Last week, I wrote a post talking how a little shift in how I carried my wallet and phone had a significant negative impact on me. Apparently, shifting my wallet from my right front pocket to my right rear pocket impacted circulation, muscle or bone alignment, or something, resulting in significant pain in my right hip and leg.

At the conclusion of that post, I suggested I would look around for a few “easy things” that could have a disproportionate positive impact for me, personally. After some reflection, I thought of five little things that, if at the top of mind, have the potential for significant beneficial impact. They can be remembered using the acronym CARRY.

• C – Contact a Customer. It is easy in the press of any business day, to forget the importance of reaching out to customers and potential customers. The suggestion is to have reaching out so at the top of mind that you work in at least one outbound call, visit, lunch, or other connection with someone you are doing business with or with whom you would like to do business every day. The math of making one good contact with a customer or potential customer per day is compelling, unless your job is selling every day, then you’d better up the numbers! Contact a customer.
• A – Answer the Phone. Our phones are answered very nicely when anyone calls Mercer Capital. That is just part of what we have done for years. But that’s only the beginning. When someone calls our main line, they will likely be routed to one of our professionals, based on the nature of the call or inquiry. I answer the phone, “Chris Mercer here” when such calls come to me. That eliminates any doubt on the part of the caller about who is answering.  Do you use your cell phone for business purposes? How do you answer it? When I answer my cell phone, I try to answer with the same “Chris Mercer here” from above. But what if I don’t answer my cell phone? Well, of course, I have a voicemail response. But what is it? I called my cell phone from my home phone last night and got the following response when I didn’t pick up: “Your call has been forwarded to an automated voice messaging system. 901-579-9700 is not available.” Now that’s inviting – not! I changed that response immediately. If you’d like to hear the new response, which I thought I’d done many months ago, call me at 901-579-9700 and check me out. Answer the phone.
• R – Return Phone Calls. We never know who is going to call us or why. If someone calls and leaves a message asking you to return a call, do it. Your downside is that it is an undesirable call, in which case you can screen it immediately upon finding out. However, the upside is potentially huge. I recall a number of very nice engagements flowing from what seemed like screwy or suspicious phone calls. I’m glad I returned them.If you know the person who called you, whether client, prospective client, or friend, and can’t return a call immediately, send a quick email or text acknowledging receipt of the call and give an estimate of when you can return it. Return phone calls.
• R – Respond to Proposal Opportunities. Some proposals are more difficult than others to prepare. I learned from an early mentor, Ron, a partner at then Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co. (now KPMG), that the early proposal more often gets the business. Ron would talk to prospects about their needs and then “draft” a proposal that clearly had one or more holes. What I learned from Ron was that clients and prospects prefer promptness to perfection. Most of the time, they are willing to help fill in any holes in the proposal and bring it to completion for signing. Remember, when they are working to complete my/your proposal, they are not working with another provider. This “little thing” is sometimes more difficult than others, because many businesses and professionals do not have proposal opportunities every day. So we have to be ready to respond. Respond to proposal opportunities.
• Y – Yes to Excellence. Every day presents opportunities and choices. We can get things done, or we can get them done with excellence. Often, the difference between satisfactory and excellent is not much in terms of effort or time. Quite often the difference between satisfactory and excellent is in time of response. See the notes above regarding returning calls and responding to proposal opportunities. At other times, the difference lies in bringing your unique knowledge or perspective to a situation. And the difference might lie in having something done over if it is not right so that the client does not see the less than excellent product. Saying yes to excellence is important for each of us as business people, and it is absolutely critical for our businesses. When you have opportunities to differentiate yourself, your product, your service, or your company from others by showing a bit of excellence, do it. Say Yes to excellence.

Hiring professional Naperville organic lawn care services will take a whole lot of pressure off of your shoulders. They are experts in their field and will be able to keep your business premises looking in tip top shape.

CARRY is a simple reminder to do a few little things when you have the opportunity. These things will make a difference in your business life. So, as we used to say in the military many years ago when a ranking officer left the room, “CARRY on!”

Little things can make a big difference.

Until next time, Be Well!

Chris Mercer