It's Jake Thomas

Technically speaking in Australia our head of state is also head of a rather prominent church, but for the most, our Queen is pretty adept at keeping her two dutues quite separate – our elected officials on the other hand, leave much to be desired.

In the last few weeks I’ve made some quirky business connections in quite unconventional places – One at the pub, one waiting for a coffee and third waiting in line at the Post office. Each of the people has great businesses that I could see value in (Not only for me, but for associates too) Yet none of them were carrying business cards!

It seems to have become quite a fad recently to add an element of intrigue and secrecy into selling yourself and your business. After being asked “what do you do” some business owners will answer with “I help you become more successful” or “I help you make more conversions”. This is perhaps great in theory, but the reality is that there are hundreds of businesses out there who claim to make you more successful, or help you make more conversions – So how are the people you are networking with going to remember what exactly it is you do?

Customer service is a huge factor in securing return customers and further to that, inspires existing customers to tell others about you and your business. Best of all, it normally doesn’t cost a cent. I am constantly amazed that more businesses don’t insist on customer service – But I guess it’s like common sense – Not all that common.

Here are 7 tips to help you offer superior customer service.

I’m not sure if you have ever experienced Sydney traffic in peak hour – But if you haven’t try to avoid it at all costs.

Working for myself does have some benefits in generally allowing me to choose what times I travel, but sometime the odd appointment makes peak hour an unfortunate reality.

I have a few suppliers who I am regularly in contact with, that have rather strange policy with emails. Emails are basically as important as phone calls these days, so I think it’s pretty important that you get it right. It doesn’t take long to put into effect an email response policy and once it becomes habit, your customers will thank you!

It’s a classical example of the government thinking they know what is right, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of Australians disagree with them.

Here are the top 6 (of many) reasons why I believe the internet filter to be a waste of time, money and resources.

Unless you have an incredibly niche specific service, there is a very good chance that if your customers aren’t happy with you they can easily go somewhere else.

In an effort to prevent them from defecting, you need to ensure that doing business with you is simple, cost effective and trouble free – Here are a few tips.

Think of the effort it takes to acquire a new customer, whether it’s from a cold call, a mail out you recently executed or simply a referral. A lot of effort goes into securing that new job, getting to know the new customer, understanding their needs, explaining your services & how you operate etc etc.

No business will succeed without acquiring new customers, but are you focusing enough on retaining your existing customers? If not, I have a few tips for you.

I’m the first to tout social media as one of the best forms of online marketing, whether it’s to promote your product, your brand, yourself or even an event – It’s a great way to add a personal touch to marketing and at a rather low cost too.

But if you have gotten to the stage where social media is starting to eat up far too much of your day and you are finding yourself consistently time poor, I think it’s time you took a step up to look at the bigger picture.

I have a few tips to help you get back on track!