Are there times when you have to say no to a customer?  I used to think the answer was yes.  But, the more and more our company steps out and takes a yes first attitude with our customers, the more and more I believe there should never be a time when you have to say no to a customer.

Countless examples come to my mind where a customer contacts us with a problem, or leaves feedback that they’re not satisfied.  Often times that first contact or feedback takes on an attacking tone because they’re ready for a poor customer service experience.  However, the customer becomes completely disarmed when we approach the problem with an attitude of “what can we do to solve this problem that would make you happy?”  Numerous times we’ve been able to turn customers that rate our service poor because on an isolated situation to fans of our company.

Have we had to change how we conduct our business?  Sure.  We take returns on items that, in the past, we would have pushed a “you purchased it in as is condition, and it’s your problem” attitude.  The transition to “how can we make you happy” was a difficult adjustment.  However, we find ourselves spending less time fighting customers, and much more time working with customers to make the customer experience positive.

Despite my attitudes, I occasionally have the displeasure of working with people who take a “no first” approach to life and customers.  I’ve got to say these experiences are some of my least liked experiences.  I think people take this attitude because of a number of reasons – but I sometimes think it’s a mixture of underlying problems.  In particular control issues, power issues, fear of the unknown, and are just a few of the underlying issues that drive the “no first” approach to life and customers.  Granted, I’m often fearful of the response when I give the customer options to resolve a problem, and always include the option “or, some other solution that I’ve not outlined that would make you happy.”  However, not once have I felt taken advantage of by a customer when they’ve selected the “nuclear option” of xyz is the solution that will make me happy.

In the end, if you’re  truly looking to change your experiences with customers, and even your relationships with others, start exploring ways you can answer yes to requests and not make your first jump to how can I answer no to requests.  It’s a mindset change that will have immediate positive results in your business and life.

First off, I’ve always known this, and mostly agreed that where we spend our money is where our heart is. Admittedly, I’ve not always been proud of where my heart was, but when I honestly review my life, the saying has held true. My pastor brought up five areas where we spend money, and ranked them according to how we typically use our financial resources.

Spend
Debt Repayment
Pay Taxes
Save
Give

Interestingly enough, most of my life this has been how I use my resources.  I first look to spend, then to pay debt, then my taxes, then maybe save, and then I give my leftovers (if there’s such a thing) to those in need.  Surprisingly, I’ve gotten through life with this method, and am financially okay, but by no means am I sitting on a pile of cash.  Also interesting to me was that three of the five areas on the list are about me (spend, debt, and save), one is about us (taxes), and one is about others (giving).

As I listened to the message that morning, I was struck with how the order is exactly opposite the way it should be prioritized.  If I had to write the formula for financial success it would look different.  At the end of the message, my pastor provided the same conclusion, and flipped the list.

Give
Save
Pay Taxes
Debt Repayment
Spend

I’ve been working on living my life this way for the current year, and I’m starting to notice some differences: I’m giving away at least 10% of my income each month to an assortment of non-profits; my retirement account has a balance that is steadily growing (in fact, it’s the first time that I’ve diligently set aside income to invest); I’ve got money set aside for taxes come tax season (as you may know, my primary source of income is typically reported to me on 1099s – which can be scary – while you’re probably getting a refund, I’m paying in over $3,000 this year); my debts are going down very steadily; and I’ve actually got money left over that I’m able to spend and even save more.

During the message, my pastor brought up an interesting point about living a life with this restructured look at finances.  Our federal government allows us a tax deduction for giving and saving.  So in effect, by making giving and saving a priority, I’m actually lowering my tax liability, which in turn frees up more money for debt repayment, spending, giving and saving.  It’s a wonderful circle when it’s followed in the “flipped” order.

The first few months of this change were pretty difficult.  However, it’s getting easier.  I’ve taken a few steps to get on track, and make sure I’m sticking to my plan.

1. I listed all my necessary expenses for each month.
   1. Debt
   2. Utilities
   3. Rent
   4. Gas
   5. Food
2. I figured those expenses needed to equal 70% of my income, and the remaining 30% should go to giving, saving and taxing (10% to each).  So, I divided my necessary expenses by 0.7 and reached an income number that I needed to meet every month.
3. I opened a savings account at a different bank from where I normally bank, and deposit 10% of every check I receive that don’t have taxes withheld into that account for payment of my taxes.  The accounts are actually linked electronically, so it’s really easy.  Plus, it’s one of these online banks with a pretty decent interest rate.  A double win for me.
4. I opened an IRA with a brokerage that enables me to directly transfer funds from my regular checking account.  So each time I deposit a check in my regular checking account, I transfer 10% of the total to my IRA.  I’m only allowed to make $5,000 per year in contributions to my IRA without penalty.  But, that doesn’t happen until I exceed $50k in annual income, and when that happens, I’ll open a separate investment account that is not an IRA and continue to make contributions.
5. I identified several non-profit organizations which are important to me and that I want to support.  Every time I get a check,  I write them a check equal to 10%.  I’ve also identified several friends that do various fund-raisers for causes they choose to support, and I’ve made a conscious effort to also support them above and beyond the 10%. So far this has been fantastic on so many levels.

Now, you’ll notice I didn’t calculate any funds for incidentals.  Well, I took a step of faith, and felt that the incidentals would work themselves out if I stuck to this new plan.  And, I’m happy to report that they have worked out – because my income has exceeded my budgeted income levels.  Interestingly, when my income exceeds my budgeted goals, the amount that I save and give back increases.  It’s a crazy win, win!

I wish I could say that this has been an easy transition for me.  I can’t.  In fact, it’s been a bit stressful at times.  But, I know it’s the right thing to do, and I can already feel and more importantly see a difference in my long-term financial outlook.

That peaked my interest, and this morning I decided I’d take a look at the numbers for 2008 year-to-date.  The results surprised me a bit:  33.61% direct traffic, 25.64% referring sites, and 40.75% search engines (google makes up 35.08% of the total or 86% of all search engine traffic).  The results got me to thinking.

In a typical advertising campaign, we expend 90% of our ad dollars to generate the 33.61% direct traffic, and 10% to generate the referring sites traffic, and 0% to generate the search engine traffic.  Yet the results seem to show a completely different result than what one might expect.  Note, realize I’m generalizing this over the year to date numbers.  In a typical year we are running about 20 active marketing campaigns (about two weeks in length each, with some overlap), and the other weeks we are running passive marketing campaigns.

I’m wondering if we kicked the advertising spend around a bit, say 80%, 10%, and 10%, if we’d see increased traffic to our website?  I’m guessing we’d see increased traffic.  I’m wondering if that traffic would convert to a respectable ROI.

Increasingly, as general newsprint becomes less influential, and web becomes more influential, and specifically web searches, it is going to be important for small companies to make the transition.  Now, it shouldn’t be an overnight, immediate shift.  However, a slow steady trend to 10% advertising directed at the search engine traffic that generates 40.75% of our traffic would be beneficial to our company and companies of similar size.