If you think customer loyalty can be achieved by using cutting edge customer relationship management (CRM) software and different loyalty programs, think again. Just like in friendship, loyalty must be earned through excellent service and high quality products, over a period of time. Borrowing the words of Zoomstart, loyalty is all about making unconditional connections.

Customer loyalty does not happen overnight. You should be sensitive to their needs and follow it up with action. Here is a simple 3-step method to start building loyalty:

Sit Down and Listen

If you want to learn more about your customers, then you should talk with them as often as possible. Know their habits, buying patterns and their feedback about your current performance. You might also want to use them as part of your crowdsourcing initiative.

Test Drive

If you are implementing some changes in your products or services, you may want to test first if it will satisfy your customers or if it will add value over your current offer. In some cases, they will agree with the idea but totally disagree with the execution. Product testing will bridge that disconnect.

Say Sorry (If Necessary)

If you make some mistake, admit it right away and assure your customers that it will not happen again. Do not let this matter escalate to a point of breaking up your professional relationship. You should also offer something in return like discounts or gifts for giving you another chance.

Business experts are one in saying that your employees are your greatest assets. They are the movers of your ideas and contributors of great insights. That’s why selecting and hiring new employees are very important tasks for many entrepreneurs.

Equally important is measuring how well they are faring compared to their assignments as well as their relationship with other employees. Also, employee performance reviews offer a glimpse of their satisfaction level with your company. To make each review more productive, here are some things you should do:

• Be ready. Gather all information you have and read it carefully before talking with an employee. This will give you enough time organize your thoughts and handle the discussion.
• Criticize the performance not person. Avoid any personal attacks and do not provoke your employees. Be objective and highlight both their high points and low points.
• Probe on the job satisfaction level. Most of the time, poor performance is strongly related to poor job satisfaction level. Make the evaluation a two-way communication and find out what you need to improve or change to improve satisfaction.

It is advisable that you have a formal system to evaluate your employees. You can read a comprehensive guide from Seeds of Growth on how to implement a performance management system.

After carefully assessing your startup ideas, the next step is effective implementation. However, some entrepreneurs are stuck in the market research and idea-generation stage. This is what we call analysis paralysis or over analyzing a situation without taking any action. If you want to start earning then it’s time to start working. Here are some starter tips:

Write Your Action Plans.

Nothing is too complex once you break it down into small pieces. While micromanaging is strongly discouraged, this is a situation where attention to details is very much needed. Getting a 20 percent market share, for instance, seems like a very easy task. If you work backwards and start outlining the things you need to do, you’ll soon realize how much effort is needed to achieve this goal.

If you are a solo business owner, you might want to identify the tasks you can outsource so you can focus on the essential matters.

Establish Accountabilities

In some cases, you cannot do all the things you’ve included in your action plans. You should start dividing the tasks according to the competence and experience of your staff. Commonly, we are the designated project leader but if you have a more qualified staff, do not hesitate to turn over this task.

Implement and Monitor

Stop procrastinating and start working once all tasks and accountabilities are in place. Identify and celebrate all milestones to easily monitor your progress.

As a guide, you might want to use the Action Method tools recommended by MarketingProfs Daily Fix to make your ideas happen.

Welcome to the fourth edition of the Small Business and Startups (CoSBaS #4). If your entry is not here, it may appear in the next edition, unless it is either not relevant to the Carnival theme, promotes your services, or promotes specific affiliate products.

If you did make it in to this edition, please support this carnival by giving a link back to this edition as soon as you can. If you submit regularly, and get in but don’t link back, then your own readers don’t benefit with the opportunity of being introduced to other blogs - which is part of the reason for a blog carnival: networking. Enjoy.

Featured Posts

Here are this week’s featured posts.

1. Simplified Online Marketing by Becky McCray.
2. A Motivation Secret of Top Performing Managers by Dr. Robert Karlsberg and Dr. Jane Adler.
3. The 21 Success Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires by Susan Velez.

Other Entries

Here are the remaining entries for this edition.

1. Seeking a Dream by Michelle Cramer.
2. The Name Game – Why the Right Name is Important by Jim Smoot.
3. Make People Comfortable By Greeting Them Right by Warren Wong.
4. Planning a Business Trip by Mike Harmon.
5. Are You A Good Facilitator? by Louise Manning.
6. Enhancing Human Performance by Chris Russell.
7. Amazon the Services Operating Ecosystem by Abhishek Tiwari.
8. Want to Waste Some More Time Before You Start Your Business? by Stefan Töpfer.
9. Going to the Top Too Fast by Wilson Ng.

That’s it for this edition. If you have an article that you think fits in, please use the Blog Carnival submission form. A couple of notes to consider before entering:

1. If you submitted your article on or after Aug 19th, it may appear in the next carnival.
2. Please do not resubmit the same article to the same carnival. Go check out the other three blog carnivals that I am managing, in case there’s a fit for your article.
3. One entry per person per week (Monday through Sunday), please. I am now deleting the entries of anyone who submits more than one per week. It’s up to you to choose one good entry, not me.

To summarize, this carnival targets existing small businesses and startups, or entrepreneurs on the verge. What advice can you give them - business and technical - to help them towards success? There’s a wide spectrum of topics, including branding, identity, marketing, hiring, online efforts, success, productivity and more.

A fatal business mistake committed by some entrepreneurs is pretending they know everything there is to know about running their business. Maybe it’s pride that’s keeping them from asking “stupid” questions. Leading your startup means relying both on your expertise and consulting with your employees as well.

I have stumbled upon an interesting management style from Jim Collins, author of the renowned book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t and it’s called “lead with question”:

Leading from good to great does not mean coming up with the answers and then motivating everyone to follow your messianic vision. It means having the humility to grasp the fact that you do not yet understand enough to have the answers and then to ask the questions that will lead to the best possible insights.

This is a good combination with another management style discussed previously, leading by listening. You can call an informal forum with your trusted employees and open the session with a general question like, “what should we be worried about?”

In case you are wondering what specific questions you can discuss about, Write to Right provides 10 questions to answer your business direction.

Knowing how to communicate effectively is very important, both in our personal and professional endeavors. When dealing with your customers, you should learn to deliver your message in a very informative yet personal manner. Below are some things you should know about effective communication:

Establish Two-Way Communication

Some of us are so passionate about our business that we end up dominating the entire conversation. As Common Sense PR adequately states, the more you talk, the less you communicate. Learn when to stop talking and start listening. You will miss a lot of insights if you don’t let your customers’ voices be heard.

Keep it Short and Sweet

Simple and clear answers to customers’ complaints and inquiries improve responsiveness and lessen miscommunication. If you are sending e-mails or snail mails, do not bombard them with so much information by focusing on the important points only.

Repeat, Repeat, and Repeat

A good way to help your customers understand the important points of a message better is to repeat the information from time to time. Aside from being consistent, it will also prompt some customers to know more about your company and hopefully you can encourage them to buy more.

Launching a new product is one of the toughest challenges faced by many entrepreneurs. It entails a lot of creativity, determination, and clever planning. You should keep your campaign focused, consistent, and simple all the time. It would greatly help if you have a catchy tag line and a creative logo to attract your customers. Here are some practical buzz marketing initiatives you may want to try:

Public Relations

One of the proven strategies to create a buzz is using press releases. There are several websites where you can submit your press releases and you can see them at Yahoo! Small Business Directory.

It is advisable that you partner with an experienced PR firm to effectively manage your campaign. Try working with a small agency so you earn more attention. In case your promotional budget is small right now, here is a simple guide on how to write a press release.

Industry Events

Actively participate in industry seminars and trade shows related to your target market. Spend some money decorating a really glitzy booth to create a good impression. You should try to make your logo the center of attention all the time. Equally important is the product presentation you will make once you convince your potential customers to visit your booth.

You might also want to visit Conversion Marketing and learn another type of buzz marketing known as petition marketing.

One of the critical success factors for small business is finding a profitable niche or a narrowly defined group of users. Competing in a broad market segment against big and established companies would result in immediate failure.

In the words of Blog de Groot, entrepreneurs should dig deep for small business ideas before starting the wrong business. Here’s a simple guide about finding your niche market:

Identify the Common Needs

There must be common needs related to your business that are somewhat different from the general market. A good niche example comes from Small Business Trends:

Here is an example of niche marketing: a brand new print magazine, called Magazine Soho. The publication targets not small business — a broad category to be sure. No, it targets a segment of small business: Soho’s — small office, home office workers. And with a particular geographic emphasis on southeastern Wisconsin, USA.

More importantly, you should check if the product you are offering meet the needs of this group and if it is better than the competitors.

Measure Profitability

Before targeting a specific niche market, you should see first if this particular niche has enough paying customers who can avail your products or services. If not, find other niches to conquer. Also, the level of competition has a significant bearing on profitability. Check how many competitors are fighting to win in your chosen niche. Remember, a niche is a relatively small segment. Having fierce competitors will easily erode your profit margins.

Business ethics represent your moral principles or values. Unfortunately, some of the age-old business practices are either unethical or considered part of the gray area. Common unethical practices include price fixing, bribery, bid rigging, and selling substandard products.

As your small business continues to expand, you might encounter decisions that will challenge your business ethics. Given this situation, you should know how to influence your employees to maintain your values all the time. Here’s what you can do:

• Set a clear policy and standard procedures about the right values and ethics related to customers, employees, and suppliers.
• Gather your employees and run several “what if” scenarios related to common unethical practices in your industry. This will greatly help your employees maintain their composure under pressure.
• Recognize employees who uphold your business ethics even if it results in lost revenues. Doing the right thing might result in significant losses. However, if you are dead serious about this, you should learn to accept it and reward those who do the same.

Do you know that business ethics can be a competitive edge? Find out how at Business Pundit.

If you want to boost the productivity in your workplace, you should start by saying “thank you” to your employees. According to Brain Based Business, these two simple yet powerful words can transform both your personal and professional relationships.

Say thanks to somebody – for something - according to Dr. Robert Emmons … and watch the power of gratitude transform the human brain. It also brings benefits not found in any ordinary workplace.

Managing your employees is very similar to marketing to your customers. They also need appreciation and recognition. Whether you are saying thanks to your employees or customers, you should observe the following:

Timing is Important

Saying thanks right away instead of waiting for another hour or day renders maximum impact to the receiver. Showing your appreciation is more about courtesy and less about creativity.

If you want to send a thank-you gift to a loyal customer, you should do it before or after holidays, but not during holidays. Chances are, many businesses including your competitors will do the same and that will not make you unique.

Thank Even Complaining Employees and Customers

You should not limit your appreciation to your good employees and loyal customers. In fact, you should try to give a little more attention to your complaining customers and employees. Outspoken employees might help you correct some of the recurring problems in your company such as miscommunication or unsanitary workplace.

Also, a complaining customer is most probably a buying customer. Annoyed customers do not usually complain about your products or services. What they do is shift to your competitors. If a customer complains, it means they he or she is still interested in your product or service, provided you correct your mistakes. Thank them for giving you that one more chance.