Treat Customers Like "Kitchen God"

Hope you are well and are enjoying the warm sunny springtime. I'll certainly treasure every minute of the season after spending three weeks in snowy Canada at the shocking (for me anyway) temperature of -15C. It's time to spring-clean the house. Do you realise business needs a good spring-clean too?

According to the Chinese tradition, people would clean their kitchens at home relentlessly in order to pay respect to the Kitchen God, who they believe would bring them blessings of prosperity for the New Year. As a preview to the Dragon Business MP3 audio training, here are my top 3 tips for your business spring-clean:

1. Keep it simple – Of course you want to tell customers and clients everything you can do for them. I suggest you resist such temptation. People can only remember what impressed them the most. When everybody is competing for everybody else's attention, you need to keep your offering, your business brand and key messages simple, VERY simple.

2. Keep it relevant - You look at what your competitors (and peers) do in their promotions and think: "I can do a bit of that too". Think carefully. What looks and sounds good for other enterprises may not be suitable for your business. Instead of distracting yourself – or worse, your customers; focus on what you do best.

3. Keep it clean – Most, if not all, businesses have a website. It is where the customer journey starts. Within 10 seconds or less than that, your prospects might have already decided if they would want to do business with you. It is not just about what is said on your website but also how it looks. De-clutter the design and text. Remember: Less is more. In fact I am giving my website a new look this week!

If you take these 3 simple steps, you are ahead of many businesses in paying attention to prospective customers and clients. If your financial year falls between April and March, the first quarter will soon go passed you. So welcome your prospects like "Kitchen God" now.

It is the Year of Rabbit according to the Chinese calendar. Although I am not an expert in Chinese horoscope, you would probably agree with me that rabbits symbolise liveliness and energy of bounce. Here is wishing your business full of exuberance.