photo credit: h.koppdelaney
Take a stroll through any small town’s main street area. There are inevitably a bunch of storefronts. Unfortunately, in some of our towns, many of those storefronts are empty. But if not now, at some point they were open and thriving businesses. When you walk through a town that has a bunch of active storefronts, you are taking a trip down memory lane. This used to be a primary way of doing business, of getting the goods and services we needed for our daily lives.
When shopping like this, you could stop at any store front, open the door, and go in. There might be a little bell that rings, or a friendly voice that greets you. Often, somewhere in the store, you are going to run into the owner and perhaps strike up a friendly conversation. You could have this same experience in any small store in any town or city. If the door was open, and the light was on, you could go in and do business and strike up conversations.
Today, many businesses have moved out of the cluster of shops downtown. We work from warehouses, or homes, or sometimes out of our car. Many of the retail shops that attract visitors have been swallowed up by large retail businesses. More and more of our business is taking place at a distance, over the phone, or more frequently, over the internet. And even if you are lucky enough to have a business that succeeds on foot traffic, you are relying on the internet more these days too.
The question is this, how do you maintain the feeling of an open door when you are doing much of your business online?
Be Personal
The first key is to be personal. In a small shop, you could say hello and chances are you would even recognize most of your customers. Think of ways to mimic that online. Start with a nice video on the main page of your site. People are drawn to video. Just record a welcome message. Now there is a face and a voice to your business.
Another way to be personal is to create a site where visitors log in. You can then save preferences and customize to your visitor’s tastes. Imagine a retail store which is rearranged to each customers tastes. Impossible. But you can do it online.
You also should have some kind of communication stream going on at the web site. I suggest writing a regular blog and email newsletter. This gives visitors something to interact with when they visit. And while a blog is all about what you have to say, make sure it is easy for visitors to add what they want to say. Allow comments on your blog and provide a place for customers to write testimonials and ask questions.
Have Ways to Communicate Quickly
The second key to having the feeling of an open door is to put in place ways that visitors can communicate with you quickly. If you have a full time employee answering the phone, consider setting up a chat function on your web site as well. That way, a visitor can ask questions and get instant answers. You can set up a free chat on your site using Google Chat.
Many small businesses don’t have the manpower to keep a live chat option on their site. Alternatively, make it easy for visitors to contact you via email, social media like Twitter, and phone.
The biggest thing is to be responsive. If someone reaches out to you via your web site, get back to them as quickly as possible. You lose some of the instant connection of people walking in to your store, but you can make up for that by going out of your way to make communication easy, quick, and very helpful.
Build Relationships
The final key to creating an open door policy online is to focus on building relationships with customers. Everyone likes to be recognized. One of the great things about shopping locally is that you know the people you are buying from and they know you. There is a narrative that runs through both of your lives, and you can pick up the story with each new interaction.
You should work to recreate this online. Don’t just rely on automatic check outs and impersonal emails. Instead, build a new narrative online. Craft an email newsletter that gives insight into who you are. Learn customer stories and tell them to other customers.
Most of all, be part of conversations with your customers. Yes, you can talk about your specific business, but also talk about broader things. Focus on your industry, on how you can educate and help people. Use tools like Facebook and Twitter to join conversations. Blog and email regularly. Host webinars, take part in chats, listen to customers.
The more conversations you have, the better relationships you can build. The point of having relationships with customers and visitors is that you can be personal, you can make suggestions based on your knowledge of the person, and you can build trust. All of this leads to exponential growth in sales, as the word spreads that your business cares.
The internet helps you to connect with a lot more people. Don’t use it to hide from customers. Instead, openly engage with as many visitors and customers as you can. Be accessible, and always leave your door open. Your reward will be new customers who are deeply loyal and love to spread the word about you. You will also be rewarded by the relationships you build with real people, some of which will probably lead to meaningful friendships.
Take Action: Look at your website. Do you make it easy for people to contact you? On every page?
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Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow on Twitter @bradfordshimp. Let Bradford help you with your business – visit BroadRiverCreative.com
