Client Relationships | Bob Holdsworth

Archive for client relationships

Business ethics, take the high road, it’s easier to spot trouble.

By Bob Holdsworth · Comments (0)

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Is it me or does it seem like there is another news story about a corporate scandal or political ethics probe about once a week? It makes me wonder how any consumer can trust any of us business owners.

I know that I’m subjected to lots of business scams every week ranging from the Nigerian bank account scam to people posing as suppliers trying to trick a staff member in to ‘placing an order’ for inflated supplies.

I also see competitors trying to cut corners, leaving out information that their clients should be told and everybody seems to be trying to be so politically correct, making sure that they don’t offend someone that their ethics actually has be called into question. What do you or I as business owners stand for, how are we different from the homogenized masses? Read More→

Your competition is copying your best ideas while you’re sleeping.

By Bob Holdsworth · Comments (0)

Saturday, July 24th, 2010

If you’ve got a great product or service, you’re going to be copied, challenged, reversed engineered or outright pirated, it’s a fact of business life.

When I first entered the medical billing business back in 1989, there were no other companies in my niche (ambulance billing) in my state. Fast forward 23 years and there are now ten companies that are directly competing with my firm for some part of the ambulance billing business in my home state.

Now the interesting thing is that only one competitor has opted to match service levels and they are the latest entry into the game. They have only 5 clients, none of them of substantial size or volume.

This poaching of clients, ideas or advertising offers and methods is simply part of business and it took me a while to both realize and to not to get angry about it. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but not when the flattery costs me money to get. Now all of this said, it doesn’t mean you should simply accept this as a fact of life and take it lying down. Read More→

You’re only as good as THEY think you are!

By Bob Holdsworth · Comments (0)

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

Step into your clients' shoes!

Have you ever gotten caught up in your own marketing material to the point that you begin believing that you’re indispensable to your clients? It’s happened to every business owner I know.

A client leaves, a contract isn’t won, a negotiation goes south and the management team is left looking at each other wondering why? The internal discussion quickly shifts to recapping all of the great things that your company has to offer, all of the things you’ve been doing right and all of the services that you provide. Yet, they still left or didn’t buy…why? You’re focused in the wrong direction…you shouldn’t be focused on you…you have to be focused on THEM!

Clients don’t buy from companies, they buy from people. Quite often the reason for a client’s seemingly irrational behavior (our perception) stems from THEIR perception of our company and the people they’re working with at our company. Your client’s perception IS your reality! Read More→

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Categories : Business - General, Customer Service -Client Relations, EMS-Ambulance, Marketing - Sales

Tags : bob holdsworth, business, client relationships, customer service, ems management, success, Ultimate Outcomes

What business are you really in?

By Bob Holdsworth · Comments (3)

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

Bob Holdsworth - Ultimate Outcomes, LLC - Business Services

"I'm going to make your dreams come true!"

Most business owners, including me until recently, don’t know exactly what business they’re really in. Everyone has perfected their ‘elevator pitch’. You know, that 30 second, roll-off-your-tongue verbal commercial that answers the question, “So, what do you do?”

However, if you look at your business from the outside in, from your customer’s perspective you might be surprised at how you are perceived. For example, I have always answered the question by saying that I’m a small business consultant. Good or bad, the word consultant is a volatile one, but is does conjure up an image in the person’s mind that they can easily relate to. Even in my own head I’ve pegged myself as being in the consulting and/or coaching business. The truth is yeah…but not really.

By working through my own business transformation recently I have come to realize, by talking to clients and colleagues, that my coaching methods are really just the mechanism that I use…I’m really in the business of creating personalized business OUTCOMES for my clients. Read More→

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Categories : Business - General, Customer Service -Client Relations, Marketing - Sales

Tags : bob holdsworth, business, client relationships, CRM, customer service, defining business services, Ultimate Outcomes

5 Critical Questions

By Bob Holdsworth

Friday, March 26th, 2010

I was speaking with a friend and fellow business owner yesterday who’s going through some growth transition issues. He’s improved his customer service practices and a key employee just couldn’t embrace the changes and keep up.

After waiting too long (his words) he reluctantly made the needed change and replaced a long standing employee with a new person. He has a small business with only 6 employees so any personnel issue has huge ramifications. All in all he did a great job smoothing the exit of the employee and allowing for the relatively easy entrance of the replacement.

About a week into things he called the new employee in and gave him a ‘project’. The mission was simple, pay very close attention to the business process, work flow, communication both with clients and in the office and look for problems, issues and bottlenecks. This is a great idea for any of us. He basically recruited his new employee to function as an internal consultant looking at his business with ‘new eyes’. Now realize that this is not a witch hunt…the job is to look at practices and policies not to spy on fellow co-workers and then tattle.

I suggested that he expand this practice one more step and I shared with him an idea that I’ve used, as a consultant in company after company that I’ve worked with but also as a technique that I’ve used to grow my own businesses.

Ask the 5 Critical Questions. Read More→

Categories : Business - General, Customer Service -Client Relations, EMS-Ambulance, Marketing - Sales, Uncategorized

Tags : bob holdsworth, business, client relationships, CRM, customer service, ems management, success, Ultimate Outcomes