To succeed in business you can't just be "as good" as the next guy. You must be demonstrably better and be able to prove it. Each issue will discuss ways that you can explode your business. Since this is the first issue and the topics took up most of the space, this article will be shorter than normal.

Earlier today I had an experience that made me realize why so many businesses fail. I went to the corner store and arrived there 3 minutes before closing. As I was walking to the store the employee literally raced to the door to hold it shut. As I reached for the door, she held it closed and said, "We're closing."

When she said that I thought she was joking. She wasn't! She had seen me walking to the door and deliberately stopped me from doing business that night. How silly! Here I went out of my way to buy something and I was not allowed the "privilege" of giving them money.

Sadly, I see this as all too common in business today. A totally apathetic attitude towards the customer. It appeared to me, that she had absolutely no respect for customers. Now think about it, how many people do you do business with repeatedly who have no respect for you? I wouldn't think too many. So why do people think that they can treat people with no respect and still keep their customers?

By the way, this person was not the owner of the store. She was an employee. Some may feel that it's not the fault of the business owner that she treated me like this. But it is! Obviously, the owner has not made it clear that customer service is the employee's number one priority. I can't imagine any of Disney World's employees treating their "guests" like that.

Let's look at what I'm worth to that store. Lets assume that I buy $20 a week there, and I'll be a customer for 5 years before I move. That means that they'll have $5200 less business in those 5 years. Now, lets say that that person worked there for only 2 months, but she caused four other people like me to stop doing business there. That's $26,000 in lost business. That is a very costly mistake.

Now think of those businesses or people, who you would continue to do business with, even if it became inconvenient for you. Why do you continue to patronize them? Maybe because the business makes you feel special and they appreciate you? I can think of a hairdresser who has clients drive 60 miles to see him, he's booked 3 months in advance, and he charges triple what the average hairdresser charges. I wonder why he can do that?

If you're thinking that this is obvious stuff and what does it have to do with using direct response techniques, here's the answer. You can use all of these techniques perfectly, but if you don't have good customer service you aren't going to succeed long term. Good customer service is the foundation for any solid business.

This may be commonsense, but so many businesses ignore it. Ignore it at your own peril.

In upcoming issues you'll learn how to use this to your advantage. You'll discover the reasons why so many businesses fail because they don't use these easy to use steps and how you can become successful in any economic climate simply by following these steps.

Before we meet again in two weeks, I have a scenario for you to think about.

I'm a new arrival in your town/city and I'm interested in your product. Through casual conversation you realize that I'm in the market for your services. Here are some questions for you:

Why should I do business with you? What makes you better than your nearest competitor?

To make this more difficult, I don't want to hear anything about how good the quality of your product is, that you're number one, or anything about how long the company has been around. Here's the final question.

Can you tell me in 30 seconds why I should do business with you?

I am amazed at the number of business people who can't provide me with a satisfactory answer to that simple question. Or, even worse, their answer is indistinguishable from their competitors.

In all fairness, I was guilty of that also. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way, a client asked me that and I briefly paused to think of an answer. That slight hesitation was all it took me to lose the sale. After that I vowed that I would never again be at a loss for words when I was asked that question. I hope that now you will also never be at a loss either.

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About The Author

Rick Hanson is a Direct Response Marketing Consultant. In addition to helping others build their business, he runs The Marketing Resources InfoCentre website http://www.marketingresource.com/index.shtml He can be reached by email at mailto:unfairadvantage@pobox.com ************************************************************