyberspace, but in prospective customers’ minds.

Using social media to advertise may take time to master, but it can be a great benefit to any business if used correctly. What do you think of the social media advertising revolution? Has it helped your business grow?

The economy could nurture small business to success, believe it or not.

Has anyone else noticed that the recession has tilted the playing field in favor of small businesses?

We now live in an era where heavyweights like JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Wal-Mart, and the New York Times still dominate, but can be eclipsed in certain ways by small operations and wind up the follower rather than the leader.

Significant parts of the economy are vulnerable to an ever-growing flock of so-called little guys with more influence than ever before, thanks to a transforming technological and economic landscape that is leveling the playing field.

Small business boutique firms like Evercore, Rothschild, and Perella Weinberg ranked alongside JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs in mergers and acquisitions. In banking, the FDIC  is looking at more small banks versus large ones. These changes reflect a changing economic landscape that increasingly favors the little guy.

This new “little guy” economy is a world where value trumps revenue, and where business owners really have to figure out what the customer wants. Businesses need to be more flexible, and small businesses usually have more leeway to do so because they’re not answering to several higher-ups within a corporation.

This is a great time to figure out where small businesses need to strengthen and what strategies they should use going forward. The easiest way to figure this out in the short-term? A free business coaching session. This way, a business coach can give you strategies to improve not only in the short-term, but also in the long-term.

Think this new “little guy” economy could last for a while? What are your thoughts about this “new” economy and its effects on small businesses?