Wazzup Pilipinas!
You’ve got a business but it’s not going as great as you want. Pump things up and transform your business into one that makes your customers go wow
There’s no use of having a business if it’s not earning anything, or if you don’t see it growing. So how do you put some wow into your business and start bringing in the big bucks? Swish knows you need the confidence to pump some life back into your biz, so they stalked motivational speaker and seasoned entrepreneur PJ Lanot to put back the wow factor in your business.
1. Trim off the fat from your life. If you want to have time to make your business boom, you’ve got to cut out the things in your life that won’t matter in the long run. Check your schedule and your commitments, and figure out what you can delete to make more time and energy for what really matters.
2. Bring it back to its infancy. PJ suggests that yes, you should have long-term plans for your business, but you always have to start small. “For example, may gusto kang gawin na bag. May nagawa ka na ba na sample? Kung wala pa, bakit ka na nagpapatayo ng factory? Kung lumalaki na ’yung demand, saka natin palakihin ’yan.”
3. Know the ins and outs of the biz. If you have a coffee shop but you’ve never tried out your own drinks or the coffee concoctions of your competition, that’s where your problem lies. You should know everything there is about your business, and be its number one customer. From knowing how to mix all the coffee drinks to the cleaning schedule of the bathroom, you should know all these details even in your sleep.
4. Focus on your strengths, and let someone else deal with your weaknesses. PJ says, “Kasi kung ’yung weakness mo gagawin mong strength, mapapabayaan mo ’yung oras mo na dapat nakalaan sa strength mo. To compensate, you partner up with someone who is an expert on that field (you are weak in).”
5. Treat your employees well. Filipinos are a hardworking bunch, and they find happiness in their work and working environment. If you think that “Well, they shouldn’t go to work to make friends”, then you might be making your employees unhappy. PJ says, “Ang mga Pilipino, if they’re going to stay for nine hours in a particular job, they think they should be happy. That’s their motivation. They value the working relationship, na naiintindihan sila ni boss. Filipinos are very loyal and full of heart, so you have to maximize that.”
6. Create a better product or service before your competitor does. If you want your customer to go “wow!” about your product or service, then it should be something that they haven’t seen before, or something that they need right now. PJ says, “You have to keep on innovating. If you think, it’s okay, I’m earning anyway, what happens when a stronger player comes along? Kinakain na ’yung sales mo, tapos doon ka palang magpla-plano? No business is safe right now, kailangan worldwide ang tinitignan na competition, and from there, you innovate before it’s too late.”
7. Keep on interacting with your customers. Besides knowing what your competitors are doing, it’s more important to know what your customers are craving for. Their needs always change, so you have to keep on meeting and exceeding their expectations. PJ compares putting up and sustaining a business to being in a relationship. “Kahit sabihin mo hindi naman sila nagrereklamo, kung makakita sila ng iba na can give them a better future, na pwede sila maging happier with, they’ll move there. Pero kung masaya naman sila sa’yo, they won’t even think of leaving.” So take time to constantly interact with the customers you serve and do so professionally, looking and acting the part of a winner. Put your best foot forward (look the pro that matches your brand identity and care enough to look kept, with your hair in place and your breath fresh with SWISH breath spray for a pump of customer confidence), but still remain honest and upfront.
8. Be confident in yourself and in your business, and your customers will feel the change. Confidence comes from knowing your strengths and weaknesses, and being true to you. The same thing can be said about your business—if you continue to tweak your business to show that you know your customers better than anyone, and you want to serve them better than anyone can, then they’ll start flocking to your biz in droves.
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
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