Believe it or not, an important aspect of running your own business is knowing when to say “no” to taking on a new customer. You may assume that you should take on any customer that’s willing to pay for your product or services, but knowing when to say “no” is sometimes the best business decision. Yes, you need paying customers to keep your business afloat, but not all business is good business. Here are a few reasons that warrant turning away business:

The customer is your main income source

This is risky if you depend on revenue from your business to pay the bills. What happens if that customer stops ordering your product or service? It’s a good idea to have a diverse client base. That way if one customer stops using your services it doesn’t affect your bottom line as much because you’re still earning profit from other customers.

The customer’s ethic s clash with yours

As Muslims we adhere to a strict code of morals and ethics. It is haram (unlawful) to associate with certain behaviors and situations. If you are approached by a potential customer whose values are contrary to the teachings of Islam, it is your moral duty to disassociate yourself. Besides, you don’t want your personal, or business, reputation to be associated with anything controversial.

The quality of your product or service will suffer

Sometimes we take on too much because all we think about is profit. If you take on too much business, will the quality of your product or service suffer? Can you handle a rush job as well as an order placed on your regular schedule? Will you be able to meet established deadlines? If the answer to either of these questions is no, then it’s best to turn down the customer (or ask if they’d be willing to go on your waiting list).

Saying no to business opportunities can take some getting used to; but maintaining the best interest of your business should be the motivation for all business decisions.

Muslimahs Working at Home was created to provide women with a financial alternative to earning an income outside of the home. Our objective is to share resources and tools necessary to operate a successful, home-based business.

If you’ve ever made an online purchase, you’re probably familiar with e-newsletters, those corresponding emails you receive from a business that alert you to new products, special promotions, tips about the best way to use products, etc.
Newsletters can help your business keep in contact with customers so that they won’t forget you. Ever heard of that old saying: “out of sight out of mind?” Keeping in touch with your customers on a regular basis is crucial to making sure they don’t forget about you. Maintaining consistent contact results in increased sales and referrals, builds relationships and loyalty.
There are a number of autoresponders you can choose from to help spread your message via e-newsletters. Aweber, MailChimp, ConstantContact and iContact are a few. These services allow you to customize everything from the layout of the newsletter design to the articles. The benefits of emailing newsletters to your customers include:
Being Able to Send Direct Messages to Your Target Audience
The people who sign up for your newsletter are most likely part of your target market. It’s an easy way to consistently communicate your message directly to this group.

Inexpensive Marketing Strategy

It’s surprisingly affordable to send a monthly newsletter to your customers. As I stated previously, autoresponder services range in price from free to an average rate (as of this post) of $19 a month. The only additional expense you may incur would be the result of having a graphic expert design a template, ghost writers to write the articles or a virtual assistant to organize and distribute the newsletter for you.

An Ideal Way of Stirring Up Interest

Make sure the articles in your newsletter are engaging and interesting. You can share what you’ve been up to, new projects on the horizon, or upcoming special promotions. You can also write “how to” articles sharing advice on how to get the best results using a certain product, or provide an advice column and answer customer questions.

Improves Customer Retention

Keeping existing customers makes sense when you businesses spend 80% of their marketing budgets on getting new business. It’s cheaper to retain the customers you already have. Consider these statistics:

• Repeat customers spend 33% more than new customers.
• Referrals among repeat customers are 107% greater than non-customers.
• It costs six times more to sell something to a prospect than to sell that same thing to a customer. (Marketing.About.com)
• Nurturing existing customer relationships results in increase sales up to 50% without even increasing your marketing budget.

Marketing experts recommend sending out e-newsletters anywhere from every two weeks to once a month.

Muslimahs Working at Home was created to provide women with a financial alternative to earning an income outside of the home. Our objective is to share resources and tools needed to operate a successful, home-based business.

About a month ago, I was thinking of making a purchase online. After reading through all of the available information on the website, I still had a question I needed answered before paying my money. I searched high and low for a phone number or email address. Nothing. Couldn’t find a thing. Long story short: I finally I gave up and found the information I needed on another website. That website also had a contact email for customer inquiries.
From a customer’s standpoint there’s always a certain amount of risk involved with buying products online. Unlike purchases from a brick and mortar store, you can inspect the merchandise and carry it with you as soon as you’ve made your purchase. Sometimes a customer has questions that need answering before they make the decision to buy. Sometimes a customer needs to contact you for advice on the best way to use a product, or needs a question answered. A customer may also need to contact someone if there is a problem with an order (e.g. wrong size, color, etc.).
Your contact information should be easy to find on your website or blog. Ideally a visitor on your site should be able to easily access it from any page.

Muslimahs Working at Home was created to provide women with a financial alternative to earning an income outside of the home. Our objective is to share resources and tools needed to operate a successful, home-based business.

Photo: Google Images