One of the things we often forget to do in life is being straight forward about a lot of things. We sometimes confuse being straight forward with being impolite or rude. Well, I'm here to tell you something. A lot of times as entrepreneurs we miss out on opportunities with or clients and partners for one simple reason: we didn't ask.
So today I'd like to share some advice from my imaginary friend, Tyler Durden:
Just like asking a friend for a favor or maybe a girl at a bar. You might get some NOs, that's also true, but you might get some YESs too. You won't know what it'll be until you take the shot. Here's another helpful statistic: You'll miss 100% of the shots you don't take.
Ask for reviews
I didn't tap into this until I was already in business for a couple of years until one day, perhaps after watching Fight Club, a client expressed how very happy they were to have found us. I immediately jumped at the opportunity and asked if they would mind leaving a short review on Google. Best decision ever. I started getting five star reviews from many of my clients and pretty soon, my business was ranked number 1 for recording studios in my city. If a business or band was in search for a recording studio in my city and found us at the very top with loads of 5-star reviews, guess who they called first.
That's right, they called us.
Ask for referrals
Word of mouth is incredibly powerful. You may have heard this before
People like to do business with people the know, like and trust.
Well, part of gaining someone's trust is hearing about your excellent service from someone else they already know, like and trust. Think about it. Are you more likely to trust an online review from a stranger or your brother who bought the product and gave you a nice breakdown of the pros and cons?
Anybody in any industry is likely to know someone for whom you can solve a problem. Add to that a short recommendation and you're on your way to closing a new business deal. Don't pass up that opportunity by simply asking for referrals.
Ask for feedback
This is super important too. You might get great feedback on your amazing service or you might also get bad (or should I say constructive) feedback. Which, if you think about it, is also good because it allows you to identify an area of improvement which will make you better and allow you to better serve future clients.
Ask for payment
Last, but not least, don't ever be afraid to ask a client to pay up. Cash is like the oxygen of a business and if you accumulate too many accounts receivable and too many accounts payable, your business will suffocate. Easy as that. Don't let that happen. When welcoming a new client into your client base, make sure you have all the correct communication channels including who handles invoices.
That's it for today folks.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
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