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Published in The Tennessean March 9, 2015 By Ed Rappuhn – SCORE Nashville “I’ve been told to avoid politics and religion in my business discussions. I own the business and have strong views, why can’t I share them?” You most certainly can promote your beliefs, but at what cost? Society has become increasingly more diverse religiously and divisive politically. Is it worth alienating a good portion of the marketplace by spouting far right or far left opinions? Is it worth a discrimination lawsuit for failing to serve a member of the community who doesn’t share your theology? I have seen business owners post information on social media about their great company and then follow up with biased political posts. Then they share cute family pictures. Next you’ll see a religious post claiming their faith tradition has all the answers and everyone else is wrong, followed with another post saying “come see us at Bill’s Florist for a special deal.” How many people do the political and religious posts offend? I venture to say half of their potential customers will be turned off by what might be considered rants. Four notes about social media: Unlike a verbal conversation, posts don’t disappear. There is no way to tell by responses...

Published in The Tennessean February 9, 2015 By Ed Rappuhn – SCORE Nashville “We provide high quality, custom products to homeowners and contractors. Our sales are increasing but profits are down. Our competitors’ prices are considerably higher than ours. With our three largest customers representing three-fourths of sales we fear increasing prices will cause one or two of them to leave. Any ideas?” Why are you so underpriced? Is it because you did not raise your prices as labor and material costs rose? If so, you took the easy route of not rocking the boat. Now moving to market prices will shock your customers. Start by talking directly to your large customers. Explain what happened and that you need to move towards pricing comparable to others that do similar quality work. These customers are almost certainly contractors who also deal with increased costs and will understand you must do the same. They obviously like your work and want you to stay in business. And where are they going if your competitors are truly more expensive? Next, consider a tiered pricing structure. Tier 1 might be retail pricing, the highest price, which you would charge a homeowner directly. This will be somewhat above contractor price but in total will be...

Published in The Tennessean January 12, 2015 By Ed Rappuhn – SCORE Nashville “We have some tough customers. They complain about everything, much of which we can’t control. Some ask to return things after warranties have expired. We can’t afford to eat those losses. What should we do?” Whenever possible, provide extraordinary customer service. Your reputation is on the line and is easily marred by even one or two negative customer interactions. As a small business, you have the freedom to operate outside “corporate policy.” Listen to the constant complainers. Why are they dissatisfied? Identify one or two areas that commonly cause complaints and then improve in those areas. For example, what you think is out of your control might actually be the result of unrealistic expectations. If so, undersell your capabilities and over perform. If I’m told something I order will arrive in 7-10 days and it arrives in 5 days, I’m thrilled. If I’m told 3-4 days and it arrives in 5 days, I’m irritated – same delivery time but different expectations. Set expectations to make your performance excel. If you don’t have what the customer wants, don’t try to fit a square peg into a round hole. Send them to a competitor if necessary; they...