Schuetz

In business there is one certainty: Problems will occur. Products and services will not always perform as they should. People will be disappointed. Employees will make value judgments that wont always pay off. And above all, the one business truth that you can depend on: Customers will have complaints.

Which leads us to one the biggest business misconceptions: Customer complaints and problems are detrimental to your business. This is not true! In fact, customer problems and complaints are often your greatest opportunity to build more sales and create customers for life.

How do you turn problems into profit? By approaching every complaint as a second chance to prove your dedication to good business and to your customers.

For example, if you own a service station. You are in a highly competitive industry because customers tend to go to more than one station to get their gas tank filled, their oil changed, and their cars serviced. A customer makes an appointment to have his or her care tuned up, but you are unable to get to it in the scheduled time. As a result, the customer is greatly inconvenienced, has to make another appointment, and has to rearrange his or her schedule.

Needless to say, the customer is more than a little bit angry and your customer vows never to bring his or her car to your again. How can you turn this situation to your advantage? By putting yourself in your customers shoes. If your car was not ready when promised, what conciliatory services would you expect to be provided?

Remember that you are responsible for your customers; for their convenience, their satisfaction and, most importantly, for their overall happiness. And when you have failed to meet your customers expectations, rather than accepting defeat and letting the customer slip away from you, use your initial failure as a jumping off point for a profitable relationship. Commit yourself to turning customer complaints into sales. When you make this part of your business practice, you will become a trusted friend in the eyes of your customers.

So how do you turn customer complaints into sales? Its really obvious, but very few business owners recognize it. Your number one priority, both before and after a mistake has been made, is to solve your customers problem. Not only solve it, but do it in a way that exceeds your customers expectations.

In the example I gave above about the service station owner, a great way to solve that problem would be to provide the customer with free transportation until his or her car is finished.

Even if the problem is not a direct result of some mistake that you have made, it is still your responsibility to make it right for the customer. You should always reward your customers for their inconvenience. That may mean offering repairs at a reduced rate or even free. It might mean giving them a free fill-up at your station. Whatever you do, you need to earn their trust back, and free gifts and services are a wonderful way to achieve this.

If you want to secure future profit from your customers, you have to give them a reason to transact business with you again. Give them coupons, gift certificates, or vouchers. Give them anything to get them into your store and buying from you again.

As with all promotions of this kind, there is always the chance you could end up spending more than you make on the initial transaction, or even on the follow-up. But your goal is to turn your customer into a customer for life, which gives you plenty of opportunities to make a profit and make your customers happy.

Whenever a customer complaint or problem arises, remember that it is a human being asking you to recognize that their life, their business, and their satisfaction is as important as anyone elses. They want you to recognize this, verbalize it, and compensate them. If you do all of this with compassion and understanding, you will not only earn their lifelong support, but also the support of all those whom they refer to you.

Copyright2006 by Joe Love and JLM &Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

Joe Love draws on his 25 years of experience helping both individuals and companies build their businesses, increase profits, and achieve total success. He is the founder and CEO of JLM & Associates, a consulting and training organization, specializing in personal and business development. Through his seminars and lectures, Joe Love addresses thousands of men and women each year, including the executives and staffs of many of Americas largest corporations, on the subjects of leadership, self-esteem, goals, achievement, and success psychology.

Reach Joe at: joe@jlmandassociates.com

Read more articles and newsletters at: http://www.jlmandassociates.com

If you're a bicycle enthusiast, but have only tried cycling on the road, it's time you gave mountain biking a try. By mountain biking, I mean more than heading down an actual mountain - although that what most people think about when they hear the phrase "Mountain biking."

However, mountain bikes - light bikes with fat tires and front suspension - make it easy to go cross country riding as well.

So even if you live in an area that has no mountains - get yourself a mountain bike anyway! Those fat tires make for a nice ride - and as long as they're properly inflated they can go almost as fast as the thinner tires of road bikes, but you don't need to worry about going up curbs or down curbs.

There are three styles of mountain biking - the one everyone thinks of which is downhill riding, free riding, and cross country. If you're a professional cyclist or a dedicated amateur you'll want to buy a bike specifically designed for each style, but if you're a casual cyclist who'll want to try one style one weekend and a different style the next, any good mountain bike will do.

Most people will buy a brand new tool whenever they take up a brand new hobby. This is a mistake. Examine yourself. Have you done this in the past - decided on a hobby, bought all the equipment, used it once - then stored it in your garage and never used it again?

So, if possible, rent a bike first - indeed, in so doing you'll be able to try out quite a few bikes and decide on which one you'd like to buy. Make sure that the people renting you the bikes have taken proper care of them, of course, and that they're not just "beaters."

Are you a beginner?
If there's any mountain biking in your area, chances are there'll be a club or two, which will cater to beginners. The best thing to do is seek out your local bike shop. Anyone there can tell you what goes on in your area. In addition, most bike shops will have racks featuring the brochures of local clubs, and bike maps of the local trails, for free.

Practice makes perfect
If you're not in shape - you can get in shape with mountain biking... if you make a concentrated effort to do so. Set yourself goals of miles to ride each day. If you don't have the time to ride an hour or so everyday, but if you have a steep hill near your home, you can always spend ten minutes or so doing wind sprints up and down that hill. This will increase your stamina and strengthen your leg muscles no end. (Make sure you check with your doctor to make sure you have no health problems that would limit vigorous exercise.)

Don't get on a bike and then find the toughest trail and through yourself down it. Start with beginning trails and work on your skills for a while.

Staying safe
Riders fall. Face it - it's going to happen. So the most important piece of equipment you have, after a good bike - is a good helmet. Never buy a used helmet - you don't know what's happened to it. Also of use to the mountain biker are goggles or other eye protection, elbow and knee pads, and good shoes. Always carry a few dollars and some change in a pocket so you can call for help if need be, and make sure you have identification on you at all times. (That last bit of advice is good for any type of biking, or jogging, come to that!) Always be prepared for the worst to happen, and then it [probably] never will.

Alastair Hamilton is the author and editor of many bicycles articles and newsletters published at http://www.bikecyclingreviews.com . Find more publications about mountain bike reviews at his website.