Running a business well is like riding a bike. Not because you never forget how, but because getting off to a good start does not always ensure long-term success.

Riding a bicycle in a straight line, even pretty fast, is easy to learn, as my son discovered right away. But a couple days ago, we went for a little skills training. Instead of just riding around the block, we spent some time at a nearby cul-de-sac going really slowly and working on fundamentals. I would have him make sharp turns and maintain his balance by shifting his weight, turning the front wheel and pedaling just enough to stay up.

He thought it was kind of dumb at first, but I think he started to like it as he got the hang of it. It is empowering to realize that you are in control and feel like you can handle anything that comes your way.

It may not have been as fun or flashy as speeding down the street, but how often is the road straight for very long? How often can we get away with not making adjustments? It helps to have some skills when the inevitable speed bumps get in the way.  

Are we just riding fast with our businesses or learning everything we need to be in control – at least of how we react to change? Especially with start-ups or restarts, we often feel compelled to do the things that show the most progress first – at the expense of the fundamentals. This is not a good time to lack skills.

Back to the bike lessons – after about five minutes, my son wanted us to start chasing each other around the circle and riding in opposite directions — coming as close to each other as we could without crashing.

Actually, that might be better practice for real life, after all.

Dave Fiore is the founder and CEO of davemail.

I spend a lot of time talking about why davemail is a great alternative to online, do-it-yourself email marketing services. Lost in my enthusiasm, however, is the simple truth that there may be one or two of you out there who are not yet sold on the value of an email newsletter in the first place.

So I am putting away the sales hat and speaking from the heart. Whether you do it yourself, assign it to a competent staff member or outsource it to a highly trained, experienced, creative, dependable writing and design team (let’s call them davemail for purposes of illustration), email newsletters are worth a look.

Here are my top nine reasons why:

9. Let’s start strong. Email newsletters can save you tons of money over traditional printing and mailing. Tons.

8. Speaking on tonnage, sending 100,000 emails instead of printing traditional newsletters saves more than 2 tons of paper (and a lot gas and postage-stamp glue).

7. It is more important than ever to strengthen relationships with existing clients, customers or members, and regular communication is the key to building those bonds.

6. Legitimate email newsletters are a form of permission-based marketing, which means you send only to people who want to receive them. Spam is always a no-no.

5. Email newsletters are timely and interactive, allowing instant feedback and action.

4. Well-written email newsletters provide a good balance of useful, reader-centric content (80%) and appropriate sales-based information (20%).

3. Professionally designed email newsletters provide seamless branding and cohesive elements that drive readers to action.

2. Senders can track results, with access to detailed reports on cool stuff such as open rates and click-throughs.

1. With davemail, you don’t have to worry about any of it. We can do it all for you. Seriously.

While hanging out with my younger three children last night, I heard my 9-year-old son say something I have thought a million times but never had the courage to say out loud.

He was busy putting the final touches on a new Lego ship with his little brother, when his 7-year-old sister started telling him something apparently unrelated to the project at hand. Without even looking up or interrupting the process of snapping small plastic pieces together, he replied very matter-of-factly, “I have no idea what you are talking about, but I am going to act like I know exactly what you are talking about.”

Undeterred, she kept talking, he kept building and I chuckled inside.

While that is the kind of advice that should be standard in pre-marital counseling (the concept – not actually saying it), it is not great advice for business. Like not quite hearing what someone has said and replying with a smile and nod (a la Seinfeld’s low talker and agreeing to wear the puffy shirt), only pretending to understand your clients’ needs can be deadly.

It is much better and far less embarrassing to ask a client to clarify or even repeat their request than to grab the highlights of your conversation and run with it. This is especially true if you have performed a similar task for them before. Our clients care about the details – and so should we. Everyone understands an honest mistake, but it is much harder to explain the fact that you were simply not paying attention.

So don’t fake it. Make sure you know what your clients need and then go above and beyond – be proactive, suggest new ideas and do your best to blow them away with how well you understand their needs.

Oh, and that advice goes for personal relationships as well. You think clients get mad if you are not paying attention?

Dave Fiore is the founder and CEO of davemail.

It is a lesson that business owners and managers learn quickly: There is simply more to do than time to do it. And if that isn’t the case, then something is probably wrong.

I can already hear all the Franklin planners popping open and the chants that proper time management is the key to happiness and world peace. But it’s more than that. It’s about balancing our daily activities so that we are providing flawless customer service, pursuing new business and attending to the tiny details that keep our doors open – all in a fluid environment that demands thinking on our feet and personal discipline.

It simply is too easy for an entire day to go by without moving the business essentials forward. So what do we do to guard against spending time on good stuff, but not the best stuff? And how do you figure out what the best stuff even is?

I posted that question on my blog and got a most insightful response from my 85-year-old grandfather who lives in Ohio and is apparently still cool enough to blog. His no-nonsense approach, learned through decades of successful sales, management and business experience, got right to the point.

“Dave, business practices have not changed much over time,” he said. “The best advice I can give you is that you have to learn to separate the chaff from the wheat. Without new business coming in, everything else is inconsequential! So that must be uppermost in your mind at all times. I know you have a million and one things to do, but somehow they will get done.”

So there you have it. Nothing else matters if you don’t have clients (or customers). What a novel idea. Of course, you should make sure you are taking good care of the clients you already have, but I think from his perspective that is a given. Creating a revolving door doesn’t get you anywhere.

Being a smart businessperson means staying in business – something that is a whole lot easier when someone is buying what you’re selling. And while there are at least a million other things we can be doing, we must keep new business coming in and let the rest take care of itself.

Strengthening relationships with current customers is the easiest and most effective way to increase your sales. The old adage that it is five times more expensive to gain a new client than retain a current client may be difficult for you to quantify, but it is certainly true in principle.

It just makes sense. Is it harder to convince a new person that you are worthy of their trust or remind a former customer of the positive experience they had even years earlier? Not only are current customers more likely to come back for more, they also are your best sales reps. The longer a person has used your services or purchased your products, the greater their loyalty and motivation to tells others about you.

People like referring their friends to people they have done business with. It makes us feel good to share a great tree guy or IT specialist and for our friends to also have a positive experience with them. Everybody looks good, and that kind of networking can gain serious momentum – especially if it enters the digital realm.

So while advertising for new customers is always important, don’t forget to pay special attention to the group that holds the greatest potential of all – the people you already know, and more importantly, already know you.