Shining Through

Help your business stand out from the crowd.

SUCCESS.COM  In his new book, Selling Sunshine: 75 Tips, Tools, and Tactics for Becoming a Wildly Successful Entrepreneur, Tony Hartl offers a wealth of advice (75 tips to be exact) on how to build a strong, profitable business and at the same time maintain a culture that makes people want to be part of what you’ve created. Regardless of your product or service, using these simple yet powerful strategies will help you stand apart from the competition.

Go the extra mile.

It’s not always convenient to meet your customers’ needs, especially when they call in with a special, last-minute request or show up at closing time. But when you go above and beyond and offer excellent service, you’ll develop a reputation as the go-to person in your market space.

Create a relationship experience, not a transaction.

Take a personal interest in your customers’ lives. Simple things—kind compliments, addressing them by name, remembering their birthdays—show your customers that they’re not just a sale.

Exceed expectations.

“We had the same equipment as the tanning salon down the road. The thing that made Planet Tan truly distinctive was the experience created by our team,” Hartl writes. “Any business or service professional can look for ways to go the extra mile and stay relevant to customers. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a plumber, a piano teacher or a lawyer; you can avoid being ‘commoditized’ if you’re willing to exceed expectations and deliver exceptional service.”