Becoming self-employed meant I 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 I know 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 business 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 the 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.

Marsha Steinweden is the owner of Steinweden Accounting Services, (406) 721-2712; marsha@marsweb.com