Be Selfish to Succeed | BNI | TNNWC Publications

Monday, April 04, 2011

Be Selfish to Succeed | BNI

Be selfish with your business and grow faster than you ever thought possible. Business selfishness is good, positive and helps you build your client base quickly; personal selfishness is not so positive and many of us know the negative repercussions of living a lifestyle of not giving back to others. So what is being selfish in business all about? How will it help me grow?

1) Be selfish with your time. Focus part of each day and week to personal growth. How can you service your clients and offer the best products if you are not up to date with current skills and knowledge in your industry? Keep learning and growing by attending workshops, seminars, conventions and reading updated journals and engaging in tutorials. Only by being selfish with your time and scheduling segments of your week to improve as a professional can you stay sharp and competitive in the market place.

2) Be selfish with your product line or services. Never let your products go “stale” without constantly trying to improve them, making them more efficient and effective while keeping the cost fair and competitive. A product or service which looks the same as it did 2 years ago most likely is not current nor the best you can give your customers. Keep up with the evolving demand, it keeps on morphing because we, as consumers, are conditioned to seeing improvements and enhancements with everything we use and spend money on. Obsolescence is at the highest rate it has ever been and the trend is unlikely to change.

3) Be selfish with your clients. Protect your customers by keeping their contact information private and confidential. Spoil them with each “touch” by giving them the best service possible, always going beyond what you promise to deliver. Treating them like family, which is distinctly different than how you treat your prospects, keeps your retention rate high and profitable for the long run. As you may know, it takes many more resources to get new clients than it does in keeping the ones you already have. Offer value by updating them on important industry changes or trends, package special programs for them and give them “insider” discounts for their loyalty. Let them know they are special and they will stick with you even when the economy takes a dip.

Being selfish with your business obviously doesn’t mean not sharing; it means focusing on the key elements which are crucial to your long term success. Setting aside the secondary priorities is needed to make sure that what you offer, who you are and how your clients perceive you is as professional, genuine and caring as possible. By this definition, business selfishness will lead to success by always improving who you are and what you offer.

Lester Salvatierra is an experienced Finance Specialist with First U.S. Finance (http://www.FirstUSFinance.com). He helps small to mid-size companies lease or finance a wide variety of equipment and special projects for upgrades and expansions. He is also a networking pro and BNI Area Director in Ventura County, CA. Lester@FirstUSFinance.com Ph: 805-217-9896

BNI
With over 5,500 active chapters, and over 100,000 members throughout every populated continent worldwide, BNI is the largest and most successful business referral organization in the world. BNI was founded in 1985 by Dr. Ivan Misner and the organization, which allows only one person from each profession to join a chapter, offers members the opportunity to share ideas, contacts, and most importantly, referrals. Last year alone, members of BNI passed 6.2 million referrals, generating 2.6 billion dollars’ worth of business.

For more information on BNI, please visit http://www.bni.com/ or call BNI Headquarters at 909.608.7575.

Links:
~ BNI Store - http://store.bni.com/
~ Blog - http://www.networkingnowblog.com/
~ BNI SuccessNet Newsletter - http://www.bnisuccessnet.com/
~ BNI Twitter page - http://twitter.com/BNI_Official_Pg
~ BNI Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/BNIOfficialPage
~ NetworkingNow - http://www.networkingnow.com/

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