With more than 100K Infolinkers worldwide, our publishers come in all shapes and sizes. Yes, they are all online publishers, but before that they are business owners. That’s why we here at Infolinks want to help you not only run your website the best you can but most importantly we want you help you make your own small business a success. Because the key to our success is helping you run a good business.
That’s why we are so honored to feature Liz Strauss, founder of SOBCon, and one of the most prolific bloggers on the planet as a guest blogger here on the Infolinks blog. Liz is the publisher of herself titled blog Liz Strauss as well as The Successful Blog(ers) and she has been named as one of the top 10 influencers alive by Huffington post as well as in Forbes 50 most influential people on Social Media.
The 5 Small Business Dos and 1 Huge Don’t
Though people see me online most morning offering pictures of the sunrise and talking about business advice on Twitter and my blog, I spend most of my time working offline. I produce a business-building event that meets every year and work with clients in their offices helping to build their social business strategies. What I’ve found is every business is relationships and relationships are every business. No matter what line of work you’re in — product or service, online or offline — certain core practices will help you grow a strong business.
I grew up in a town of 20,000 people in the Midwestern United States. We had the accent you heard on American television news. We were the boring folks who ate white bread, had sweet corn festivals, and watched parades on holidays. It seems our whole town was small businesses and they all seemed to work by the same solid small business rules.
The 5 Small Business Dos
Some of these rules of how people treated each other seemed to go together so well that they became for me the 5 “Great Dos.” If you do them your business will go well.
- Make commitments and keep them – Give your word. Saying that you’ll do something is a building block of trust. Doing what you say you will is setting that building block to start a foundation for a long-term relationship.
- Ask for advice – Letting other folks contribute their wisdom allows them to own some of what you build too. They’ll protect it and keep it safe for you.
- Anticipate needs – Pay attention. Listen. Know what folks need before they do and provide it for them. It lets folks know that you care.
- Communicate your intentions – Let people know the thoughts behind what you do. It promotes trust too.
- Own your actions and their impacts, but give the win to the team – Be slow to blame and quick to praise.
I would expect that these great business dos all sound familiar. And hope the reminder brings home the comfort of times when they’ve worked well for you. Now let’s talk about the one that I’ve found that most of us seem to get consistently wrong.
The 1 Huge Don’t
Ever turn on the television to find out that the folks who switch over to your internet carrier — the one you’ve been with for years — will get a better deal than you’ve got? How loyal does that make you feel? When we’re looking to grow our base of fiercely loyal fans the one thing that businesses of every size seem to get wrong is that. We ignore the people who already love us to chase the folks who are ignoring us.
Don’t do that.
If you want your business to grow, start with the folks who already love you and treat them well by following the 5 Great Business Dos. Do that and they will tell all of their friends what a great business you are. And if you keep doing the Great Business Dos, soon you’ll find that those new friends will be telling their friends too. Because treating the folks who love us well is irresistible.
Be irresistible.
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