relationships | Steve Pohlit

“Being on par in terms of price and quality only gets you in the game. Service wins the game.!” Tony Alexandr

During a recent call that I co-host on a monthly basis with George Ross for a select private group of business owners and entrepreneurs, we discussed how to create the “wow factor” in non-real estate businesses like a convenience store or hardware store. George advised all to focus on the personal touch. Sure appearances and merchandising are important. Getting to know your customer, demonstrating a sincere interest in the person is what keeps people coming back.

I have no favorite stores any longer. I mostly shop on line and even the on line experience is mixed with ease of shopping. I do have a few favorite restaurants and as a business traveler I have a few (very few) favorite hotels. However, nearly every day there is an opportunity for a business to provide memorable service and they do. Trouble is the memories are not very positive in most cases.

Here is a recent example. It happened this morning. Jos A Bank is offering a two day buy 1 get 2 free special. There are a couple items I really like from that store. This is a great opportunity for a deal. However, their on line shopping cart is not working properly for the special. So I called and a pleasant lady helped me by phone. When I received my order confirmation, it was wrong …very obviously wrong since there was only one of an item I order instead of three. I called back to customer service and hopefully the order will be correct now.

Look at all the steps and look at the additional time and look at the impression I have of this business. Now I will shop again when I see a great deal since there are items where I like the fit and quality. Guess what there are many places where I can get the right fit and quality. I am not finding places where I feel I am honored as a customer. See the opportunity?

I know if I were to visit certain specialty stores I would receive personalized attention. However, I do not have the time and neither do a lot of other people. There are a growing number of businesses that promote deals: Groupon , Deal of the Day and many more. Nobody is promoting service…big opportunity.

Speaking of service ….that’s my business. Actually your success is my business.

Action Steps

Get A Business Coach! If you already have a business with more than 10 employees, Hire A Consultant who is able to work with you part of the time on-site.

Would you like to be in the next group of very successful companies and entrepreneurs?

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Steve Pohlit

Business Development Consulting
Executive Coach

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About: Steve Pohlit CPA,MBA has been the CFO and COO of major domestic and international companies. Steve has extensive business ownership experience having purchased and started off line and on line businesses.

Steve offers his build business profits expertise to companies and entrepreneurs with business coaching and business consulting. His focus is on building business profits and net asset value at above average rates. Steve incorporates health and wellness plus relationship guidance in his work as they are at the foundation of achieving all goals.

All articles published by Steve unless specifically restricted may be freely published with this resource information.

Working with business owners domestically and internationally in many different industries offers confirmation on key success factors for optimizing business performance and areas where entrepreneurs and business executives have the most trouble. In this article I address what I have found to be the number one challenge for most businesses.

"Steve Pohlit" — Steve Pohlit Build Business Profits Coach and Consultant

The Shocking Build Business Profits Fundamental That Most Entrepreneurs and Business Executives Miss

There are a handful of key fundamentals that every business needs to consistent have in place in order to optimize business performance as measured by building business revenue, profits and liquidity. I regularly address one or more of these at my blog Build Business Profits which is the new domain that I moved from Steve Reports. Strategically I am positioning Build Business Profits to be the “go to” blog for business advice. I have always written material based on what I find working with my clients. Readers should benefit greatly from this material as it reflects the actual experiences of companies I am working with. I am sharing that with my readers so you can have an insight as to how I am addressing the current branding for the business coaching and consulting business.

The one fundamental that most business owners and business executives have difficulty with is The Executive Summary that defines their business. I work with every client on this document and advise them the goal is not primarily to have a document that will be sent out to the public, although there are no restrictions on doing that. Rather the goal is to prepare the business leader for effectively defining their business in a networking situation. A related business benefit is that the Executive Summary generally forms the foundation of the home page of the company’s website. The key elements I coach businesses on are the development of the written document and then how to effectively network for relationships that will help their business.

The coaching on networking has evolved to include more guidance on building the relationships. This is important because as people begin to develop a clear definition of their business they need to know how to effectively communicate with people so to engage them and not turn them off. Imagine you are at a networking event or following up with someone you met at an event. How would you feel if that person begins telling you all about their business or business opportunity without expressing any interest in you and what you do. How likely are you to become engaged yet alone stay interested? The likelihood is 0!

So I focus my business coaching and consulting experience beyond the guidance of developing a clear executive summary and help people develop relationship building skills. Everyone finds that valuable!

Where Did I Learn What I Coach?

Clearly I learned and perfected a lot of these principles during the portion of my professional career with Arthur Andersen & Co. where networking was the primary way we marketed our services. However, as an entrepreneur, I seemed to lose some focus on networking skills. Now I am working with leaders who have as many as five coaches. I have two coaches and the primary focus includes the development of skills for building revenue and profits. Right at the top of that skill set is relationship building.