It is very important to cultivate direct connections with customers and clients. Give them your direct phone line. Invite them to call you and let them know you are willing to help them in any way you can.

When you offer advice or information without immediate return, you gain a huge amount of influence with that customer.

This to me is building for the future. It very well may be beneficial down the road. So treat each person well, and take care not to get sucked into your own importance or self-hype. 

Make people feel special and they will come back for more.

How do you make your customers and clients feel special? Tell me in your comments below.

Technorati Tags: customer experience, customer loyalty, Customer Retention, customer satisfaction

Most individuals would say, “To Make a Profit.” Personally, I feel that is the wrong answer. It’s part of the answer, but not the answer. Profits are a result or an outcome of what we do and they only tell us if our business strategy and execution are viable.

Peter Drucker stated that, “concentrating on the belief that creating profits as a purpose was not only wrong, it could very well be harmful. “ He felt that it causes a business to make bad decisions and lose sight of those things that delight customers. He also said, “There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer.”

The ultimate objective of a business is to satisfy customer needs and wants at a sustainable profit. The sustainable profit part is critical.

Customers are the ultimate asset for any profit making company. They really provide all of a company’s real value. Unfortunately, customers are one of the few aspects of a business that are not managed as an investment. We must always keep in mind that we must profitably provide a better solution for our customers than our competition.

There is an old saying, “A good salesman can sell anything once. The trick is getting them to buy again and again.” The reason I say this is because marketing gets translated most of the time into simply persuading someone to try something for the first time. Companies are constantly trying to change someone’s attitudes or behaviors.

Today’s customers buy competing products from multiple companies with seemingly no real loyalty. Therefore, the most important element in profits is designing ways to have your customers allocate a larger share of their wallets to you. In my Marketing Tips of the Week, and also this blog, I try to help you accomplish that.

So, in essence, the primary goal of marketing must be the creation of loyal, long-term customers out of first-time or occasional buyers. Accomplishing this requires a clear and precise understanding of what makes customers want to be loyal. Gathering and understanding customer needs is the job of marketing. Review the issues in my Marketing Tips of the Week that help you to accomplish this.

If you have any additional ideas to build loyalty, please comment.

Technorati Tags: business purpose, customer, customer creation, customer loyalty, Customer Retention, lifeling customers, profit, profits

Now on to our topic…

Can you imagine what your Social Networking followers would think if you sent them a card in the mail?

In our predominantly digital world, how much could you stand out by taking a few moments to select a special greeting card and sending it to your, here I go, “peeps” via snail mail? There is a company that I highly recommend to do this. It’s called Send Out Cards.

It is a wonderful automated system.

After paying a membership fee, you can create and send out a greeting card via snail mail for under $2 (which includes postage). You can also send out gifts if you want.

With Send Out Cards, you can do annual campaigns, upload birthdays and anniversaries and send to groups of people or all of your contacts. Here’s what you can do…

Take a photo with someone well known, and then send that person a greeting card with the picture on the front. Or take a picture holding your favorite book or information product and send a card with that picture on the front to the author or writer of the information product. Make sure you put in a note thanking them. You can even upload your own handwriting.

The possibilities are tremendous.

Those of you who have assistants (virtual and otherwise) can use them to help streamline the process.

Setting up the system to work the way you want will be easier if someone takes you through the process the first time. So if after checking it out you decide you want to use it, I recommend that you contact Janet Ostrov at www.sendoutcards.com/36043 (This is Janet’s link. I am not an affiliate and do not get anything for this recommendation.) She’s an independent distributor for Send Out Cards and she’ll help you set up the system to do exactly what you want and make the process easy for you.

If you test this let me know your results.

Technorati Tags: customer relationship building, postcard mailing

These can include everything from increasing their market share and sales, to reducing operating expenses, to streamlining the business, to being creative and taking share from the competition.

Here’s another worthy goal.

Invest the time to learn the key objectives of each of your customers. Then determine how your products or services can help them achieve their targets.

In some cases, you may not be able to help them, but you might be able to recommend them to someone else who can assist them. When you do this you will be recognized and remembered.

The more you can help them achieve their goals the more valued you will become.

Under promise and over deliver. This has been my motto for the last 40 years. As old as this expression is, it is still one of the best ways to stand out from the crowd.

Far too many people make commitments to their customers and fail to follow through as promised. It is easy to fall into this trap, especially for service-oriented occupations. We have every intention of delivering on a promise, but often unexpected circumstances crop up that prevent us from doing so. While once in a while this is acceptable by most people, frequent occurrences will drive your customers to your competition.

Consistently helping your customers achieve their key goals and objectives will put you above the crowd.

Let me know your thoughts.

Technorati Tags: being above the crowd, business goals, customer goals, customer satisfaction, differentiating a business, differentiation, standing out

Facebook, for example, makes it very easy for you to see, track, and remember all the birthdays of your entire community. In fact, there is a feature that I just found out about, where you can receive a weekly email notification of all upcoming birthdays of those in your community.

Here’s how. Go to your settings and click on “Account Settings”. Click the tab for “Notifications” and then click “Show More” under the first section. Then highlight the check box next to “Has a birthday coming up.”

I recommend setting up a systematic approach to sending out your birthday wishes. You can set aside a certain time each day in your calendar to log into Facebook and write on the walls of friends with birthdays that day. This shows that you care and can create visibility for you.

Be creative with your greeting. They will mean a lot to your followers.

I would love to hear some comments about additional ways you have found to use Social Networking sites like Facebook to build relationship with your community.

Technorati Tags: birthdays, Facebook, relationship building, Social Media

I use the phrase, “Repetition is Reputation.” When you are consistent, you build the trust of individuals.

Influence and branding are built on consistency. People like knowing what to expect. You can wow them or over-deliver, but do it consistently.

Make it easy for potential customers to understand who you are and what you do, and they will be more likely to say “YES” when you approach them.

Have any of you had the experience of dealing with someone who wasn’t consistent? Share it with us.

Technorati Tags: Branding, influence, reputation

Businesses spend so much of their money acquiring customers, yet can lose them over one complaint.

All of us, at some point in our careers will have a few customers who complain.   It’s the way we deal with these dissatisfied, even angry, customers that makes the difference.  In my book, “How to Get Customers To Call, Buy and Beg for More”, I mention that one dissatisfied customer, through word-of-mouth, could cause 100 or more customers to stop doing business with you.

There are times that the customer is justified in their complaints, and other times they are not.  You all know that the handling of a dissatisfied customer can have a far-reaching impact on that customer.

I remember reading an article in the American Management Association magazine that the average satisfied customer tells three people about their experience, but the average dissatisfied customer will tell up to eleven other people.  Now with Twitter and other social media, that number can be in the thousands.

The first thing I would do when a customer complains is to make a positive reassuring statement to the customer.  I might say, “I want you to know that I will get something done about your problem.”

Then I’d acknowledge that the person is upset by saying, “I can see that you are very upset with us, and I am sorry you have a problem, but I’m very glad that you called it to my attention.

I’d then ask them, “What would make you Happy in settling this problem?”  Then I’d settle with them. I’d say that I was truly sorry that they encountered this problem, that I was going to do exactly what they requested, and that I wanted to keep them as a valued customer.

The reason I’m writing this is because a company I was doing business with just lost me as a customer; they didn’t resolve a problem to my satisfaction.  They have lost a lot of future money with me.  I don’t want you to lose business that way.  Handle complaints like they are the most valuable thing at hand…because generally they are.

 I won’t badmouth this company to other people I know, but I sure won’t be doing business with them anymore.  

Let me know what you think.

Technorati Tags: customer complaints, customer loyalty, Customer Retention, customer satisfaction, keeping customers, Twitter

For instance, your customer relation systems may be in place. Your instructions may be clear. But are your employees performing as the systems dictate?

As an example…

If you’ve been in Best Buy, you know they usually have a greeter inside the door, and the employees are generally courteous. So it’s obvious Best Buy trains its employees in customer relations.

However, Best Buy hasn’t inspected all its systems; why do I say that?

Well, a few weeks ago, I had to go to Best Buy’s Geek Squad. The audio on my laptop wasn’t working when I played videos. There were about 5 people in the line, so I was # 6. The problem was that there was only 1 person handling all of us.

After waiting for 1 ½ hours (which I couldn’t believe), my turn finally came. As the clerk was completing the form with my warranty information, a salesperson from another department came up and interrupted the clerk, asking him to come with her to answer another customer’s question.

Guess what? The clerk left to go to the other department without even asking me if I would mind.

Very poor training, and very inconsiderate! He could have said to the other clerk, “Bring the Customer over and have him/her stand in line”, like the rest of us. But he didn’t.

What a turn off! Insufficient staff and inconsiderate staff!

As I said, we know Best Buy trains its employees in customer relations. However, it’s obvious this department was not inspected for its compliance with that training.

The lesson here is to train your people the right way AND to inspect what you expect. Don’t think your staff is doing what you trained them to do.

When I was on the road, I always used to call my office to see if my staff answered the phones the way I trained them to answer. I also hired someone to visit my business and let me know how they were treated.

Remember your staff is your front line. They could either create a customer for you, or lose a customer for you.

Technorati Tags: Best Buy, customer relations, Customer Retention, customer satisfaction, Lifelong Customers

I’ve also recommended his restaurant to at least 100 other individuals.  In fact, when I spoke in front of an audience of 250 local business individuals, I mentioned how great the food was at this restaurant and that the audience should try it.

I’m usually the first of our party to arrive and normally I get a table and wait for the others to arrive.  This time I was told that their new policy “was to not seat anyone until all of the party arrives.” When I asked to speak to Antonio (name changed for privacy), the owner, I was told he was too busy in the kitchen. She said this without even checking to see if indeed he was busy in the kitchen.

When the others arrived 10 minutes later, I went to the hostess and said we were all here, and her response was, “Since the others were late they had to give our table away to someone else, and we’ll have to wait until another table opens up.”

Is this a way to Get Customers to Call, Buy and Beg for More?  Of course not!  But if the owner doesn’t inspect what he expects, his business will go downhill very quickly.  He is in an area where people vacation in the summer and is currently booked solid.  But after the vacation season, he will wish he had his constant patrons.

He is focused on efficiency instead of customer retention; on the quick buck without brand building for the long-term; on delegating without customer service in mind.

I expect him to be out of business within 1 year if he continues to operate his restaurant in this way.

Tell me what you think.

Technorati Tags: brand building, Customer Retention, customer service, local business, marketing brand, restaurant

Repeat business, a satisfied customer, and a positive word-of-mouth viral campaign, are the keys to a company creating and developing a stable and successful business. 

You must always remember that you are your company to your customers.  Their perception on their initial experience with you, will give them an image of whether or not to do business with you again.

Never underestimate the power and influence you have over your customers.  We all have a great deal of influence over whom we interact with.  We all can turn a person’s bad day into a good day.

Even complaints can turn an unhappy customer into a happy one.

How often do you come into contact with a grouch?  It seems they cross my path consistently.  I’ve embraced the notion that they are purposely put in my path to help me grow and to develop the patience I need for, not only my personal development, but also to try to influence them in such a way that I make them happy. 

I know what you are thinking.  Easier said then done.

We live in a very stressful world and have many demands on our time. Perhaps you can remember times you were at the end of your rope. 

Most of the time customers just want a kind word, an honest and pleasant greeting, or a sincere smile, and they will feel welcome and important.  

I’ve always said that my customers were my dearest friends.  I’ve been in many restaurants and retail stores thru my life, and I’ve observed sales people, clerks, or waiters and waitresses, going through the motions of their jobs, almost sleep walking, and then a friend or another customer they know comes in and they perk up, smile and come alive.  What a metamorphosis!

I’m sure you have seen the same thing in your life. 

We all share the same basic human needs and desires.  All of us, whether we are a customer or client, need to feel important.  We don’t want to be just another customer.  We all want to feel recognized and treated as someone important.  All of us want this. 

Think about what this could do to your bottom line. 

Treat everyone like your best friend and make their first impression of you the best experience they have ever had.

Let me know what you think of this and how it applies in your company.

Technorati Tags: Disney, first impression, happy customers, repeat business, satisfied customer, word of mouth