Brown paper gift bag with a tag that reads, "support small businesses"
09 Dec

Should You Support Small Businesses?

By Lisa In Blog, Business, Client Experience, Entrepreneur /   No Comments

The message to support small businesses seems to be everywhere these days, but where should the line be drawn?

Recently, we reached out to a boat repair company and left them a voicemail, followed by an email to see if they could do some work for us. Over a week later we still had not received a response.

Another professional was referred to us to buff out a portion of our boat. After several days, this individual finally responded and said he had taken a look at our vessel and was only willing to do the work if he could do the whole thing. We responded immediately and asked for a quote, and several days later, we still have not heard back.

This is not isolated to the boating industry. I see it everywhere.

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Cartoon Spaceship Crashed on White Background
28 Oct

Normalizing Business Failures

By Lisa In Blog, Business, Client Experience /   2 Comments

In a world where many business owners are sharing nothing but their success highlight reels, it’s time to normalize business failures, because they happen to everyone.

This past weekend, my friend and colleague, Christine Kane and I were sharing some of our “things gone wrong” stories via text and talking about how when things like this happen, people don’t talk about it.

She said “All these books act like if you do this right… you’ll never make a mistake again! And so we all hide it in shame when we do. And then you realize that everyone makes mistakes.”

But no one talks about it.

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Tiny shopping cart filled with brown packages, on top of laptop. The Lifetime Value of a Client - Lisa Larter
21 Oct

The Lifetime Value of a Client

By Lisa In Blog, Client Experience, Marketing /   No Comments

There have been times in my business where I’ve held strong to a belief or a previous arrangement and disregarded the lifetime value of a client. 

And there have been other times where I have absorbed the sunk cost of doing what is right for the client because, quite frankly, it was a no brainer.

It costs money to attract a buyer to your business. 

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Words Matter More Than Star Ratings
01 Sep

Words Matter More Than Star Ratings

By Lisa In Blog, Business, Client Experience /   No Comments

He said the chef’s nose was running and that he was wiping it with his hand—and that he then continued to prepare food for customers. This written description of what this customer saw at the restaurant was a deal-breaker for me—even if they had the highest star rating. 

A written #review for a restaurant can be a deal-breaker – even if they have the highest star rating. Your words matter. Read the full story here: Click To Tweet

Sushi is one of my favourite foods to eat. Anytime we are in a new city looking for a sushi place, I spend a fair amount of time reading the reviews to ensure we get the best quality available.  

The chef with the runny nose came from a highly rated restaurant. They had all the stars, but that one review changed everything for me. 

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Responsiveness Is A Business Strategy - Lisa Larter
12 Aug

Responsiveness Is A Business Strategy

By Lisa In Blog, Business, Client Experience /   2 Comments

Responsiveness is a business strategy.

Over the last couple of months, I’ve noticed a trend that has exacerbated the loss of income for small businesses: that trend is responsiveness – or the lack thereof.

There’s a store in our community that we regularly buy from. We’ve always communicated with them via Facebook messenger to place our order. When we first came back to Nova Scotia, I placed an order that was close to $600—and they forgot about me.

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Kindness Versus Carelessness - Lisa Larter
05 Aug

Kindness Versus Carelessness

By Lisa In Blog, Client Experience /   2 Comments

Taking care of your clients with kindness and care matters.

It was a Friday evening, and I was frantically searching for a portable air conditioning unit online for my mom. My mom lives in an apartment by herself. She has severe COPD and it’s been super hot in Ontario – which makes breathing hard for her.

Every place she checked locally and in the surrounding area was sold out. Everywhere I checked online was sold out too – or their shipping dates extended into fall or winter.

Finally, I found one. Not the inexpensive kind, of course, those were all gone. I saw it on Home Depot’s website and bought it for her right away.

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Patience before pitching - Lisa larter
27 May

Practice Patience Before Pitching

By Lisa In Client Experience, Leadership, Marketing, Sales, Social Media /   1 Comment

It was early morning, and the first message in my LinkedIn inbox was a sales pitch from someone I hadn’t met before. I brought up the fact this person had never talked to me before pitching something I didn’t need… and they blocked me.

They called my response “rude and unnecessary”.

Read any sales book, and you’ll discover there is a natural order to the sales process. And that order includes uncovering a need before presenting a solution.

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