The more you kn…

The more you know about your customer the better you are able to serve you customer

Simple but so many small business don’t take the time to understand this truth, take time every week to interview 3 or 4 customers and watch your business expand

How to deal with unexpected closings

As a small business owner myself and I’m sure everything agrees that the one of the toughest decision of all to close or not to close when a crisis arises?. Well I’ve been coaching one of my clients lately about it so I want to share it with all of you. Please tell me if it is valuable for you.

Every business needs to close but tell your customer as early as possible in as many ways as possible. Some business owners think that if they close and don’t say anything the customer will just come back again. You customers don’t rely on you no matter how great, unique or popular you might be. Once you waste your customers time and see your closed when your hours say you should be open they get frustrated and angry. I have to say rightfully so because you wasted their time. If you find ways to tell them they may be disappointed but more than likely they will be understanding. Remember they get sick and have emergencies as well they don’t expect you to be perfect they expect you to be reliable. Closing here and there is understandable with proper planning and responsibility. HOWEVER expecting them to guess when you are going to be open or why you are closed is not only wrong you deserve to lose the Customer because you don’t care about them you only care about you.

Invest In people not panes of glass

Apple used to be my favorite company until I got the perfect device then it scared the shit out of me. I have had every Apple device from the iPod up until I got the retina iPad it was too perfect. From that point I began to focus on putting down my iPod touch , iPhone and I sold the iPad. I realized these devices as entertaining as they were consuming me I wasn’t consuming them. What I thought was ten minutes was an hour. That’s when it dawned on me these devices are so good I was losing my time staying connected to them. I was texting when I needed to be talking. Just because it was faster , easier and/or smoother I didn’t realize all the emotion in my communication was gone. Nobody could hear my laughter when I typed out LOL. Hearing laughter, frustration, anger even a simple sigh is huge. We don’t even realize how important it is until it is all gone then we are left with this tremendous feeling of emptiness and we don’t know why. We don’t know why because these devices are so entertaining so engrossing so embedded that we lose sight of the fact the devices are ripping away our humanity and our real connection to each other. Apple is selling 5 million iPhone 5 and three million iPad mini in opening weekends and we think it’s coolest thing ever. When are we going to start asking what is the real cost of those devices and all those apps ? If you ask me it’s the most expensive cost of all those moments in your life you are wasting at a pane of glass instead of the people and moments that once they are gone are gone forever and then we are filled with the regret of what we missed while on that great device.

Writing Settings ‹ The other Titlow is a damn fine writer too — WordPress

Writing Settings ‹ The other Titlow is a damn fine writer too — WordPress.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA

Do you know what Yahoo’s problem is?

Yahoo has become as bad as America Online was in the end. They are just as outdated, clunky , hard to use , even harder to access the stuff you need like mail because it is so bloated. They have been so focus on the 64 bad acquisitions they made so they don’t have to focus on one thing they need to be. Making the user experience much better. The more they have tried to make money the worse they treat their users. Half of me thinks they are going to be the ones dumb enough to buy RIMM for Blackberry . If they do I promise it’ll be AOL /Time Warner part 2 of the dumbest mergers ever. Why AOL never asked their users about that merger is what did them in. There is a huge difference between getting your users to buy into a concept and your shareholders. Remember this Yahoo users are more important than any shareholder. Your users dictate profits shareholders do not at all. You have seemed to forgotten this simple point. I just hope you remember it before some stupid bankers gives you the great idea to buy RIMM.

For real growth press here

The best time to pray 2 god is while your untangling your headphones believe me it speeds up the process- said by Tom Titlow Jr on June 27th 2012

Sign , sign everywhere a sign

Blocking out the scenery , breaking my mind– Tesla (the band not the car)

One of the first things I do in working with small businesses is look at their signage. I apply this simple rule ” if I Tom your detail oriented business consultant can’t see or understand fully you sign how can you expect your customers to see you?” The problem with signs I experience is two fold. First people put up signs but then forget they are there. Things like dirt , lights going out, cracks, some type of growth in front of your signs(trees or brush etc)

I can here you now Tom that’s not me. I can bet you it is. First do you keep your street facing sign lit 24 hours a day? You absolutely should!!!! The people passing by your business when you are not open are just as important as when you are. As a matter of fact I say it’s more important because everybody has their sign on when they are open. As your potential client I’d say that chaos of competition for my attention is insane. Like I stated at the top”break my mind” When you closed and maybe just maybe your potential client drives by and you sign is lit and your competition is not. Our eyes pick out signs so much better at night than during the day having your sign lit WELL is a no brainer.
If you tell me that lame excuse I don’t want my lights when I not open I’d go through the roof. I am very much like Steve Jobs when it come to my passion about the little details.If your were one of my privileged clients I’d say do you shut down website when your closed? then keep the damn lights on. Note I didn’t say keep your open sign on. Sooner or later one client of yours is going to say these magic words and this always happens” I was driving by late and I thought I’d stop in and check you out. Next I’m going to save you some money….

Do you realize that nobody ever talks about how much Steve Jobs empowered the customer

I think the biggest thing Steve Jobs did was show people how important they were. For the first time ever he put the customer at the center of everything he did. Steve jobs keynotes weren’t about product introductions as much as they were the future instructional guide to new products. Have you ever wondered why every other CEO in technology sounds like a babbling idiot where 15 years ago the same conversation was an exciting display of computing power. See every other CEO put the machine, technology or whatever he wanted ahead of you the customer and said if you want a,b, and c capability you have to buy this to get it. Everybody dominated the customer mostly out of confusing them. Other CEOs would stand and still do saying mines faster, better, cheaper and they never ever tell us why those things are important to us. Steve Jobs always startedvwith the ultimate customer question . How to does having a b and c capability how does that change your life for the better? . It was never about the device instead it was ONLY it always how it could change you life if you used it. One great Steve gift he never said to the customer you need to buy this for these reasons. Instead he started with this what we have , this why it makes sense and here’s how to use it.

Think about this very powerful point — what happened to the instruction booklet.? Yes you remember that book that when you paid for your technology taught you HOW to use it. Usually written very bad but without it we could even answer these simple questions without it. How does it turn on, how to I put the batteries in right, and the best one that all devices from your VCR, cordless phones , alarm clocks and microwaves and don’t. Forget the Walkman even need this answered– How do I set this stupid clock anyway? . It was your role to figure it out for yourself and that was an extremely frustrating process . People hated the idea of the time it would take to learn how to use these great capabilities . This exactly why the tablet computer was around for years and a complete failure until the iPad showed up. The more complex the technology the longer it took to learn. Apple will never be beat for one reason that no matter what happens the customer is always the center of attention in every single thing they do. Technology was made for geeks not humans until Steve showed back up in 1997. Even though I never met my hero I could absolutely hear him ” We need to make this so simple and so intuitive the customers will forget they even need an instruction booklet. ” Here’s where you can truly see how extremely important your confidence is to Apple and this is how Steve turned the tables on his competition. Remember what would happen at Christmas with one instruction manual was missing. It was complete and utter disappointment till you found it. And yet I’ve never heard one person ever say this to me “where the instructions ?”when opening an Apple product. When you have created something so easy to use people don’t expect instructions or need them you have accomplished a miracle. You’ve given people the time back they had lost in the past. The power of the customers time ,confidence and trust that is generated to just start using the device instead of having to take time to learn how to by reading a book is enormous . How long did it take you to learn about you Sony discman versus your iPod or your old cellphone versus the iPhone and the most time consuming of all PC versus a Mac.
To think that my $700 iPad didn’t need any instructions to use is astounding. Can you do the same thing with a pc ? Nope and its Not even close.

The best sales advice EVER

Record all you phone presentations and review them. Ask yourself one question over and over– what can I do to improve this interaction and get my customer to feel more satisfaction and be happier by the time they get off the phone with me? If you keep finding ways to improve before you know you will be number 1. I’ve done it several times.

Wow I am so humbled by this –50,000 views

So I’m quite amazed and appreciative that I have gotten over Fifty Thousand view on this blog with very little promotion.
I have been working on two side projects lately that’s why I haven’t had many updates. The first is a book about how to use Apples primary philosophy about creating an exceptional user experience to help grow your business. The second is a audiobook about the bad side of Groupon – ways in which Groupon could actually kill your business and ideas you can use to grow your profit margins with Groupon coupons.
In appreciation of this milestone I going to give one of them away free to you guys before I put it on the market to sell it. This is very limited time offer because I really feel the topic – Groupon is so hot right now. So if your interested please email me -Tom4change@gmail.com or leave your info in comments below and I’ll make sure you get a copy when it’s completed in a about a week if you want the cd hard copy I can get you that too

You can take away my heroes can you take away my pain?

The loss that the world took about two weeks ago with the death of Steven P Jobs has deeply affected me is every way possible. I have been a fanboy of Apple for several years and a follower of Steve Jobs since 1997.I will never forgot that moment when I read on my Iphone that he was gone I was in disbelief until I clicked on the link from MDN to Apples website standing in my girlfriends dining room right after diner. I was a wreck crying and sobbing at this loss my world was shattered. Later I shared with her the Stanford Commencement speech from 2005 which I might add is something I think that EVERYBODY needs to do. She began to see that this person was so much more that the Iphone that we depend on so heavily every day. Steve in death is teaching me so much more about myself and why he was so important to me. I had forgotten about how important I was until reviewed that speech and the think different commercial that Apple released. I have started pushing peoples buttons more because I care so much about their success. With this pain I have a new drive and and actually pissing people off AGAIN because I want the most that people can get out of life and I’ve been pushing them again to go get it. I stopped accepting other peoples limits and amazing things are happening in my life. So please stop being comfortable and start being great in your life regardless of what  you have to sacrifice to get there.

 

 

How come nobody has mentioned this in a Steve Jobs tribute yet?

The greatest thing is my opinion that Steve Jobs did is he took every industry he touched and took it from very complex to so simple we don’t even need instructions. Before Apple was reborn in 1997 I read instructions for every electronic device in my life . Remember the day where you got a computer, cellphone, digital camera , walkman, software and you had to learn how to get this piece of technology to adapt to your life. Imagine that Steve Jobs and his drive for the Simplest design also made it the easiest to use ever. Before Steve came along I had to do thing like buy batteries, find out where to insert them , find the on button to test if I put them in right etc etc etc. Steve took ALL the excess of physical and MENTAL designs in a product and eliminated them. I remember my first Ipod it had NO specific directions I had to read 1st to understand it. There where so few buttons on the devices if I couldn’t figure out the product intuitively I was and idiot. That first Ipod may have been the first device that DIDN’T label the ON button. Think about that it is huge!!!! I no longer had to figure the device out. The simplistic design created a product on all levels that in many ways adapted to me. Once I learned the interface I  literally had to stop thinking because all my I-devices worked exactly the same way. There was never this new latest and greatest model that when it was released I had to learn the new feature, figure out how to turn it on.

A great example in point is cellphones with new latest and greatest I had to completely the RELEARN the whole device. For example when cellphones went from monochrome displays to color displays in the early 2000’s ABSOLUTELY NO manufacturer I can think of made the upgrade easy. The belief was if you want color then you won’t mind the trade of not just the money and you have to completely throw away all your previous knowledge because it doesn’t apply anymore. My mono to color Ipod I utilized ALL my knowledge from the previous device. I had to learn positively nothing new and for the first time in my life this technology is making my life easier and not more complex. Since Apple revolutioned my ideas about ease of use I can’t stand having to adapt to my products because Apple keeps teaching my that I don’t need to give up my peace and serenity to get hundreds of new features no just one (ala OSX verses Windows). This is why other tech companies don’t have a clue because they HP, Dell, Sony, Samsung, RIMM, Microsoft etc and still creating products that they think I will take the time relearn and adapt to and I won’t because Steve Jobs taught me that I don’t have to. This exactly why Apple never creates a product in which they lose customers like the others and they have the most loyal following of any company in the world. So note to all technology companies that will try and market to us we no longer want more , better, faster or bigger we want SIMPLIER, ,Completely Adaptable and Seemless across all products. But I think you can’t create a product and easier that what Apple gives me so good luck in getting my attention.

A great profit question

What challenges are your customers currently having that you have or could create a new solution to? this week listen to your customers challenges closer and ask yourself —“What solution could I create for them if I really wanted to?”

Pull me Under — Dream Theater

“Every breath brings me one less too my last.” Great point in perspective,

“Every step brings me closer my last”

Stephen Covey –Begin with the end in mind— Habit #2

These two lines from one of my favorite songs really help me to maintain focus when I get overwhelmed or lose sight of what i’m really trying to accomplish. Many times looking at the big picture and stepping back from the day to day procedures of running your business and asking yourself “In the end what do I want? What do I want those around me to feel or see ? How do I want to be remembered? What do I want to say I did for my community with this business? How do i see the end of this business (selling it, retiring and closing or passing it on to the family or friends I cherish most?)

These questions aren’t easy but the are substantial in stature for your life and your business. Begin with the end in mind making problem solving easy because you don’t get wrapped up in the trivial parts of a problem like blame for instance –(when does that really help anyway?). Instead you have the ability to see beyond the challenges and focus on why we want to solve the problem. The answers of how will come much easier.

 

To many resources vs too little when fear hits

One of those topics business owners don’t consider often enough is their mindset or comfort level when a crisis hits and how many resources they have and how to best utilize them. The problem is FEAR. Fear triggers us to think in terms of scarcity instead of over abundance. We have to learn to plan for these situations BEFORE they occur. Inventory at busy times is great example –what is your plan when you run out of your best seller while you have a line?