CLUES to Building a Successful Business

Suzanne Mulvehill Last month I participated in a tele-seminar that had world-wide participation. What was most exciting about presenting this seminar was that I realized that whether we are in South Florida, Singapore, or England, we speak a common language, the language of building a successful business. While there is no exact science to building a business, there are many clues. The challenge can be recognizing the clues and what they mean. How many of you remember playing the game of CLUETM when you were a kid? The clues are what helped you become confident and believe that you knew who committed the crime, in which room the crime was committed and with which instrument. Clues are important to business as well. While we each may have different clues to help us recognize that we are going in the right direction, we share common clues. Here are a few:

Referrals Referrals are an excellent clue that your business is meeting your customers needs. Even if you are in the early stages of building your business and are not yet experiencing referrals, you can ask if your customers were satisfied and can refer you to colleagues that might benefit from your services.

Support in your Business Circles Our business circles are the people who support us in building our business. Here’s a recent example, one of my colleagues, Judy Romanoff, host of the Coach Judy radio show on WZBT, was sick for several weeks and unable to do sales and marketing for her radio show. Jeff Zbar, a freelance reporter, e-mailed me because he was doing a story on radio shows and was looking to interview radio talk show hosts. I e-mailed him Judy’s information. As it turned out, three other people e-mailed Jeff the contact information for Judy as well. Judy was amazed at how her business circle supported her even when she was unable to work. Reach out to your Business Circles and ask for support when you need it.

Giving and Receiving Ever notice that when you do a favor or a random act of kindness for someone it comes back to you? Pay attention to this clue. If you find that you are not receiving clues give clues. That means help a potential customer as if they are already your customer and go above and beyond the call of duty for a client. Get in the habit of giving so that the doors of receiving open.

Pay attention to your clues and know that they are guiding you in building your business.

Category: Entrepreneurship
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