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10 Primary Functions Of Managing A Small Business

November 6, 2019 by Patricia Lotich

How to manage a small business

Most entrepreneurs go into business because of a specific passion, product idea, or marketable skill set, but most entrepreneurs don’t know how to start a small business.

There is a lot of excitement that goes with starting a new business.  The dreams are big, the passion is real, and there is a drive to succeed. Read the Full Article →

Filed Under: Small Business Management Tagged With: Customer Service, Human Resources, Small Business Management, social networking, work-life balance

12 Steps to Contract Negotiations

June 5, 2019 by Patricia Lotich

The ability to negotiate a vendor contract is a skill that every business owner will need at one time or another.

Whether it is the decision to outsource a service, or negotiate the price for new office equipment, business leaders will need to fine tune their negotiation skills.

Most of us don’t have the natural ability to negotiate so the trick is to use a systematic and unbiased approach to negotiate vendor contracts. Read the Full Article →

Filed Under: Small Business Management Tagged With: Charity Donations, Contract Negotiations, Customer Service, Quality Management

Service Recovery – 5 Tips For Successful Service Recovery

April 24, 2019 by Patricia Lotich

service recovery tips

Great customer service is the cornerstone of any successful business. Knowing who the customers are, what they want and making an effort to exceed customer expectations – is the key to business success.

Unless an organization understands this very basic principle, it will have a difficult time achieving desired results.

What is service recovery?

Read the Full Article →

Filed Under: Customer Service, Quality Management, Small Business Management Tagged With: Customer Service, Customer Service Training, Quality Managment System, Service Recovery, service recovery example

Tips For Conducting Focus Group Interviews

November 14, 2018 by Patricia Lotich

Focus Group Interviews

I was recently asked to provide the definition of a focus group, how to conduct a focus group interview and what is the purpose of focus group interviews.

Focus groups are forums used to gather qualitative data on the customer experience.

This  is a widely used marketing tool which helps organizations develop products and services that are influenced by participating customers.

Read the Full Article →

Filed Under: Quality Management, Small Business Management Tagged With: customer focus groups, Customer Service, focus group definition

4 Keys to Great Customer Service

June 27, 2018 by Patricia Lotich

Successful organizations understand that consumers pay the bills and great customer service is the key to business success.

According to a Zendesk Customer Service Survey, 81% of customers reported that they shared a bad service experience with family and friends and 59% of consumers who had a bad service experience stopped buying from that company. Read the Full Article →

Filed Under: Small Business Management Tagged With: Customer Comment Cards, customer complaints, customer focus groups, Customer Service

25 Interview Questions To Ask A Job Candidate

January 31, 2018 by Patricia Lotich

sample job interview questions

Anyone who has ever interviewed a job candidate understands that it can be a daunting task.

Knowing the right questions to ask is critical to identifying the right fit for your organization.

Interviewing is a skill that is developed with practice and being prepared for the interview is an important first step. Read the Full Article →

Filed Under: Human Resources, Small Business Management Tagged With: Customer Service, Employee Goals, job interview questions, performance management, vision

5 Steps To Help You Prepare to Interview a Job Candidate

January 24, 2018 by Patricia Lotich

steps to prepare to interview a job candidate

Hiring a new employee can be an exciting yet stressful time for a small business owner.

The reason being – no one wants to make the costly mistake of hiring the wrong person.

There are many steps to the hiring process – articulating the need, creating a job description, budgeting for salary, advertising and reviewing applications to select a handful of candidates to interview. Read the Full Article →

Filed Under: Human Resources, Small Business Management Tagged With: Customer Service, Employee Goals, Hiring Process, job description, performance management

Say This, Not That – 7 Things Retail Businesses Should Not Say To A Customer

December 13, 2017 by Patricia Lotich

Small business owners need to understand who pays the bills – the customer. And anything that can be done to improve, not impede a customer’s experience can only lead to more sales and a loyal customer base. Don’t forsake a possible sale for a determination to force customers to follow your rules. You may never know how many paying customers are simply voting with their feet.

As I was out and about this holiday season shopping, I made a point of supporting small business retail shops.

What I learned through the experience is that many small retail shops undermine their own success by doing silly things that turn off customers – and most likely costing them sales. Read the Full Article →

Filed Under: Small Business Management Tagged With: Customer Loyalty, Customer Retention, Customer Satisfaction, Customer Service, Customer Service Standard

5 Tips To Instantly Improve The Customer Experience

November 22, 2017 by Patricia Lotich

Too many organizations lose sight of this reality and ignore the very basic things that could enhance the customer experience.

We all know that it is the customer that purchases our products and services, and ultimately pays the bills.

Too many organizations lose sight of this reality and ignore the very basic things that could enhance the customer experience.

If you are like me, you can probably give countless examples of a bad customer experience, and hopefully,  remember those times that you interacted with an organization that “got it” and made the experience enjoyable and memorable. Read the Full Article →

Filed Under: Customer Service, Small Business Management Tagged With: Customer Service

9 Ways to Ensure Your Startup Succeeds!

October 11, 2017 by Patricia Lotich

To be successful an organization much first articulate what that looks like. Organizations develop vision statements, in an attempt to define why it exists and what it is trying to achieve.

Have you ever wondered how some businesses take off and grow very rapidly in just a few short years while others stay stagnant  and barely get by?

Some entrepreneurs make the mistake of achieving a certain level of success, sitting back and lose their drive to push the organization forward.

This often results is a business failure.  Read the Full Article →

Filed Under: Small Business Management Tagged With: Customer Service, Human Resource Management in Small Business, Strategic Planning Process

How Well Does Your Organization Recovery From a Bad Service Experience?

July 12, 2017 by Patricia Lotich

it is important for organizations to take precautionary steps to minimize human error in the workplace.

We are all human and human beings make mistakes.

This is just part of the imperfect nature of living life here on earth.

Because of this, it is important for organizations to take precautionary steps to minimize human error in the workplace.

This concept is what led the quality movement and product manufacturers to embrace quality management as a business practice. Read the Full Article →

Filed Under: Small Business Management Tagged With: Customer Service, Quality Management, Service Recovery

4 Things United Airlines Could Have Done Better To Avoid Its PR Nightmare

April 19, 2017 by Patricia Lotich

Apparently it is common for airlines to have a policy to “pay” passengers to give up their seat when a flight is overbooked.

Unless you have been living in a cave the last few weeks, you probably saw the shocking video of a passenger being dragged off of a United Airlines Flight on April 10, 2017.

What was the most amazing thing to me was that this event happened because the airline needed to make seats available for employees. Read the Full Article →

Filed Under: Small Business Management Tagged With: Customer Service, united airlines

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