My Virtual Sidekick | Management, Marketing & More | Raven Howard

Feedback and complaints are really important in building your business successfully. They’re an opportunity for us to improve ourselves, our products, our services, and our processes – if we act on the feedback that we receive.

Unfortunately most feedback is either handled horribly or goes in “one ear and out the other”. Mishandling complaints this way is why a company’s performance never improves.

A more effective solution to deal with feedback is establishing a 3-step customer feedback process:

1. Gather customer feedback.
2. Take action.
3. Communicate company feedback.

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This past August I began working with my first Online Business Manger client. The business owner was seeking a true OBM to manage her business since her husband was leaving the company.

I fell in love.

Finally I was working with a client that was a perfect match for the skills that I wanted to leverage and though YES I do, do VA work for this client, the majority of the tasks were management related.

I compared this client to my others and noticed these differences:

• My OBM client is a successful business owner with a powerful formula for success that she is looking to finesse for more profit.
• She is committed to her online business, which means this wasn’t a hobby or something she was dabbling in.
• Nor had she jumped on the self-employed bandwagon and looking for help in figuring out what in the heck she was going to sell.
• She had a coach.
• Basically she wasn’t in startup mode and my day with her was challenging.

It was a shift from, “How do we start this, Raven, to “how can we improve this, how can we make this more efficient, effective, power and profitable?”

OH YEAH—MORE OF THIS PLEASE!
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Every winter there is a shift in talk to business planning for the next year. You’re told NOW is the time to start thinking of what you want to do next year. You probably attend some teleseminar and  jot down some goals for next year and may even outline a marketing plan for your next big idea for a product or service you want to have out by next quarter. In some cases, that fills you up like mama’s turkey. You pat yourself on the back and move into another year of hasty planning and often times poor results.

If you think of your business journey like a runner there are two races for you to consider entering:

The 100m dash-Relying on your natural abilities you spend most of your time contemplating the start of the business. The “jump off” the block when the gun sounds. Then you frantically scramble the short distance to the finish line. Zoom and it’s over in a flash.

However, if you want to be in business for the long haul; then you’ll have to do much more than plan for the start. You’ll need to shift into a marathon runner’s mindset and create a concrete plan of performance across the track. There are miles upon miles of road up ahead that you must be ready for. You’ll need to understand the course completely and have your unique journey clearly mapped out so you can optimize your pace and run the race you WANT to run. You prepare your business for this race with a business plan.

A Business Plan is a living document that is broken down into sections that each covers a different aspect of your business. When woven together this document tells a winning business story.

On your mark….

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