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From Client to Vendor:
Everyone is a Potential Customer
By Marsha Steinweden, Steinweden Accounting
Services
Becoming self-employed meant I that had to
market my services. Businesses must have a marketable product or
service to succeed; mine is bookkeeping and taxes and I work most
often with small businesses or businesses just getting started.
Looking for potential clients is an ongoing battle for most small
businesses. Business owners must always be looking for the next
sale. Business owners must sell themselves and their products or
services—a daunting thought to most and sometimes terrifying
to those with disabilities. I learned to overcome this obstacle
by marketing my service to any and everyone I knew.
My dentist, next-door neighbor, garbage man, and checkout clerk
could and should be potential customers for me. You can’t
overlook the obvious customer. I don’t push my service
on people constantly, but I do let everyone know that the service
I offer is unique. Once I find a new potential client or customer,
I start with a short 30-second introduction. “Hello, I
am Marsha Steinweden. I am an accountant, and run my own small
business doing bookkeeping and taxes.” It is a great way
to introduce myself, and most people will seize the opportunity
to ask a question or ask for some free advice, especially during
tax season. If the person seems even slightly interested, I explain
that I specialize in doing bookkeeping for extremely small businesses
and start-up businesses. This gives me an opportunity to describe
some of the services my own clients provide and the businesses
they have. Sometimes I get lucky and am able to refer a potential
customer to one of my current clients, which means more business
for my client, and ultimately more bookkeeping for me.
I don’t advertise for clients in the same way most businesses
do. I don’t have an ad in the yellow pages or in a newspaper.
Most of my clients are friends, relatives, or referrals. The
best referrals have come from former job counselors and job coaches
I have worked with. Most of my clients are very small businesses,
some only part-time or seasonal, and new business owners. There
is a great need for this type of accounting work, especially
with people who have disabilities and are starting out in self-employment.
I can take the time and help them with the process of designing
and starting their business, since I am familiar with it, as
I am also disabled and became self-employed just a year ago.
I have been very vocal in letting my Vocational Rehabilitation
counselors and Employment Consultants at the Rural Institute’s
MontanaWorks know how strongly I feel about business plans and
new businesses budgeting for basic accounting services. A new
business owner has a lot of things to do and worry about. By “out-sourcing” their
bookkeeping they can have an accurate and current view of their
financial progress. Part of my services to a new client is to
furnish him with a monthly statement that he may give to Vocational
Rehabilitation (VR) Services, job counselors, and various agencies.
For some new business owners, it’s a relief to have this
monthly chore taken care of. I have created a simplified Income
Statement, with income and expenses broken down into understandable
and useable categories. Our local VR counselors seem to like
this approach, too.
VR was one of my first marketing targets when I started my business.
I was offering a service that their clients choosing self-employment
could and should have. It was only natural that I target this
market first. Now I am doing the bookkeeping and business consulting
for five VR clients in my area. I went from being a VR client
to being an official VR vendor in under a year, by marketing
my business to my sponsors in self-employment.
Customer Service Tip: The Challenging Customer
New business owners must market their business to all potential
customers, but new business owners may lack experience working
with difficult customers. Developing good customer relations
skills is a talent. It takes time and effort. Prospective business
owners should consider how to handle situations in advance of
starting a business and have a basic policy in place before opening
their business. Part of providing good customer service is being
prepared to handle an occasionally unhappy customer. One way
to handle the unhappy customer is to realize that they are a
challenge. The situation must be met with grace, common sense,
and diplomacy.
A personality conflict can happen, and an owner or customer
may have a bad day. Sometimes stopping to smile will help in
this situation. The business owner should attempt to hold his
temper. Politeness will always go a long way to smooth ruffled
feathers. If the business must work closely with a customer,
personality conflicts will happen more often. The owner should
try to do what is reasonable to be pleasant and to try to fill
the customer’s expectations.
Establish a policy of what the business will do to make a consumer
happy as soon as the business opens. It should be considered
as part of the business plan. Will the cost of the item or service
be refunded? Will a new item be given in exchange for a defective
item? Will a credit be given for a service to be preformed in
the future? How far can the business owner afford to go before
she is losing profits along with having an angry customer? We
must remember that an unhappy customer will give you a bad reputation
for years.
The demanding customer or client is one who will always want
more of your time or effort than he is willing to compensate
you for. Some demanding customers expect you to work 16-hour
days, or to not take a day off. They are sometimes the ones that
want you to do things that are not ethical or moral. Each business
owner must establish a line when the sale is not worth it. The
business owner has heard “the customer is always right,” time
and time again; the customer is NOT always right if they want
you to fill out a tax form with incorrect information or are
too stressful, draining your time, patience, and money. Communicating
with this customer takes talent. Calmly explain something can’t
be done as they wish and give them a choice of alternatives.
You can turn the situation around so they make the final decision
and are not blaming you.
Every business owner should be prepared for the unhappy situation
that will happen in the course of business. Use your job coach
or counselor to rehearse possible situations. This exercise gives
the business owner a chance to try out people skills and learn
how to react under stress. It will help the owner develop a policy
on how to handle an unhappy customer.
Contact Information
Marsha Steinweden
Steinweden Accounting Services
2210 42nd St.
Missoula, MT 59803
(406) 251-1227
marsha@marsweb.com
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