Customer service can make or break your sales numbers. A 2011 American Express Survey found that as many as 78% of consumers chose to not complete a purchase due to a poor service experience. This is an area where many businesses fail and as a result, customer service falls short of expectations. When was the Read More

Each person only has 24 hours in a day. No matter how organized you are, you can’t create more than 24 hours. You can, however, make the most out of those hours. Unless you wish to get burned out and begin to hate your work, it is important to create a balance between work and Read More

Good customer service gives your business an edge over the competition. You've probably heard that getting people in the door, or to the virtual door of your website, is the key to succeeding. However, keeping them there once you've attracted them is equally important. The likelihood of selling products or services to an existing customer Read More

In our last post I pulled the curtain back on Week #1 of a business turnaround, focused on the first tasks to be accomplished, and the strategies employed to tone down the chaos and begin moving forward. As I mentioned, the first goal is to get the production schedule locked down and then make sure Read More

When a company, board of directors, or investors call me in to handle a business turnaround, it usually means the situation has reached critical mass; they are at the end of their rope and need some experienced help in righting the ship and getting it moving forward again. If they could have done it by Read More

In the last blog post I talked about the importance of customer service and the fact that many businesses seem to have forgotten that it's customers that make the business possible - and profitable. In fact, in a customer-driven marketplace and stiff competition, excellent customer service often serves as a major differentiator between one company Read More

Without customers there is no business. And that's why Customer Service is a key area that we focus on in Business Turnarounds. It's one of those concepts that everyone understands is important, but often only in some generic "of course, we provide excellent customer serivce" way. It's not often front and center until customer retention Read More

Is it the shared knowledge and collaborative experience? Yes, but there's also this key factor... It can be lonely at the top. When you're the senior leader everyone looks to for answers, you're also the one who wakes up in the middle of the night wondering how to make payroll or how to get that Read More

For many businesses, the term 'metrics' means looking at the financials at month end - the "after Action Reports." But these reports provide only a snapshot and they typically don't show you what's actually going on behind the numbers. If your profitability and cash are falling short, do you understand the big picture and know Read More