Small Office, Home Office Information

by Stuart Livesey

Yesterday I went into the bank to deposit some cheques from overseas. That’s a two-step process in the bank that we use. First you go to the customer service counter where an officer processes the cheques and gives you a credit slip for each cheque. Then you take those credit slips over to the teller and they’re deposited into our account.

It’s usually pretty seamless and just about everyone in the bank knows us because we do it several times a week and have been for years. But yesterday the wheel fell off when the customer service officer who was processing the cheques made a major mistake that neither she nor I noticed at the time.

However I did notice it by the time I got to the teller because the credit slips added up to far more than what they should have. I pointed that out to the teller and she took me back to the customer service counter. The assistant manager happened to be standing there as we arrived.

A discussion ensued on the best way to solve the problem and it was agreed that they would correct the error and put the correct deposit through later in the day. It was no big deal for me, I knew they would fix it and I was perfectly happy for the deposit to go in later but you could almost see the fear in the eyes of the assistant manager.

Here was what she thought was an unhappy customer standing in front of her in a busy bank full of people. Was I about to get angry? Was I about to make a scene? Actually I lost count of the number of times I smiled at her and told it was all ok, I think she still expected me to start yelling and stamping my foot.

I don’t think she saw anything positive in helping people who had problems - for her it was something that had to be done and done quickly before they made a scene. Yet there are a lot of positives that can come out of customer service … if it’s done right.

And if you want to see a different way for large or small business to do customer service right then read Seven Steps to Remarkable Customer Service by Joel Spolsky. It’s quite a long read but there are some real gems to be found in what he writes.

And the original cause of the problem with our bank? The way Americans write the date is different to the way the rest of the world writes it and we had a cheque drawn by an Australian client on his American bank account that was dated the way we write the date. But an American would read that date as something quite different and a date that had not yet arrived.

A hat tip to Seth Godin’s Blog for the link to the article

by Toni Livesey

Not long after Stuart and I got together we had one of those lover’s tiffs that all new couples have. In the middle of it he made the comment that I could have been an axe murderer for all he knew. And that’s something I’ve never let him forget.

For years now Stuart has been working hard to help me build my ‘brand’ even to the point where he let his small affiliate marketing business fade away a few years ago while he concentrated on helping me. Over the weekend he got an offer to become involved in something that he is very good at doing and that could go a long way to building his ‘brand’.

Instead of grabbing the opportunity with both hands he came up with 20 reasons why he couldn’t do it and then wanted to go and hide under the bed. At that point I suggested that he might be about to find out whether I was an axe murderer or not.

There’s nothing like coming face to face with a an axe-wielding woman to change a man’s way of thinking.

by Stuart Livesey

Toni is doing a lot of shopping on eBay at the moment. She’s in the process of setting up another small business that will operate an online gift shop so she’s looking for bulk deals on all sorts of costume jewellery.

It’s been quite a while since I looked at eBay so I was surprised to see Toni winning items and ‘buying now’ from suppliers in mainland China. I didn’t say a lot about it but I was concerned that she would never see the items that was buying.

After about four weeks of buying I’m glad I didn’t say much because I would be eating my words if I had. Every item that Toni has bought from China has arrived in a very timely fashion. Not only did they arrive but the items in the mail matched the descriptions on the auction page on eBay.

The only bad experience Toni has had so far came from a seller right here in Australia where the advertising on the auction page was very misleading.

Come to think of it, our last bad experience on eBay involved a seller right here in Australia too.

by Stuart Livesey

Nearly every small business person understands the need to care for their tools and equipment but there’s one piece of small business equipment that most people overlook.

They certainly do keep it clean on the outside but it’s the inside tha counts. It’s inside where all the dirt slowly builds up and when that happens this piece of small business equipment can quickly become a fire hazard.

If you haven’t recognised the subject of this photo let me tell that it’s the inside of a very dirty computer. It came into the shop today because it wouldn’t work. When Rick the technician took the side off this is what he found … at least there were no mouse droppings.

Keeping the inside of your computer clean is not difficult and if you don’t feel confident doing it then get your computer shop to clean it on a regular basis. It might cost a few bucks but then you should be keeping your equipment in good operating condition.

by Toni Livesey

Early this morning Stuart and I sat and had breakfast at our favourite cafe and then went for a walk along the beach. We verbally doodled about the work we got done last week and the work we have for the coming week.

Now we’re home it’s time for some thinking and Sheepwalking by Seth Godin is something that’s well-worth small business people thinking about.

by Stuart Livesey

Back in the old days - the days before the Web - small business people usually did business with people they knew and they took advice from people they knew too.

These days, thanks to the Web, small business people are inundated with ‘good advice’ from people they don’t know, have never heard of before and basically have no clue about. Yet too many of us take that advice at face value and pin the success or failure of our business on that advice without taking the time to do a little research into the background of the people who are giving that ‘good advice’.

What’s crazy about that is that the one tool that we need to do that research is within easy reach. We don’t have to hire anyone to do the research, we don’t have to run background checks, all we have to do is run the person’s name - or the name of his business - through Google and you will find the information you need.

Recently several writers that I respect were talking about a new advertising system for sites like this one. They thought it was a wonderful idea and would bring in plenty of advertising revenue. I ran the name of the guy who was promoting the system through Google and came to a different conclusion.

Instead of showing that he was steady level-headed businessman it showed that he was basically a flea who jumped from one idea to the next and never stuck at any of them long enough for my liking so I passed and others who did the research passed too.

So next time you find some good advice on the Net spend a little time doing some due diligence with the help of Google … and don’t be afraid to go well beyond the first page in Google’s listing for that person. The information you want to see is often tucked away on pages deeper than the first page.

Spending five minutes in Google now could save you a lot of time and money further down the track.

And don’t forget to Google me - for all you know I could be as much of a flea as the guy I mentioned above.

by Stuart Livesey

Toni was wondering what her latest idea would be worth so we called in the bean counters, we did some research, we talked to some venture capitalists, considered stock options, fought over who would be CEO and who would be Chairman and finally we’ve decided that’s a case of full-steam ahead because:

So guys, the business is for sale and we’re off to a tropical island to retire. Of course after we’ve paid off the staff, satisfied the tax man and paid all our bills the only place we will be able to afford to go to is Fraser Island.

It might be infested with dingos and sand flies but at least it’s only a 30 minute trip from here on the barge that takes the beer over every day and we can afford it - as long as we go steerage class

A hat tip to Businesspundit.com for a good laugh first think in the morning.

People tend to forget the good experiences over time but time never erases the bad ones

by Toni Livesey

Stuart runs another blog called Aussie Motoring and there are some interesting comments that have been added to one of his posts - Should I be Thrilled - today that illustrate how important it is to get it right the first time because people will never forget all the times you get it wrong.

by Stuart Livesey

Think in the morning

Act in the noon

Read in the evening

Sleep at night

That’s certainly not original - the sun isn’t even up yet so it’s way too early for me to be thinking about much at all

You can read more about the daily schedule of top executives in a post entitled The CEO Schedule at Business Pundit. That’s a blog that is definitely worth adding to your daily reading.

Sometimes the big end of town have some valuable lessons to teach small business

by Stuart Livesey

Another small computer shop in the town where we live closed today. It’s not really surprising because the reputation of the store owner was not good and he had been bleeding customers for months.

I suppose he could have tried to sell his business but it’s likely that no one would have wanted to buy it. Even if his reputation had not been so bad there are economic forces working in this town that are working against small business.

But what if he had sold his business? How would the new owner have overcome the bad reputation the store had?

Many small businesses would have put up a sign - Under New Management - but there are some people who don’t like that idea and Seth Godin is one.

Would a sign that declared - Under Better Management - have been better?