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Archive for May, 2011
Manage Your Business Relationships To Show Your Clients That You Care Friday, May 20th, 2011
Not to sound too clichéd but your clients really are the most important people in your business. Before you congratulate me on being Captain Obvious, my point for today is to have system for managing the important relationships in your business.
Our clients want to know that we care about them and what they are trying to accomplish. Telling them that we care is one thing. Demonstrating that through our actions is what really sets you apart.
We all need help in delivering value and service to our clients. One way that we do that at The Business Blueprint is through the use of technology to keep us on task.
Social media is a great relationship builder and has been touted as so. Social media use is just one piece of the puzzle, however. Social media can’t manage every facet of your client relationship.
For project management we have used services like Basecamp and Highrise HQ. My partner in The Business Blueprint, Billy, decided that those services weren’t good enough for him so he and his brother went out a created their own project management software as well as a client CRM for The Business Blueprint’s clients.
The name of the project management software is Akomplish if you want to check it out.
Using software to manage the workflow allows us to stay on top of deadlines and stay in communication with our clients. We have learned through our own shortcomings with managing clients and projects that if you don’t have a solid system for communication and follow up, you risk upsetting your clients. Utilizing online tools allows us to do that.
The great thing about most project management and CRM programs is that they are cloud based which allows you to access your account regardless of where you are at. You just need access to the internet. Now if something unexpected comes up with a project or a client, you can access their information from your smart phone or laptop.
Communication is a huge component to having a successful relationship with your client base. The better you are at communicating with them, the stronger the relationship that you will have and the more likely that you are to create favorable results for your clients.
For those of you who consider yourself “people persons”, technology doesn’t replace that in your business. It just works to enhance the connections that you are already good at developing.
If you don’t have an online system for managing your client relationships, I would suggest checking a few out ASAP and find a system that works best for you, your business and most importantly, your clients. Happy relationship building.
How Soul Purpose Discovery Happens Thursday, May 5th, 2011
There seems to be this belief for many seekers of Soul Purpose that the discovery happens during an a-ha moment. This ends up leading to a lot of frustration on the seekers part as they just don’t know when that moment of inspiration is going to come. For my frustrated friends of Soul Purpose discovery, let me tell you how discovery happens.
Purpose and passion are sexy topics that seem to really speak to people who are at a transition in their lives where they are feeling unfulfilled and wondering where their life is going. It was at this type of transition that my own Soul Purpose journey played out.
Like a lot of people, I went through the tools for discovering my talent, asked questions and reflected on my life.
That was where my journey started. Where the mistake is made is in thinking that knowing what you are good at is the same as knowing how you can utilize those talents.
I will hear people say, “I know my purpose, now why isn’t anything happening?”
Understanding yourself better really is a critical first step and knowing the first step in your Soul Purpose journey is important. It’s the second step where true knowledge is attained.
The second step revolves around taking action and putting your assumptions, about how you create value, to the test. Soul Purpose is as much of a science as it is anything else. It’s putting together a formula or a process and then putting that into play to see how it comes out.
The great thing about doing this is that you can then review your actions during your morning routine and analyze what is working and what isn’t. My purpose has been refined considerably since I started my journey. Things I thought I liked, don’t engage me. Things that I ignored that were staring me in the face I realized were drivers for me. You never know until you go out and do it.
Realize that during this journey you fail some and you will succeed some. Analyze each and use that data to move forward with more certainty than you had going into the process. Each failure and success brings you one step closer to understanding the true path for creating value in the world.
If your Soul Purpose does happen to fall out of the sky and hit you, that’s great. Just do me a favor, don’t make that plan A.
What are your successes in Soul Purpose discovery? What are your failures?