Spam is the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to identifying what’s wrong in today’s business. By acting opposite of the majority who employ spam or buy into the purveyors of it you will stand out and be more attractive to prospects and customers than spamists who whistle and holler
Complexity Clowns are another bane on the existance of SME owners. They come and try to sell complicated solutions that have no relevance or practicality to you and your situation by showing off corporate owners and others who were fleeced. Find the simple test you can ask them to find out who is and who is not a clown.
As Business owners we often make the mistake of thinking complexity equals quality and overpaying on complicated solutions that have no chance of success but which are sold to us magic solutions. Protect youself by going back to the basics.
PIA (Pain in the A**) Pythons – these creatures latch onto a business owner as a normal customer and then they squeeze the owners dry by immobilizing them with complaints, questions, issues so they monopolise all their time and energy until the owner pretty much loses the will to live or gives in on price and other demands. Customers are not always right and you should never have to be stuck with a Python.
Shame can keep us from doing what is best for us and often lead us to disastrous paths as a character in a movie I saw recently experienced. When you speak to your customers are you identifying where they might be too embarrassed to ask for help and so making it comfortable for them to do so with you… and finally have the solutions they so desired.
We are often passionate and very knowledgeable about what we provide. It’s good to know what we are doing but it can be major trap when we fall into the curse of knowledge and assume our audience knows as much as we do, or are further along the journey than they really are. Overcome this curse and see your conversions begin to skyrocket.
Snake Oil Branding Bats are a scourge for modern entrepreneurs as they manipulate and sell them worthless solutions around vanity measures that do nothing for the underlying business. Read in this article to see what one of these “rebranding” victims look like.
Accountability and measuring employee performance is critical but when do you take it too far and it becomes a liability that threatens the business itself. Read this example.. based on a true story but details changed and some light literary license taken.