Grit + Gratitude = Growth

Speaker 1: hi I'm Melanie bar welcome to the she builted experience with Melanie you're here because you want to experience the life and business that you crave join me as I talk to women who have successfully built it a career and business that they

Speaker 1: love we dive into the topic of how they built it and talk about everything from Having the courage to make career leaps to the details of how to lead effectively create successful teams Implement strategies for growth and Infuse Tech innovation magic happens

Speaker 1: when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy so let's dive in hi everyone this episode

Speaker 1: is about grit and gratitude the grit that it takes to build a business and gain clients and the gratitude that keeps it going for many companies 70 to 80% of total revenue come from a few clients repeat customers and referrals my entire career has been in

Speaker 1: business development management and strategy I learn to gain clients by reaching out to people I didn't know or by thinking about a potential client and figuring out how to turn them into one learning Business Development and how to sell effectively was the best training of my career it wasn't easy in the

Speaker 1: beginning no one likes to hear the word no but if you learn to have thick skin you learn to not care so much if someone says no because you have the confidence that around the corner someone else is going to say yes and another opportunity is going to present itself after a few NOS you also start to perfect the

Speaker 1: technique of getting to yes it takes constant evaluating and testing until you find the right formula for you business development can be intimidating I'm a big believer that clients will say yes to you and stay with you if you provide good customer service and

Speaker 1: quality products to me that means under promising and overd delivering it takes a while to gain customers and repeat clients so let's talk about the work we put into earning them and how to retain them it's so much easier to retain clients and earn their repeat business and new referrals than to try to constantly gain new customers from the start under promise and overd

Speaker 1: deliver this is one of my favorites clients expect the status quo when you go above and beyond in helping a client look good such as helping them to do something more effectively make their life or job easier or help them grow in their business you stand out and you make an impression even though we only have so much time in a day there are

Speaker 1: usually things we can do to assist our clients that are above and beyond that don't take too long for us to do when we do these things clients are often incredibly appreciative and once again you'll stand out as someone they want to continue to work with and to buy from stand behind your products and fix

Speaker 1: issues I recently started using a box clothing business to be able to shop and add new clothes to my closet you wear them and send them back or you can purchase them I was wearing one of the shirts that came in the box and when I

Speaker 1: took it off I realized the collar had a small tear I had only worn it once I'm not particularly hard on clothes and because it happened during the Corona virus I didn't even leave the house I emailed the company to let them know what happened their response don't worry about it minor damages and tears are expected send it back and our team will fix it I was so relieved it took the pressure off and made me think I'm going to keep ordering and purchasing from them because they handled it so well they made it so easy to fix a small issue it probably took their team 10 minutes to fix the tear and in return they earned and retained a happy customer and I know I will be sharing this experience with friends when I tell them how wonderful their clothes and services are offer quality products and services have you ever purchased something online and realize the poor quality of the product when you received it what's the first thing you thought my first thought whenever this happens to me is to not purchase from The Source again sure we all make mistakes we are human and we should be given the opportunity to fix our mistakes but first impressions really do matter put your heart and soul into creating quality products and excellent customer service and you can't go wrong provide impeccable customer

Speaker 1: service and response time I was driving to pick up my parents at LAX they were scheduled to land around 4:30 p.m. our Twins were 4 years old at the time and I had been working all day I was hungry and I knew my parents would be hungry and thought that if I picked them up and had the food delivered I could try to time it to be delivered right around the time we got home when we got home the delivery app said the food was 10 minutes away perfect I thought 10 minutes became 20 20 minutes became 30 I decided to call us customer service the customer rep told me that I had changed my delivery address and that the food was going to be delivered to the city next to us I told them that I didn't change my address that we were so hungry and that I thought it was a mistake on their end I asked if since they knew the driver was close if the meal could still be delivered to us their response was no the address is out of your range then I asked if I could at least have a refund or a discount for the $150 of food that I had paid for no we can't do that either I was appalled at the response and also that there was a driver somewhere eating our $150 worth of food my immediate thought was to not order from them again had they given me even a small discount I would have been discouraged but I would have given them the benefit of the doubt and ordered from them again it was the lack of any kind of help or trying to understand or bending at all that I couldn't believe yes I am very aware that we are one family and the company might not care about losing us as clients and customers but we spend a considerable amount of money on food delivery every year and

Speaker 1: losing clients due to poor customer service can add up quickly customer service can make or break client retention thank clients and show your gratitude sometimes a simple thank you can make all the difference other times going above and beyond to send no gifts and appreciation can make a real impact

Speaker 1: recently I heard an unexpected knock at the door I wasn't expecting a package or delivery when I opened the door I was completely surprised to see a small gift I had purchased something from someone and to show their appreciation they sent a small flower arrangement the point of mentioning this is not because of what was sent the surprise of the gesture made it memorable and brought an extra feeling of appreciation even if you have millions of clients small giveaways discounts and thank you can go a long

Speaker 1: way if you are new to Sheil it we'd love for you to join us we offer a community memberships masterminds Innovative virtual events and meaningful connections to entrepreneurs and corporate leaders please also check out our sheb built it shop curated products from women-owned businesses who put their heart and soul into their beautiful and Innovative products we offer she built it business Consulting

Speaker 1: and the shil tip blog thank you to everyone around the world who joined today thank you to my editor Rich stalino please download And subscribe wherever you get your podcast and until next time together let's let nothing stop us from experiencing the life that We crave