Business Secrets Podcast Episode 19: The Devil Is In The Details

This is a transcript from the Business Secrets Podcast With Robert Kanaat. Click here to view and subscribe on iTunes

Hello and welcome to another episode of Business Secrets. My name is Robert Kanaat, the founder of wanderlustworker.com – the source for all things inspirational and transformational. Thank you so much for joining me here today, and in today’s podcast episode, I want to talk to you about something that could potentially make the difference between you successfully scaling your company, and you being left behind.

That is that he devil is in the details. I think that so many people overlook the details, and they don’t realize how much of an impact that that makes on the customer or the client. For example, let’s just say you have rented an Airbnb or another vacation rental – and you get to that property, and you realize that every little thing that you could possibly ask for is there – and that the owner or owners have thought about almost everything.

Now that might not make the difference between you actually booking that property or not, but it certainly makes a difference in your satisfaction. By you being satisfied, you leave a positive review. Which, and then – in turn, would make the next person want to book the property even more. So the devil is in the details, and you have to look after all of the details. So you have to be actually meticulous when it comes to all the details. If you want to succeed, that is of course. If you want to fail, then sure you can just leave out all the details.

Now I know that you probably know that you have to be detail oriented in business, but some people still like to take shortcuts. It’s kind of like an SEO when I say – you have to do the most amount of work for the least initial return, and that’s so true. When you’re starting a business, it’s no different. No different. You have to do the most amount of work for the least return.

Now I’m used to this when it comes to things like passive income. I know that I have to do a lot of front end work, and I have to be meticulous and detailed with that work if I want it to start paying off, right? If I want it to start paying dividends, to pay me every single day on auto pilot. I know that I have to put in the work, and I have to be detailed with it.

But how many times in business do we forget to go into the details? Because we think like oh nobody is looking or nobody is watching, like so I can’t forget to dot this “i” or I could forget to cross this “t.” Well it makes a big difference, and if you sincerely want to succeed – you have to go after the details, and you have to be meticulous.

So if you are not a detail oriented person, that’s okay. You have to find somebody and bring them on your team that is super, super detail oriented. Now, I don’t say this lightly, right? Because if you don’t have an eye for the details, you have to find somebody that does. Because if you can’t find somebody that does, then I assure you that your business is not going to go to where you want it to go.

So go out there and put an actual ad, and find the right employee or collaborator. Or if you can’t afford an employee, or if you’re at that stage where you’re just – you’re not really at the seven figure mark yet. Then go and take your work, and find yourself a virtual assistant who can work on the cheap or inexpensively. Have them overlook your work, or have them go through it. Or send it out as a survey to customers. Open up a beta testing group. Or query family or friends and–

Now that strategy probably works a little bit less. Because they might want to appease you and tell you that everything looks good, and not really try to offend you. So you should probably use all the above strategies to figure out – hey, like where does this fall short? Are you properly addressing the pain points? Are you properly providing the solution to that pain?

Because all businesses need to solve some sort of pain, and they need to solve it the right way. Otherwise, it’s not going to be successful. So for example – when your tooth is hurting, that’s obviously an extreme example that you’re in pain. To solve that pain, you have to find a dentist. But how do you find the right dentist near you? That’s sales and marketing.

So the better that you can solve a specific pain point, the better you’re going to do in business. But you have to pay attention to the details. By that, I’m really, really talking about ensuring that the customer is happy. If the customer is happy, then all things– If the customer is not happy, then all things fall apart. If the customer is happy, then you’re creating a solid foundation for your business. But you have to ensure that that customer is happy.

The best way to do that is to offer several touch points. Some people sell a product or service, then they forget about the customer. They never really follow up with the customer. But how about if you were to set up an automated email sequence that followed up automatically with the customer say seven days after or thirty days after, or sixty days after?

Let’s say, for example – you’re running a membership website, or a continuity program. You know that at the three month point, most members fall off. Like they stop paying, they stop finding value in your service. Why not send them an email before that point, and then offer them an upgrade to say a lifetime membership.

Because if you know that the average lifetime membership is three or four months – and you could offer an average lifetime membership for just a little bit more money. You could offer a lifetime membership for just a little bit more money than whatever your average customer value is there. Then maybe most people will take that up sell – and then you could keep them as a customer, and you could sell more to them later down the road.

So all of these things are about being detail oriented. That involves tracking things. So the better you are at tracking and analyzing things – the better you can kind of move forward. So if you’re not setting goals, you’re not tracking and analyzing, then you’re really doing yourself and your business a disservice. So the devil is in the details.

Now trying to kind of convey this the best way that I possibly can. But I think that no matter what I say or how I say it, it’s going to pale in comparison to how important this concept actually is. So for example, when it comes to SEO you have to be extremely detail oriented with not only your content, but also with everything related to your website. The user experience, the speed of the site, the fact that it’s secure, the fact that it loads quickly in other destinations around the world – on other continents.

So without paying attention to the detail, you really can’t succeed with SEO. So as somebody who’s kind of used to and accustomed to that – and used to kind of writing and proofing on a larger scale, my work. I know how important the devil is in the details. So the next time you kind of look at whatever it is that you’re offering – whatever product or service that you’re offering – take a look at the details, right?

For example, my buddy, Howard Panes, Howie. He started a company called Logic, and it’s electronic cigarettes – but disposable electronic cigarettes. This was back in the time when electronic cigarettes weren’t really disposable. They were kind of like bulky and rechargeable and stuff like that. But not only did he kind of bring the disposable electronic cigarette to the market with Logic – but he refined it – like even more so.

Now this is a guy that is really into the details. But he’s into the details on ensuring that a product or service delivers a lot of value, right? So he checked all the competitors. He modeled their success. Like if a competitor had a good tasting nicotine, and his maybe didn’t taste as good – like he’d figure out a way to do it.

So for example, he started to air ship his liquid nicotine. As opposed to the competitors land shipping it. So he would make sure that the– So that made sure that the quality was fresher, right? It was more of a guarantee. He looked at battery life, he tried– He was constantly improving the battery life of the cigarette. So he wanted the battery to last longer so that the customers could smoke it more, and not have the battery run out on them.

So all these little things are really, really important. He wanted it to taste better, last longer – and just add more value. But in order to do that, he had ot be meticulous about the details, right? I think you have to do this from very, very early on. Because if you have a product or service that gets out there – it can build a bad reputation if you are not looking at the details.

So you have to be really, really acutely aware of all the details of your product, your service – your marketing, your website, your customer experience – everything. Because if you are not – not only will it lead to potentially a decrease in sales for your company, but it could lead to bigger problems. Like disputes and customers being upset and potentially lawsuits, and all the other negative stuff that’s associated with businesses. Failing to file taxes, or failing to claim certain revenue that results in fines or audits or anything else like that. So you have to pay careful attention to the details.

Now, all the entrepreneurs that I know who are extremely successful are very, very much aware of the details – and if they are not personally, have somebody on their team that’s aware of the details. So take a look at your team, or take a look at yourself right now and figure out how detail oriented you are. Go back, look at all your products and services. Look at your competitors, and see how you can make things better.

So I’m not talking about creating new improvement offers based on your competitors. I’m talking about taking what you have, and making it as good as possible so it delivers a lot of value. So you know that if your customers are happy, they’re going to tell their friends. If they tell their friends, they’re – those people are happy, they’re going to tell their friends and so on and so forth – right? So pay attention to the details.

So anyhow, I hope that you got some value out of this podcast episode. Again, if you like it – please comment, share, subscribe on iTunes – I would really appreciate it. I read all of the comments, so I thank you so much for your time and I will speak to you guys soon.