Fifty Essential Business Tips

• Write everything down. That’s the basis of where this article originally comes from.
• The very first things you do should be:
- Get a name and a logo.
- Get business cards.
- Get  a web presence. 

Ideally, this presence should be a full web page but you need some kind of professional-looking point of contact on the internet, even if it’s only a Facebook page with your phone number on it.

• Look the part. You know you’re the best. Other people might not.
• Be punctual. It’s about respect, dammit!
• Traffic is always bad - I'm not interested in your excuses.
• Be prepared. The issue might be other than the client described it so what are the likely scenarios?
• Appear professional - be professional. Don’t be an empty shell of a business but even the best won’t sell if no-one believes it.
• Deliver. Deliver, deliver, deliver, deliver. No-one will pay for what they don’t get.
• Consistency is everything. It doesn’t mean a thing if you can't promise it.
• God is in the details. Your email address is really yourcompany@hotmail.com? Domain names cost a couple of pounds per year.
• Organisation creates time and can substitute for a bad memory.
• Get in to good habits. Practice makes things easier and you'll wonder how you ever found it difficult.
• Network where you can and always follow up.
• Get ideas where you can. You can get them anywhere, at any time and they’re free. Not all of them are good, however.
• Steal. If someone else has a good idea, make it work for you.
• Adapt. More can work for you than you think at first.
• Date-stamp everything you do.  Put the ‘Timed’ into SMART goals.
• Always communicate by email, where you can. People lie and forget, email doesn't. Also, it's free!
• Make everything IT based. If your premises burned down tomorrow, how much of your business would you be able to salvage? Now imagine if everything was on a hard drive, at a secure location.
• Take control. IT can be a time saver and improve your business and your life but no-one promised that you would get that benefit for free. It takes investment and management and working smarter, rather than harder. If you’re on the cloud, make sure you can back up everything offline.
• Redo your answering machine message - All your points of contact should appear professional.
• Write it up in full – and then blog it. It works for me!
• People only care about what's in it for them. You’re too busy to do people favours, right? Why would you assume anyone else is any different?
• Add value wherever you can. That’s kind of what this article is all about.
• Under promise, over-deliver.  “The customer will remember the quality long after they've forgotten the price,” - Gucci. As a rule of thumb, people will complain five times more often than they will compliment so give a mediocre service and, like as not, you'll be bad-mouthed. Only if you give an outstanding service will you be advertised for free.
• Sell benefits, not features but most of all, sell stories. We’re social animals. We want to tell people how clever we are, about the great deal we made, about the fantastic service we were given. Be part of that story.
• Ask for favours. People want to boast about how generous they are and, if they mention your name, it’s a win-win-win.
• Flip complainers. Never brush people off. Someone you turn around with great service is worth twice a normal customer. They’ll love you and they’ll talk about you.
• Charge more than you think you're worth. If your customers aren't complaining, then charge a little more. Go on, you deserve it.
• Only pay for what you can't do yourself, more cheaply. But always remember to value your own time appropriately.
• Expand your skills base - learn where you can. The more you’re able to do, the more you can charge for and the less you have to pay someone else to do.
• Listen. You like to be heard, right? But, equally, how can you deliver without knowing what’s wanted and needed?
• Teach. Being able to teach a process well is proof that you understand it. See below.
• Automate where you can, organise where you can't. Automation is work you don’t have to do. The more you can analyse a process, the more clearly you can understand it and the more likely it is that you can automate it, improve it and teach it.
• Think in terms of processes and trigger points. Optimise all the things.
• Be what you need. Need a mentor? Mentor someone else. Need a trained expert? Train a novice.
• Never say no - always have an alternative suggestion.
• Never negotiate on price or quality. Any idiot can drop their price or do a worse job. Only negotiate on the service you will actually provide but never lower your value.
• Intelligent, educated clients are the best. Again, any fool can sell to stupid or undiscerning customers so why compete more than you need to?
• If someone says something is impossible, listen. Check it out. You might be able to surprise them.
• Someone will listen or they won’t. If they will, sell to them. If they won't, sell to their customers.
• By default, assume what you need already exists on the internet. If you can't find it in twenty minutes, it doesn't. If someone tells you it does, get them to write it down.
• 'Free' is a four letter word. 'Cheap' is worse. You are 'good value'. People don't value what they don't pay for, even if it is only a token amount.
• Always make it easy for people to buy and to pay. Because, you know, why wouldn’t you?
• Create Calls To Action. Both for the above but also for all of your other sales touches. Remember,  CTAs aren’t just for the web but for traditional media as well.
• Create multiple revenue streams. Money may not be everything but having more of it certainly helps.
• If you're selling on the web, it's money while you sleep.
• Is your website working? All of it? How could it work better?
• Take responsibility. If it’s someone else’s fault, it’s not under your control. If it’s actually not under your control, taking responsibility for it helps no-one, least of all yourself. Learn the difference.
• Assess the quality of everything –in particular, your own performance. Don’t be satisfied with making a profit, how can you do better? Get feedback and use objective, like-to-like measurements. You can’t know how well you’re doing if you’re not checking.

You can download the Fifty Essential Business Tips article as a printable PDF file.