After writing the post “The Backwards Bookstore” I contacted both Borders and Barnes & Noble. In my correspondence I simply referred them to the post to allow them to draw their own conclusions. their responses were pretty much as I predicted. Here is the response I received from Barnes and Noble:

Dear Member,

Thank you for inquiring about your Barnes & Noble Membership. We’ve changed our communication policy to further strengthen the privacy and security needs of our customers.

To respond to your request, we must ask you to reply to this email with all of the following information:

-Member name
-Member mailing address
-Barnes & Noble Membership number

If you do not have your Membership number available, please provide one of the following:

-Phone number
-Last four digits of the credit card #
-Last store in which your Membership was used.

Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience.

Sincerely,

Diane
Customer Service Representative
Barnes and Noble Membership Services

I received a form letter prior to this one stating the usual “thank you for contacting us.” then I received the above which completely side stepped any of my points or commentary. Instead, they concentrated on the word membership and would not engage in correspondence unless I provided them with additional details. Contrast the above response with the one I received from Borders:

Dear Chase,

Thank you for your wonderful comments praising the staff of our Springfield – Borders store. Your comments have been forwarded to the General Manager for the store and the District Manager for the area, respectively. They will have the pleasure of congratulating the store staff for truly going the extra mile.

We are always excited to hear when a customer has had a particularly positive experience in one of our stores – this is the kind of feedback that keeps everyone striving to do their best. Customer service is one of our top priorities and we are happy to hear that we have employees who seem to more than exemplify the term!

Once again, thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We look forward to seeing you at one of our Borders locations soon!

Sincerely,
Ashley
Borders Customer Care
http://www.borders.com

As you can see, they used my first name and you can tell that they read the entire post. Companies that truly care about client service go to these lengths. I applaud Borders for their efforts and this simply reinforces the statements made in my previous post as well as my subsequent decision to patronize Borders over Barnes & Noble.

In a recent post titled “Competition Is Good” I wrote about the benefits of having competitors. And I stick by this conviction. Competition is good. However, upon a recent round table meeting with some colleagues I realized that I have never covered a point that I thought was obvious but many small and large business owners alike seem to miss. Competition is good. But you do not have to support your competitor to your own detriment. Meaning, you do not have to push your good clients their way just so you have a competitor. And you definitely do not have to patronize their establishment so they can use the revenue from you to utilize in marketing against you.

Let me give you an example that everyone in the United States (and many other countries) can identify with. The entity known as Wal-Mart. Before I go any further, let me preface this example with the fact that I admire Sam Walton. He was a visionary that saw a niche that was being unfulfilled, matched it with innovative terms with suppliers and was able to quickly replicate his model. Wal-Mart is a business model marvel. Until Sam Walton died and Wal-Mart no longer supported the ideals of its founder (but that is another topic for another day). Regardless of my admiration for the tenacity and innovation of Mr. Walton and his Wal-Mart empire’s efficiency, they are still the competition. They are the competition to almost every small business. If your business is not incorporated into the Wal-Mart business model, just give it time.

Back to my mentioning of an example. I founded a technology company in a city where there was no other retail type computer store. There were some other technical service places (as mentioned in previous posts) but no real retail computer space, except for Wal-Mart. The closest Wal-Mart produced over $65 million in sales in 2001. That is $1,250,000 per week. Let’s say, for the sake of example, that 10% of those sales were strictly electronics which would total $125,000 per week. And of those electronic sales, let’s say that 1o% were computer related equaling $12,500 per week. At this rate, I was losing $12,500 in sales per week to Wal-Mart. Granted, this example is based on 1% of their sales for the store. But this is where many business owners miss the point. Wal-Mart does not just use the 99% of the revenue they earn for marketing and advertising. They do not keep aside the money you spent with them and decide not to spend it on advertising back against you. How many other places that are in direct competition with you do you frequent and spend money with them? If you own a hotel in your city. Would you go to a competing hotel and stay there on a regular basis. Or if you own a tire shop, would you go to the tire shop across the road to have your tires worked on? Of course not. You would think that the very idea is preposterous.

However, everyday of every week of every year, small, medium and large business owners frequent Wal-Mart and lay down their dollars in the hands of their competition. As mentioned earlier in this post, if your business type is not in their model, just give them time. Wal-Mart has opened their own line of stand alone grocery stores. They already have eye doctors, oil changes, tire repair, portraits, tax service, florist and nursery and almost every type of product imaginable. I told a physician acquaintance of mine that if he waited long enough Wal-Mart would have doctor’s offices in their building. Well, last year Wal-Mart began placing medical doctor’s offices in select stores. And guess what? My physician associate no longer has his practice. Wal-Mart has their own internet service, real estate company, automobile sales, construction company and credit card processing. Just wait and eventually they will be more of a mall than a store.

Yet, with the veritable cornucopia of different items and services that they offer that are in direct competition with business owners, business owners still shop there. Competition is good. But there is absolutely no need to continuously patronize your competition. You are doing so to your own detriment. Occasional partonage of your competition for market research is fine. But when you go shopping at the competition on a daily or weekly basis, that is no longer research. You are now helping to cut your own financial throat. I have not stepped foot in or shopped at a Wal-Mart since 2002. So, I know it is possible to patronize other merchants to obtain the products and services you require. Pick a local merchant and you can build a network of loyal local clientele at the same time. Whatever your situation and whatever your choice, just remember, when you shop at an establishment that carries your product(s) and/or service(s) you are helping to put yourself out of business.

Incidentally, I chose Wal-Mart to use as an example because most of the population can relate to the establishment. However, they are not the only one who carries competing products and services that is frequented by business owners. The list is long and vast. When you shop somewhere, just pay attention to their product and service line. Competition is good. But you don’t have to help your competitor eliminate you as a competitor.

Personal note – this post is dedicated to a couple friends of mine (DV and JF). Happy shopping gentleman.

In business there will always be competition. Sometimes it is direct competition, as with a product or service that is similar. At other times it is indirect, as with one company grabbing the attention of a client away from another company and their products or services are unrelated. Regardless, competition is good for the consumer and it can actually be good for business. As long as you do not let yourself fall into the trap of concentrating on your competition in a negative manner.

Let me tell you a true story to help illustrate the point. I founded a small technical business in 2001. At the time, there were other incumbent businesses. Within the year only one of them remained. I ran my business with pride, provided my clients with excellent service, solid products and respected my sole competitor. We never ran a formal market research project to survey the market share. But, in all reality, we basically split the business in the area in half. Some clients preferred my company with our service and products. Others preferred my competitor’s company with their products and services. This was great for both of our businesses as well as the clients in the area. The clients had a choice as to where they wanted to go. And because both of our establishments provided excellent service and solid products, the clientele was split on preference and there was enough business to go around.

One day, a new competitor started a business a block away from my headquarters. I sent a team member of mine over as sort of a peace ambassador to welcome the new business to the area and extended our hand in assistance should they need it. You see, in the tech arena, when businesses start up, promote and quickly close down, it destroys trust in the populous. The area clientele is afraid that they will subscribe to service that won’t be rendered or that their technical property may be difficult to recover because of businesses going under and leaving no point of contact. There is always room for a competitor. A smart entrepreneur devises a way to work with them for a mutual benefit or at least design procedures so as to not conflict with each other.

The new company turned us away and was unwilling to attempt to work harmoniously. They began telling their perspective clients that their sole intention was to put me out of business. This train of thought is wrong on so many levels. First and foremost, if that company based their business plan on putting me out of business and they succeeded, they would not have a viable business model afterwards. Second, you never speak in a derogatory manner about your competitor, especially to your clients. You can convey the same message without speaking in a derogatory manner. They could have said, “we have the sole intention of being the number one provider of technical service and products in the area.” Instead, their verbiage and attitude made the populous view them as malicious and unprofessional. Subsequently, the business did not even last 6 months.

If that company would have taken a different approach, it is quite possible that they may still be in business. In 2006, I sat down with my main competitor and proposed that we form one company together. January 1, 2007, NorthStar Global, Inc. was born. We immediately owned the entire market share. Since then, two other smaller companies started up. One seems to specialize on consumer clients (individual home users) and the other seems to specialize on government clients (city and county). Our company specializes on serving the SMB (small to medium business) client market. We all live harmoniously with each other. Our business has actually grown since the other two companies started.

Competition is good. If you take away a client’s option to choose and they are forced to use you because you are the only business that provides that service or product in the area, many of them will not be happy. You may provide top notch service and high quality products. But the consumer likes to have the option to choose. Hence the reason that many people do not care for their phone companies.

If you enter a market where there are competitors, either stay out of their way and run your own program as though they do not exist. Or meet them and become familiar with them. Discuss how you can all work together. If TV networks can do it, you can do it. (Hulu was formed in a joint agreement between Fox and NBC). Whatever you do, do not bash your competition. Remember, derogatory words of your competitor will only gain you ill will, not favor.

Are you a Corporate America Convert? Or maybe you know, provide service or sell products to a Corporate America Convert. What is a Corporate America Convert? Professionals that worked in corporate America who decided to leave their jobs and become entrepreneurs. If you are a Corporate America Convert, please read on to help you avoid pitfalls more specifically targeted towards your particular group. If you do business with this type of individual or groups of them, then pay attention and this may help alleviate some of your stress.

Corporate America Converts (CACs) typically bring their policies and procedures from the corporate world into the entrepreneurial world. They setup their company and every procedure is planned out and documented. Many rigidly stick to the policies that they devised before they even begin to plan how to make their first buck. To all CACs, being an entrepreneur means to have flexibility. If you must have policies and procedures documented, do not waste time in the minutia. Write down and document broad policies and general procedural steps. When you are starting a company for the first time or creating a new company in another market segment, you will make mistakes. More likely than not, you will make many mistakes. Successful entrepreneurs learn from their mistakes, adjust and move on. Unsuccessful ones do not learn from their mistakes or their time to adjustment takes too long because of analysis paralysis (take too long to make decisions for fear of making another mistake). To all who do business with CACs, realize that they like their policies and procedures. Depending upon your relationship, you may want to help them along by guiding them to this post or conveying the info herein. Otherwise, simply ask them the policies and procedures that pertain to your ability to contact, sell and collect from them. Ask them to put you on their email list to update you upon revisions of said policies and procedures. They are accustomed to sending memos and forwarding policy and procedural changes. This way you will be kept in their loop. Follow their guidelines and business will be easier.

CACs are typically more impatient than other entrepreneurs. This typically is derived from everyone having their own department and job description. Everyone had their own responsibilities. In corporate America, if they had a computer problem they called the IT department. If they had a benefit question, they dialed the HR department. None of these services cost them a penny to utilize in corporate America and they were normally readily available. Implant a CAC into the entrepreneurial world and they still expect fast service with no cost. They are not being unreasonable. It was how they were conditioned. To the CACs, calm down and have patience. Ask for references from other businesses that you trust and hire the providers that are most frequently mentioned. Once you find service providers that you personally get along with and they are competent in what they do, trust that they will solve your issues in a reasonable time at a reasonable rate. Inquire to the businesses that you asked from referrals from as to what the typical lead time is for service and what the average charge is. This way you have realistic expectations rather than your corporate America expectations in a small business world. To the entrepreneurs providing service to the CACs, have patience. Have a lot of patience. The CACs may get aggravated and impatient with you. But, if you stick with them and continually provide good service at a fair price to them while explaining the reality of how service works in the small business world, you will gain a loyal client. Remember, corporate America doesn’t like to change suppliers as often as small businesses. So, even though they may get aggravated and impatient, you should have ample time to win them over.

Dealing with Corporate America Converts can really try an entrepreneur’s patience. But the reward for sticking with them and helping them with their journey down the entrepreneurial road can be worth it. To all the Corporate America Converts out there who are just starting out in your entrepreneurial endeavors, my best advice to you is to find a mentor or a coach. If you do not have any in your area, contact me. I am willing to push you in the right direction. To both sides, entrepreneurs and CACs, remember that patience is a virtue that should be exercised.

I call it “Grass Is Greener Syndrome.” I have heard others call it “chasing multiple rabbits.” Regardless of the vernacular, the point of the saying remains the same and many of us entrepreneurs (including myself) suffer from it. Going after multiple different opportunities either at the same time or starting one and before it is to fruition you begin on another.

Let me paint you a picture. I am partners in a data management company. We help maximize business continuity and initiate multiple levels of redundancy for your data. In other words, we keep your business going and your data backed up automatically. During the course of getting that business up and running, I helped to develop a fantastic process (currently patent pending) that secures your data. It is data protection on steroids. So now we do data management and I also have to start seeking avenues to promote data protection. Not a far cry from each other as they both deal with data.

About this time, one of my other companies, a web hosting and development company, began to take off. We took on two other partners and our volume, as well as services, began to grow. Because I am the partner that is sought for innovation and marketing, now I am faced with actively promoting and working with my partners to develop processes to handle the growth. So, now I have data management, data protection and web site hosting and development.

Not long after this, I had an associate from the northeast region of the US contact me about another opportunity. As I said, I am sought for innovation and marketing. They knew of this technology in Europe that will eliminate the need for landfills. It can process medical waste and the resulting processed material is non-toxic. When you combine this with a gasifier you can literally turn trash into electricity or remove landfills and make the area arable land again. So, I jumped on board and brought in a few other people. We acquired the exclusive distribution rights for the US and US Territories. We made appropriate partnerships here in the US with other companies that can enhance our solution and augment our offering. I got the ball rolling with strategic partnerships and started my marketing mojo.

Soon after this got started I was asked to (I am just going to list things now rather than full stories or we will be here forever) help with the sale of home medical equipment, limousines, promo gifts, glyconutrient supplements, video intelligence software, 3d technology, Bill Mack art work and some original plans for parts of the Panama Canal. I am sure there were more. But that is all I can remember at the time.

Slowly but steadily things began to spiral out of control. I went from doing a few things excellent to many things mediocre. I am not a mediocre person and this situation did not sit well with me. I suffered from Grass Is Greener Syndrome. Every single one of these opportunities were 5 figure and higher deals. They were all legitimate and not pie in the sky dreams. That is what sucked me in so quickly. As I got one started, I looked at the next and the grass looked greener over there where the new opportunity was. So, I would head on over there to the greener grass until my eye spotted another opportunity in an even greener pasture. A good friend of mine said that I was going to chase many rabbits and catch none.

After he told me this and I figured out why I was unhappy (I was unhappy because I was not performing excellent in any one category), I sat back and evaluated my life. I cleared the table and began to evaluate every opportunity that I had before me. I decided to put a majority of my effort into one main goal and effort into two other projects if and only if I had any down time. I picked the one project I had the most time invested in and the most experience. Then I picked two other projects in the same manner. I cleared my plate of all other opportunities. I didn’t thrown them away, simply put them on pause. And I began to pour all of my effort into that one main project and only working on my other two during times of inactivity with my primary focus.

Things began to turn around for me internally. I was excelling again and no longer performed mediocre. The project with my main focus began to flourish and will soon be on autopilot, not requiring my constant attention. When that happens, one of my other two projects will come to the forefront and another one will move into one of my two secondary positions for projects. I was told by people who had already achieved multiple millions of dollars to focus my concentration. I thought I knew better. They were right. I corrected. Now I am repeating what they told me and my experience.

All of you rabbit chasers and people who suffer from Grass Is Greener Syndrome, heed my warning. Focus on one business or main project at a time. Build it up until it runs by itself (off of processes) or you sell it, then move on. For those of you who choose not to listen because you know better. Please visit this post when you change your mind and leave your comments for others to learn from.