Dec 08 2010

Are You Selling What You Think You’re Selling?

If you didn’t know you,

                               

would you buy

                             

what you have to sell,

                                    

from you? Are you sure?

                               

MacDonald’s sells consistency, not hamburgers. Golden Arches customers know they can get the exact same fare prepared the exact same way at any of their “I’m Lovin’ It!” locations in the world. It’s like a security blanket for your stomach (assuming your stomach can stomach what’s served up!)

Revlon’s founding family president Charlie Revson was often quoted as saying “We don’t sell cosmetics; we sell the promise of sex to single teenage girls!” Airlines don’t sell seat rentals; they sell destinations. Churches sell redemption and hope. Disney World sells brain escape. IT businesses sell “solutions,” but often just add more problems.

Self-appointed SEO and Social Media “experts”? They don’t seem to know what they’re selling. But –by now– YOU must have a pretty clear idea of what works for you, or maybe not . . . 

How about YOUR business?

  • Are you putting out “mixed messages”?

  • Do those people you seek to attract as customers get it?

  • Are you presuming or have you actually asked them?

  • Do your customers buy what you have to sell, or what you claim to be selling?

  • Are you selling real products and services or images of what the benefits are that one gets from buying your products and services?

  • Have you made your marketing effort an exclusively online production?

 

If you are selling benefits (and you SHOULD be, by the way), does that represent some sense of ethical compromise to you? If you’re not doing that (and instead emphasizing and selling features, for example), has it occurred to you that your competitors surely are or will be selling benefits?

Do you think you would have lasted long in the passenger airline industry selling short-term rentals of seat manufacturing components while competitors sell happy couples skipping through the Caribbean surf or exploring Mediterranean fishing villages, or visiting Hawaiian mountain waterfalls, or diving off Mexican cliffs, or singing and dancing in Austria’s Oktoberfest?

When did you last sit still long enough to really take apart your sales message and examine the pieces?

 

Do the words work? Do they sell? Is there one word too many or too few? What you think you’re saying and what in fact communicates may be two separate things. How does your sales message look? How does it feel? What’s the intent? What did you discover by answering these questions?

How can you tweak or adjust or revamp or update what you have to make it better? To make it sing? To make it reach out and grab? If any of this leaves you puzzled and you are earnest about improving the process of selling what you’re selling, call me. No telephone fees. No strings attached. I’ll give you ideas. If you want more than ideas and I can’t help you, I can point you in the right direction.     

# # #

302.933.0116   Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

3 responses so far

Dec 06 2010

Walk The Talk!

Follow, deliver, be urgent

                        

and reckless

                              

hardly sounds like a

                       

success formula, but 

                  

. . . NOTHING in business is more telling about the character and integrity of an individual or organization than the honoring (or not) of commitments.

 

  1. Consistent follow-through and follow-up

  2. Delivery of what’s promised when it’s promised

  3. An all-pervasive sense of urgency, and 

  4. The reckless pursuit of customer delight

. . . are the marks of true business leadership.

                                                                 

Underpinning those magical business attitudes are respect for others, and a mission to maintain quality and value at every turn.

Besides –that all by themselves– those qualities make for explosively productive marketing and branding programs, regardless of the nature of the business or the goods or services offered.

Humans buy benefits first, attitude of the provider or supplier second, and product or service features a distant third.

                                                                

Who knew? Not most business owners (who continually insist on marketing features first, and who routinely dismiss attitude issues as ones that impact the bottom line, and that they have little or no control over).

In fact, benefits and attitude offered are the engines that drive the bottom line. They are also largely a matter of choice. Attitude is 100% choice. If product or service benefits are limited, it’s because someone at some point didn’t recognize or flex that 100% choice muscle in the process or decision making about what to offer customers. But choosing a corrected attitude can upgrade the benefits.   

The only problem is that I can just barely think of slightly more than a handful of businesses in my lifetime that actually deliver consistent follow-through and follow-up, delivery of what’s promised when it’s promised, an all-pervasive sense of urgency, and the reckless pursuit of customer delight.

You?

What happens when you put these four yardsticks up against the ways you think and the ways your organization is doing business right now? How do you and your business measure up?

Are your weakest-link areas ones you can correct/adjust/improve or boost on your own, or will you do better to enlist outside help? How big of an issue are the expenses associated with getting expert input? What’s your opportunity loss?

You could well be, for example, losing more dollars worth of business opportunities right now because your and your business’s emphasis are on the least productive points (like marketing features?) which could easily be costing you more than to bring in a professional specialist who can help you stop the trickle before it becomes a flood.

If you go this direction, be careful about who you choose to step in. Make sure that that team or group or individual exemplifies the four points identified above. Yes, there are plenty of earnest and capable individuals (especially) out there who can deliver the results you seek. Do due diligence. Ask for references and ask references for references. Use your gut instincts.

~~~~~~~~

www.TheWriterWorks.com  

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

One response so far

Nov 29 2010

Business Owner’s Most Dreaded Two Words

P A Y     N O W !

F o o l e d   y o u,  h u h ?

(You thought maybe the two words were: %@~&  *#^! ?)

 

Well, consider this: The last thing small or medium-size professional practice or business owners or managers want, is a surprise!

Nobody wants a management or staffing surprise. Nor an operational or equipment surprise.  And –in my lifetime, and discounting the futile pursuit of a winning lottery ticket– I’ve never met or even ever heard of anyone in search of a financial surprise! 

News Flash . . .

Unexpected, unplanned-for immediate

payment is due on the spot!  “PAY NOW!” . . . OW!  

                                                            

Unfortunately, with many (normally till-dipping) hands being forced by sputtering national and global economic crises, financial surprises have become all too common going forward from 2008.

The kinds of trigger fingers that pull off high-pressure instant payment demands are big-time stress creators. 

Listen,” he says into the phone, “your 4pm Friday order requested RUSH delivery; it’s 8am Saturday; if you can’t get here to open your business and pay the $742.37 due, I have no choice but to ship it back and you’ll get it in a week or two!” (AAaaack!) 

                                      

I’m sorry no one told you that the minute you sign this, like you just did, you are guaranteeing immediate cash payment of $27,000.

If you can’t come up with that amount by the end of the day, a warrant will be served requiring payment in full in ten days plus $5,000 in interest, late fees, and attorney costs.

So what’s it gonna be? 27 now or 32 big ones a week from Thursday?” (AAaaack!) 

                                             

The good news is that you have no outstanding delinquencies.

The bad news is that you have only until Friday to produce $38,579.46 in back taxes for the IRS Agents who called to say they’ll be here at 9am sharp.

No, the accountant didn’t know that the prior accountant had been withholding the withholding . . .” (AAaaack!)

                                      

Are you getting ulcers just from reading these? Okay, well, maybe at least a little lump in your throat?

How do you think YOUR customers, clients and patients feel about YOUR collection tactics? Are you leaving them breathing room? Have your policies stretched enough to accommodate today’s hard times?

Are you taking full advantage of the opportunities to strengthen your reputation for being a high-trust, integrity-based, good citizen business by helping out those who’ve been loyal patrons?

People who were there for you when you needed customers, who have returned time and again, who have referred others, who treat you and your staff like members of their community. (To borrow an old slogan from the world’s leading experts in product and service consistency and change just one word: THEY deserve a break today!)

You “OWE” it to them? Absolutely.

                                                                                   

And when you SHOW it to them, sit back and enjoy the magic carpet ride it puts you on! Your business will fly over the competition and never slow down because everyone appreciates a business that proves its appreciation for the business it gets!

No need to give the store away. Simply do what you can to make it easier for your customers, clients and patients to pay for the goods and services they purchase from you. . . the same way you’d like suppliers and vendors to treat you.

We all need to lean a bit on one another these days, and surprise financial demands and pronouncements serve only to short-circuit those opportunities to cultivate and build a loyal following on human values.

Dignity and respect and helping others go the extra mile accomplishes more than shouts, pouts, threats, and late charges. Idealistic and naive? No, realistic and experienced.  

~~~~~~~~~

www.TheWriterWorks.com  

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

No responses yet

Nov 20 2010

A Customer Service Lesson

Retail settings make it easy to

                                   

cherry-pick examples . . . but

                                

the dynamics are the same in

                                 

every business and profession.

 

This really happened less than 24 hours ago

in a well-known U.S. resort town:

Checker at major-name crafts store cash register rings up $9.99 for a roll of artist’s tape (similar to masking tape, but pulls apart easier and leaves no surface marks (even on paper or cardboard) when it’s removed.

Customer: “Excuse me, but that price should be $6.99. It says $6.99 on the shelf.”

Checker: “Sorry, it’s $9.99!” (She takes the twenty-dollar bill on the counter, puts it in the register, slaps down a ten-dollar bill and a penny, throws the tape in a bag and quickly moves to start ringing up the next customer.)

Customer (to the checker): “Listen, I just told you that the price sign says that this tape is $6.99, not $9.99 and I want my $3 back. On top of everything else, even $6.99 is a rip-off, and if I didn’t need it now, I’d never pay that price, let alone $9.99. If it’s $9.99, why does it say $6.99 on the shelf?” (The checker nods and turns back to wait on the next customer)

Customer (now becoming annoyed and louder): “Excuse me, but I just told you that I want my $3 back, and all you can do is nod at me? Please call the store manager.”

Checker: “You’ll have to wait, Sir; I’ve started the next customer here!”

Customer:Listen to me: Call the store manager NOW!”

Checker (on loudspeaker system): “Manager to register six!” (three minutes later, the manager shows up)

Manager (to checker): “What’s up?”

Checker (pointing with her thumb):He says this tape is $6.99, but it’s $9.99 on the scanner!”

Customer (interrupting their exchange): “You’re the manager?” (Manager nods) “I picked this tape off the shelf and the shelf had a sign on it that the price is $6.99. Now your checker who, besides being rude, took my money and charged me $9.99. If this tape is $9.99, then your sign is wrong and I don’t want it for $9.99. Either I pay what the sign says or I want my money back.”

Manager: “Gimme the tape; I’ll go check it out!” (Then to checker: “I’ll be right back, but don’t ring anybody else up ’til we get this straight!” The line of now disgruntled customers grows and no one is around to handle the other registers. The checker hums, stares out the front window, and drums her fingers on the register. The manager walks to the shelf in question, which is all the way to the back of the store, and returns four minutes later to a huffing-puffing crowd of customers waiting not so patiently in line.)

Manager (speaking only to the checker): “He’s wrong! The price is $9.99 the way you had it!”

Customer: “Excuse me! First of all, would you please speak with meand not the checker? I am starting to get very annoyed here. The sign back there said $6.99 not $9.99 and I either want this tape for $6.99 or my money back. If I can’t get either, you can be sure of having a major problem for false advertising.”

Manager: “Sir, the tape you purchased is $9.99. It, and a few others, must have been put on the $6.99 shelf by mistake. There are $6.99 tapes back there.”

Customer: Great! I’ll go get one of those. I suggest you not hold up this line any longer.”

Manager: “Sir, that’s our decision, and we’ll wait for you to get back here.

Checker (after customer returns with a $6.99 tape): “We have to start this all over again, so give me back the $10.01 and I’ll give you back your $20 and then I’ll have to get the manager back here to approve the initial over-ring before…”

Customer (turning to walk out): “Screw it!”

Funny? Maybe if you’re reading it. Not funny if you’re the customer, or someone who’s waiting in line. Not only should the checker be fired on the spot, or at least put on probation, the manager needs a “straighten up and fly right!” warning (and both obviously need training). Every customer is always right all of the time, no exceptions, ever!

You own a business, and don’t agree? Bite the bullet and move on, or sell the business. By ALWAYS following the customer is right guideline ALL of the time, you will lose something sometimes, but the reputation you gain will more than compensate for the losses. People do business with businesses that consistently demonstrate respect and authenticity, that do what they say they will do.  

Surely, you know what SHOULD have happened in the incident described. Of course the checker and the manager were both at fault, but what could they have done differently? What would you have had them do? How would you have fixed the problem? How would you prevent it from happening again? Is YOUR business the next example?

Every dissatisfied customer tells ten other people about his or her bad experience, and each of those ten tell ten others. Can you afford 100 negative impressions? (And of course each of those hundred tell…)

~~~~~~~~~~~~

www.TheWriterWorks.com  

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You,

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

5 responses so far

Nov 11 2010

Customer Service Lessons From Our Military!

Adapted from an original archived blog post on this site…

WHY DO YOU THINK U.S. MILITARY

PERSONNEL ARE SO MUCH BETTER

AT RELATIONSHIP-BUILDING THAN

CORPORATE EMPLOYEES?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

What?  You think this isn’t true?  I’ve got news for you.  The comparison is not even close. 

Pick up your phone and call any U.S. Military installation with a request for information about any aspect of life on the base you’re interested in—from when’s the next parade, to how do you reach the person in charge of the USO lounge or the family service center, to whether it’s possible to arrange a tour for your child’s school class—and see what you get! 

Besides the standard “Yes, Sir!” and “No, M’am!” courtesies, you will (I’m willing to bet) be treated to honest, direct, friendly responses.  And sincerity.  I actually hear sincerity coming across on the phone. 

Oh, and odds are pretty good you’ll also speak with a real live human being and, on top of that, a real live human being who’s not sounding like you’ve just demolished her or his hopes for having a nice day with your interruptive call. 

You might even get someone on the line who sounds interested in what you have to say! 

Positively, you won’t be hearing sloshing ice cubes, straw-sucking and cracking gum on the other end. 

                                                                          

I’ve had this positive military telephone courtesy experience a number of times in recent years, but never gave it much thought until getting dissed or badgered or completely misunderstood in a few calls to big companies in attempts to identify the best and most economical services to buy. 

Then, I had the good fortune of making half a dozen ”blind” or “cold” calls to Dover Air Force Base to try tracking down a couple of sales prospects for a client of mine, and “like sunshine on a rainy day,” one after another, the nicest, friendliest, most helpful people I have called in months.  (And not so incidentally, they all spoke fluent English!) 

Each listened carefully without interrupting.  Each asked questions to help qualify my interests.  Each suggested names and numbers and situations I might want to consider and no one rushed me. 

One even gave me a very candid and objective assessment of what she though my odds would be with each of the four other officers she referred.

All I kept thinking was why can’t tech companies, as a prime example, take a page here?  Why does it have to be so difficult to be treated appreciatively and respectfully by a company I’m looking to spend my hard-earned money with? 

Why aren’t corporate telephone people standing on their heads to exude overkill courtesy to prospective and actual buyers?

Anyway, besides the fact that our blessed troops take pride in what they do, and are proud of the nation, and we the people they represent, it seems to me that the sense of discipline (and resultant self-discipline) our military personnel buy into is the single training difference (from businesses) that most impacts external public relations. What do YOU think? 

     Before I forget saying what should be said,

to every past and present member of the

Armed Services, not just today on

Veteran’s Day, but every day by all of us:

                                        

Thank you ladies and gentlemen

                                                 

for your service to our country! 

                                                                                                                

     So, do companies need to give demerits and KP duty?  Hmmmmm might be a damn good idea, actually!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

www.TheWriterWorks.com  

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You,

and God Bless all of our U.S. Troops and Veterans.

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

One response so far

Oct 26 2010

GOT BUSINESS TRIAGE?

How badly is the

                                      

customer bleeding?

                                                                      

triage [Fr. trier, sort out]. The classification of wounded or injured persons in order to insure the efficient use of medical and nursing manpower, equipment, and facilities.

Classification is concerned with the casualties who would live without therapy of any kind, those who would die no matter what treatment is provided, and those who would survive if given adequate care. (Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, all the doctor stuff in last night’s post got me started. (And many thanks, by the way, for the email responses from doctors, all expressing total agreement!) I started thinking about how often we in business cross the line to borrow ideas and approaches from medicine.

Every day of the week, we take a prospect/customer/employee/job applicant/vendor/supplier history or profile, do a diagnostic work-up, set a treatment plan in motion and issue a prognosis. Sound like the skeleton of a “Business Plan”?

When was the last time you took some Triage Action in your business? In your personal life? (Why should that question startle you? If you own and/or run a business, that IS your life…and to you, business is personal.)

Don’t leading retailers, like Wal-Mart and Lowe’s, initiate a triage-type action right at the front door with their meet-and-greet staffs?

And how about office receptionists?

                                                                     

Okay, so those are customer-service-oriented triage activities, and admittedly have little bearing on the medical emergency variety cited in the lead-off definition above.

Then answer this: when were you last presented with the need to make a quick choice of options that required a rapid sorting-out process to determine most immediate to deal with, second most immediate, etc.?

My best guess answer for many business owners would be that the odds are it was this week, perhaps today. But you probably just did it without thinking much about it, and it’s not likely you considered it in “Triage” terms.

If such an incident was time-consuming and/or stressful for you, you might want to consider the alternative that the following observations represent. 

Was there a defined plan in place for that or did you just wing it? Most small businesses of the hundreds I’ve worked with, wing it.

If you are confronted with these dynamics with any regularity in your business, you may want to entertain the idea of developing a Triage Plan or at least have a designated Triage Person, trained in your decision-making mode, to do your trouble-shooter function.

This should be someone who is a generalist by nature, and who is familiar enough with your organization — capabilities, people, logistics, locations, operations, policies and procedures — to effectively channel problems and challenges into opportunity directions.

It needs to be someone who is a good listener and who has the sense to recognize those situations where the issue involved would, like the medical definition, “die no matter what treatment is provided.”

                                                                      

Many high-tech businesses have the equivalent of triage teams that they dispatch to problem-plagued customer locations. Some attempt (awkwardly, at best) to accommodate these kinds of situations by phone from some broken-English “experts” squirreled away in some mysterious remote mountain range that makes you wonder how they could even have telephone service.

Who in your organization is ready and best-suited to take on a triage approach that will save you time and aggrevation? 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~               

HELP SAVE THE ECONOMY Nov. 6th, 2012.

Vote to move small business forward…

Support those who endorse free market

competition healthcare and job creation

tax incentives for entrepreneurs! 

____________________________________ 

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.
 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

No responses yet

Jul 31 2010

A Money-Saving Marketing Guide

 The bigger they are,

                            

the harder YOU fall

                                          

 …but the little guys

                                   

can cripple you too!

                                                                                      

Here’s the inside scoop on “outside” marketing experts . . . 35 years’ worth of experience and considered judgment for you to chew and digest:

                                                                               

WEBSITE DESIGNERS who claim to have the gift of marketing genius have nada. If they’re older than 14 to start with — even 30-something — they are still probably 14 mentally; and odds are they haven’t a clue about marketing, but have learned to sound convincing about it. Exceptions? Sure. Check my blogroll.

                                                                                     

AD AGENCIES know less than website designers. They are heavily invested in winning themselves awards and cornering clients into excessive payments. They have no down-in-the-trenches sense of how to make sales, nor do they particularly care as long as the next big client stands ready on the horizon.

  •      They are particularly skilled at song and dance “dog and pony shows” that tell clients how great it’s going to be but that accomplish nothing to write home about, as long as the next big client stands ready on the horizon.
  •      If you’re looking for artsy or funny or insulting or dramatic ads and commercials that have high impact but make no sales, go to an ad agency. And the bigger the agency, the more it will cost you and the least likely you’ll get the results you seek.
                                                                                                     

PR FIRMS do have a pretty good camaraderie with numerous media people and can be effective — depending on whether you pay them $10,000 a month or $15,000 a month — at wining and dining and schmoozing editors, writers, and sometimes publishers into considering coverage for the news releases they write and submit for you.

  •      And they certainly know how to play the news release format game, but they rarely if ever are able to capture the essence of your business message and bring about action because they almost universally seem to think they know more about your business than you do. So what comes out is mundane, meaningless babble.
  •      Make them write three test releases and explain why the words in them are the best words and who and when they would submit them to and why.
                                                                                    

MARKETING GROUPS will tell you they’ve got you covered, yet only a minuscule number actually realize that marketing is the umbrella and that the functions under that umbrella include sales, advertising, promotion, packaging, pricing, merchandising, PR (public relations), industry and investor relations, customer service, CRM (Customer Relationship Management), website design and development, email and social media promotional activities, employee alumni associations, buzz (word-of-mouth) marketing, and on and on.

  •      Ask them HOW they “cover” you and see how many of these avenues are mentioned.  
                                                                                                  

MEDIA. Would you have a guy from the slaughterhouse prepare your meals?

                                                                                 

SBA SCORE COUNSELORS. SCORE is Senior Corps of Retired Executives. A lot of the world’s nicest, most well-intentioned people in this organization that provides FREE consulting.

  •      Unfortunately, like the federal government they represent, they are completely out of touch with the realities of day-to-day business management, and may as well be on Jupiter for the marketing guidance they provide. Time is money. Don’t waste your time.
                                                                     

     What’s left? Independent consultants and project managers. Probably these folks represent your best choice, but only if you’re careful in your selection. Some of them are just as crooked as many of the others.

     ASK QUESTIONS. Ask for explanations about HOW a candidate thinks about what she or he claims to have accomplished. Ask for examples. Ask why something that worked well worked well and why something that didn’t, didn’t. How confidentially do they offer information? Who are a couple of client types they can suggest for you to contact to confirm.

     Beware of self-proclaimed “experts”

with cookie-cutter solutions!

 

# # #  

302.933.0116  Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

3 responses so far

May 12 2010

Accelerating Arguments . . .

“When Push

                                        

Comes To Shove,”

                                            

Keep Customers

                                             

Out Of The Way!

                                                                            

     Protecting your customer base at all costs needs to be Priority One. When people have purchased your products or services in good faith, they are putting their confidence in you and the business you own , manage, or represent. If you screw up that relationship and lose their trust, you have lost a great deal more than a customer or two.

     Long-time idol of mine, Roy H. Williams, Chief Guru of Roy H. Williams Marketing, Inc., and author of what may arguably be the best two essay collections ever written on the spirit of advertising in the universe of American business. The two book set. The Wizard of Ads and Secret Formulas of The Wizard of Ads were published in 1998 and 1999 respectively by Bard Press, Austin, Texas. 

     In his Secret Formulas collection, Williams quotes study findings from Technical Assistance Research Programs of Washington, DC, that you should know about. Chew on these highlights for a couple of minutes:

  • For every customer who complains, 26 more will not.
  • Each of these 27 unhappy customers will tell 16 others about their bad experience.
  • Do the math: Every negative complaint you hear represents 432 negative impressions.
  • By the time you hear a particular complaint 3 times, the problem has been mentioned to 1,296 people.
  • It costs five times as much to attract a new customer as it costs to keep an old one.
  • 91% of your unhappy customers will never buy from you again.
  • But a focused effort to remedy complaints will get 82% to stay with you.

     Williams concludes this 2-page revelation with the three questions  to ask unhappy customers (calmly, genuinely, and without a defensive attitude) that he says (and I agree) “will bail you out every time”:

  1. WHAT HAS HAPPENED?
  2. WHAT SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED?
  3. WHAT CAN I DO TO MAKE IT RIGHT?

     I might add that the best customer service businesses are those businesses without customer service departments and personnel. When all (every single) employees are trained to put themselves in the customer’s shoes, there should never be a need for the expense and excess baggage that a customer service group tends to burden a business with.

     Bottom line: When you accelerate arguments and draw customers onto a battlefield, you lose. Even if you win, you lose. Can your business afford all the negativity attached to your or your staff members’ short fuses? A little stress management works wonders and keeps customers coming back.

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! God Bless America, and God Bless our troops “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]  Make today a GREAT Day! 

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Feb 01 2010

Customer Service 2010

“GIVE ‘EM

                              

 THE SCREW!”

                                                                    

CUSTOMER: “Could I please get an extra screw or two for mounting the brackets that go with the sets of decorator shelves I just bought? One was missing last time and I wasted hours looking for an exact match.”

HARDWARE CLERK: “Sure, Honey, but they come in little six-packs, and it’ll cost you an extra buck and a half.”

OWNER/MANAGER (who overheard the exchange): “Give ’em the screw, Hazel!” (Then whispering to her: “The whole packet only costs us 75-cents and this man just spent $300 here!”).

The happy customer leaves with his free six-pack of screws.

OWNER/MANAGER: Listen Sweetheart, I appreciate you wanting to charge for all our products, but sometimes it’s best to just give people the little extras they ask for, as a courtesy…like the sample cheese and lunch meat slices at the deli. In this case, y’just give ’em the screw and he’ll remember us longer; he’ll send his friends; and he’ll come back again. And, then, maybe you get a raise.”

     Customer Service 2010 means standing on your head and tap dancing on the ceiling if it makes the customer happy! Does YOUR business sport hand prints on the floor and tread marks on the ceiling? Why not?

     What possesses business owners and managers to add “Handling” fees to shipping costs? Isn’t handling part of the job people are paid for… to get merchandise from inventory, and then wrap and ship it?

     And, by the way, why is this service added to the purchase cost and charged separately? And why’s it always a whacked out amount? A $19.95 item I bought recently had $6.95 added for “S&H” so the under-$20 product ended up a dime short of $27! I sent it back.

     I thought car dealers were struggling. So why do only luxury car dealers pick up and drop off cars to be serviced, and go the extra mile to wash the car before returning it after servicing?

     What right do restaurants have to decide what tipping percentage to charge for parties of six or more? If service is lousy, the percentage is the same as if it’s great? Is it just me or do other people believe you should tip routinely for routine service and exceptional for exceptional service? If the party of 8 or 10 or whatever is going to produce X dollars for a foodservice person regardless of whether she or he rates a 1 or a 10, why should the person care?

     “Slop that food on the table, Mable, and don’t waste time being nice; you’re gonna get paid the same regardless. Spend your energy instead with those four old men trying to impress one another; You’ll get more tips out of them if you kiss up enough!”

Does your business give customers the screw?

Comment below or reply direct to Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US  Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day!  Blog FREE via list-protected RSS feed OR $1 mo Amazon KindleGreat VALENTINE for GRANDPARENTS: http://bit.ly/3nDlGF

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Jan 03 2010

SERVE THE CUSTOMER

“Consumers are statistics.

                                              

  Customers are PEOPLE.”

–Stanley Marcus, Chairman Emeritus, Neiman-Marcus 

     In case somewhere between the thin divider line between 2009 and 2010, you might have lost sight of what’s important and instrumental to boosting business in these bleak economic times, I give you (Ta-ta-ta—-ta-ta!) the CUSTOMER!

     Former Ford Truck Operations Gen. Mgr. E.P.Williams is quoted in Tom Peters and Nancy Austin’s book, A Passion for Excellence, as saying:

We must always think the customer is in the middle of the thrust of what we’re trying to do.”

     Does that apply to small business too? Absolutely! Does it matter what kind of business you have or how old or new it is? Absolutely not!

     The challenge then is not in thinking, “How do we make more money?” It is in thinking (and acting on) “How do we get and keep more customers?” OR “How can we do a better job of providing the products and services that will attract more new customers and more return customers?”

     We already know that people buy benefits, not features. We already know that people buy products and services because of an emotionally-triggered buying motive (not a logical, rational, unemotional one!). We already know that every behavior (including buying motives) is a choice.

     And we already know if you’re reading this, you probably own or operate your own business or manage one, or part of one and/or that you’re an entrepreneur … so LEADERSHIP is also important to you.

     If you could lead the business or part of business that you’re responsible for into an ongoing, daily pattern of catering to customers and prospects with innovative new and value-added products and services that provide genuine benefits, wouldn’t that be a great beginning?

     If you could do that, you need only find a great writer/marketer (not just a marketing writer, mind you; there’s a big difference!) who has a proven track-record for triggering emotional buying motives and helping to attract the kinds of new and repeat customers you want. 

     Well, here’s the good news: You CAN do all that. It’s easier than you think. It means not accepting that the economy is a hovering doom. It means having the courage to cast off the past and the constraints that mindless politicians continue to force on small business.

     It means taking the road less traveled. This is not just empty talk, or hype. This is reality.

     If you’re serious about your customers, listen to them … and lighten up. Then watch what happens.  

More on 2010 “LEADERSHIP”? Come visit me and comment on my Guest Blog post at TBD Consulting’s Jonena Relth’s site http://bit.ly/XhN1h

# # #               

Reply Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US (Subject: “Blog”) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day!  Blog FREE via list-protected RSS feed OR $1 mo Amazon KindleGreat 2010 Gift for GRANDPARENTS: http://bit.ly/3nDlGF

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