Posts Tagged ‘customers’

The amount of information that is now available at our fingertips is overwhelming. For small business owners, this boon is a great thing. At the same time, it can cause problems.

Improved Access

Almost anything you do as a small business owner can be done faster, better, and cheaper today. This includes all areas of running your business, things like scheduling, sales, paying bills, getting paid, marketing, and accounting. When you need to find a new market, research a product, or cut costs, there are answers available all over the internet.

One of the biggest, and fastest growing, areas of information is data about your customers. Thanks to social media, web sites, blogs, and more, you can gain a vast amount of intel on current and prospective customers. All of that information can help you better serve your customers and book more sales.

Staying On Top of Information

All of this is good, but what if you are already struggling to stay afloat? Chances are, you have a hard time keeping your email inbox clear and responding to phone calls. What business do you have wading into the sea of information on sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn?

The thing is, you almost have to. Not because its cool or anything. Communication simply must follow the customer. And if you have customers using online tools to communicate, you better be right there with them engaging with them in conversation.

Two Tools that Help

The problem is simply overload. What small business owners need is a way to sort information and stay on top of it. I am not sure if there is already a great solution for this. Two companies come to mind who are making it easier. The first is Batchbook, which is the company I use for CRM. It is possible to keep track of things like Twitter and Facebook feeds right within the contact window on Batchbook. They need to make it a little easier, but they have a great start.

The other company is Gist. Gist lets you search for your contact’s online feeds and activities. It can automatically collect some information on a contact, such as their Twitter account, and then feed it into a communication page for that person. What Gist lacks is a robust contact management system.

More Features

If Gist and Batchbook got married, it might be the perfect answer for all of our information channeling needs. I would add some more key features, such as being able to search your contact feeds for certain keywords and then highlighting that information in a dashboard. That way, when a customer or contact is talking about a need you can fulfill, you can reach out to them. Another ideal feature would be a conversation scheduler. Say you wanted to reach out to a certain customer once a month. You could receive a reminder along with a recap of what they have been saying on social networks, along with news about them or their company. You might also receive links to blogs or news stories that relate in some way to what they have been talking about. In this way, you could reach out very personally to your contacts.

The point here is simple. We, as small business owners, need better ways to manage all of this information. The company that gets information management right will win in the end. That means understanding how relationships work. All of these new apps and networks are great, but for us business owners, its all about the sorting and staying on top of the relationships.

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Hello, I’m Bradford Shimp. I spend a lot of time thinking, studying, and living small business. You can hire me for youronline marketing needs at www.BroadRiverCreative.com. Be sure to check out the podcast here at All Business Answers.

photo credit: Blyzz

THIS IS PART OF A SERIES OF POSTS ON WHAT YOU CAN DO TO BE MORE SUCCESSFUL IN YOUR BUSINESS THIS YEAR. TO GET A FREE REPORT FULL OF SUCCESS TIPS FOR YOUR BUSINESS, CLICK HERE.

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I want to start of this post with a quote from The Number One Thing You Can Do to Make Your Small Business More Successful in 2010, which is a free report I compiled with over 100 business experts. This comes from Tom Shay of ProfitsPlus.org. His advice on what you need to do to be successful is this:

In a word – target. Identify the ideal customer to make sure your product /service is the right one.

Then look for additional products/services to sell to that customer. The idea is to sell 5 to the one customer as compared to selling one product/service to five customers.

Tom’s advice really got me thinking. The question I came up with is how often do we develop products then hope to find a market for them, versus finding a market and then developing products for it?

Now, I am all for following your passion and going with your gut. But at the end of the day, I think we’ll all find that it is the people in our lives that matter, not the things. So, in business, we may think it is all about our product, but it really isn’t. It is about the people we get to work with and for (our customers).

Tom’s advice is to get to know your customer. Find the one customer type that you really jive with, and then perfect your product for that ideal customer. And, instead of repeating this process with a different product and a different customer base, simply drill down and find out what else you can offer your ideal customer. It really comes down to picking a well-defined niche and living there.

I think this is really good advice. I believe that the more you can focus yourself and your business, the more successful you can be. You become more purposeful, start to take on a clear identity, and you find yourself developing a sense of community with your customers.

What do you think?

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Hello, I am Bradford Shimp. I write most of the articles here at All Business Answers. If you would like to help out, let me know. I am always happy to publish guest posts and am looking for some regular contributors.

I help small businesses develop a presence on the web via web sites and online marketing with my business, Broad River Creative.

photo credit: Orin Zebest
photo credit: barryskeates

When you look at where marketing is moving, you realize that it is slowly coming out of the blast and shout phase, and moving toward more personal interactions. Facebook realizes this. That’s why it tried to introduce Beacon, which told your friends what you were buying. Users didn’t like the idea of a third party doing that, so the initiative was pulled. But the reasoning behind it and other marketing pushes these days is simple. People buy what friends suggest. Marketing is happening through conversations.

If conversations between friends is replacing mass marketing, there is a danger that your message is going to be muscled out. Why would someone buy your brand of TV over the brand that their friends recommend? They won’t, unless they know that they can trust you as much as they trust their friends.

The best tactic to get and maintain marketing influence with prospects is this; gain their trust. I’ve talked earlier about becoming friends with your customers. Now, I want to talk about how to engage them in your marketing by holding two-way conversations.

Start By Listening

If you are going to be good at conversation, you know that you need to be good at listening. This is the inverse of traditional mass marketing. However, it is the way in which you will gain trust and hone your message so that it speaks right to the hearts of your prospects.

Of course, listening is no good if you don’t have anyone to listen to. Start with your customers. Set up meetings where you can just listen to what they have to say about their issues, their likes and dislikes, and more. Ask them questions via email. And just pay better attention during each interaction, learning to listen to both things said and things unsaid.

You can also listen in on conversations that take place on social networks. Pick some key words from you industry or niche and type them in at search.twitter.com. Find out what people are saying about these topics. Here are some more thoughts on how to do that here.

Perhaps the biggest thing you can do is to stop talking. When you do talk, respond rather than promote. Your words will have far greater meaning if they are in response to a customer need or a prospect’s question. You can be sure that other people will be in the same place and will find your response helpful.

Gain Permission

To move your marketing from sporadic conversations to a steady stream, you will need to develop a system. This new marketing system will take into account the people that you are marketing to. You will need to be as personal as possible, and this may mean segmenting your email list by certain interests or tastes. I, for one, like it when a clothing company sends me ads just for men’s clothes.

In order to be able to have any kind of personal conversation with prospects, you first need to gain their permission to talk to them. You do this by inviting them to join your newsletter or to attend your educational event. To get people to want to join, you need to get out there and join conversations on Twitter, in forums, on blogs, etc. Show that you are a listener and that you provide solid content. You also can hold free events and give stuff of value away to get people to notice and sign up.

When you do get permission, make sure you also get information. This kind of personal marketing relies on you knowing your audience and speaking specifically to it. If you do a broad campaign and bring in all types of people to your newsletter, you are going to quickly loose some people by talking about things they do not care about.

You can get some of the information you need up front. But also use your newsletter to better define who you are talking to. Once you get permission, keep it personal in your newsletter. Find out what your readers want by asking them.

Throw the Ball Back

There is an analogy for conversation that has something to do with a ball and throwing it back and forth. If you start a conversation with someone, saying hello, how are you?, the ball is now their’s to throw back to you.

You’re goal with conversation marketing is to make sure the ball keeps moving. On your end, you do this by staying in touch. Send out regular emails, make frequent phone calls, and participate in conversation on social networks and blogs.

You also need to make it easy for people to throw the ball back to you. This is as simple as making sure your contact information is on everything and that there are multiple ways for people to reach you. It is also as complex as reaching out to key people and engaging them in deeper conversation. This might be a blogger who can help promote you or a customer with a complaint. I won’t quiz you on which of the two is a priority, because I know you already know its the customer.

Get the ball rolling by becoming an active listener, online and in every communication you have. Then, invite people to your game by providing quality insight and being helpful. After that, you can put much of your focus on keeping the conversation going. If you do a good job of this, more and more people will seek you out to join in. Thats because a good thing never stays hidden for long.

photo credit: kamshots

Recommended Reading

I am constantly on the prowl for good business books. Right now, I am reading Crush It, by Gary Vaynerchuk. I love Gary’s take on passion and business. This book will give you a kick in the butt to get up and get moving as you pursue your passions and your business.

If you are interested in Crush It, you can get it through Amazon by clicking here or by visiting your local bookstore.

Have a Small Business Question? Ask me and I will answer it here – email me with your question now.

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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

Pressure to Change Your Procedures

Have you ever had a customer who tried to bully you? Chances are pretty good that you have. Sometimes, it doesn’t look like bullying. But think of what a bully does. He tries make you do something that you don’t want to do, like give him your lunch money. So really, any time a customer pressures you to do things outside your normal operating procedure, there is the potential of bullying going on.

If a customer is pressuring you to make concessions, what should you do? Well, I guess it depends on what kind of business you are running. Is your business weak-kneed and unsure of itself? Or do you do things a certain way for a reason, and know for a fact what your business ideals are?

Say a customer tries to get you to give him a serious discount on your standard rate. You may need to do some soul searching. On the one hand, you could really use the customer, he is big after all. On the other, you priced your rate where its at for a reason. If you bend on the rate here, you are going to erode your ability to charge it across the board. That’s just a fact. The question you need to ask yourself is whether you want to compete on price. If not, you need to be willing to say no to that big bully, err customer.

The Big Bully

Its funny. The classic view of the bully is the big, over-sized kid. It works the same way in business. More often than not it is those big customers that try to bully you around into making concessions. You feel more pressure to do so, because of their size.

It is a mistake to automatically assume that just because a customer is big that they are also ideal. In order to understand what makes an ideal customer for your business, you need to understand what your business stands for. What are the important things which your business lives by? If you “never cut corners” then you are just going to have to say no to the customer who is pressuring you to deliver a job in a time frame that is too short.

Realize Your Own Strength

So, the first thing you need to do to combat bullies is to realize your own strength. Ask yourself why you do things the way you do. Hopefully you have some good reasons. If not, spend some time developing some core beliefs on which your business is based. And read this article on The Three Selling Propositions. If you have good reasons for doing things a certain way, its going to be easier to say no to customers who try to pressure you into changing your business.

Spot the Bully

That’s the second thing. You need to be able to recognize a bully. In most cases, the customer is not going to come across as threatening. Instead, they are going to try to get you to do things differently. They may be just trying to get a better deal. Or perhaps they are in the market for a whole different provider, and you would be better off providing a referral. If you have set procedures and reasons for doing things, spotting these customers will be pretty easy. Any time a customer request would cause you to change the way you do business, you are dealing with a potential bully situation.

Let me reiterate something here. A bully situation doesn’t always mean you are dealing with a customer who is out to get you. In most cases, the customer will respect your decision to stick to your way of doing things. They aren’t trying to hurt you. They are just trying to find the right solution for their needs, and you may not be it. Lots of times, all the pressure you feel is your own fault. It is because you are not secure in what your business stands for, so you are willing to consider changing everything for the needs of one customer. Before you do that, make sure that the customer’s needs match up with what you provide.

Stand Up to the Bully

Once you know what you stand for and can spot a bully, its time to stand up for yourself. Yes, this can be scary at first. You may have to tell a big customer no. You may have to provide a counter-offer to a prospect when your gut is screaming that they won’t ever accept it. And once in awhile, you will just have to confront a customer and tell them that they are full of it.

The nice thing is, you aren’t going to end up with a black eye or a sonic wedgie. You may have to wave goodbye to a customer who you thought might be your ship coming in. Confrontation is never fun, in any form (for most of us), but by standing up to bullies you will make sure your business stays on the course you set out for it. Never let your plans get pushed around by people who don’t have your best interest in mind.

Your Story

I am interested to hear if you have ever had to say no to a big opportunity or if you have ever faced down a customer bully. Leave a comment below if you have.

photo credit: trix0r

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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

Many businesses decide to ‘take the show online’ due to the strong appeal of finding new customers on the massive marketplace known as the internet.  The potential audience on the internet is huge, so obviously your focus online should be on finding new blood, right?

Banner ads, forum posts, Facebook pages, Twitter updates and blog content all wind up geared towards finding prospects and educating them about your products and services.

In the ‘real world’ though, much has been written about the value in marketing to your current customers.  We’ll avoid quoting the overused statistics about the value of your customer base and the cost of finding a new customer versus the cost of retaining an existing one.  Whatever you sell, your current customers represent an incredible chance to cross-sell and up-sell, to drive repeat business, to source referrals, and to make the conversion from satisfied client to raving fan.

So why not value your interactions with your customers online the same way you value them offline?  You know all that content you’ve put online to lure new customers – those pictures and videos of your products and services in action, those updates on your company, that quality educational content, those referrals to other relevant sources?  Your customers want all that stuff too!

Here’s the good news–

- You’ve got all of the content online already.

- You’ve got an existing relationship with your customers.

So how do you get your customers involved with all that wonderful stuff you’re doing online?  You invite them.

It’s simple, but it’s often overlooked.  Each time you deliver a product or service to an existing customer, ask them to join you online.

How you invite them, and where you ask them to join you, will depend on the business that you’re in.  At Deneki Outdoors we own and operate remote fly fishing lodges.  Our guests aren’t the most tech-savvy segment of the population, so we focus on email subscriptions.

We’ve always given our guests a survey at the end of their stay with us to get feedback on their trip.  We added a really simple question to our survey– “Would you like to receive a weekly email newsletter from us?”  If they do (and more than half do), we add them to our mailing list, and those weekly newsletters are loaded with links to our web sites and our Facebook page and more.

A weekly email from our company keeps us at the top of our customers’ minds.  It lets them know about new products and services that we offer.  It’s easy for them to forward to their friends.  It points them at other places, like Facebook, where we can interact.  At the risk of overstating things, we’ll claim that it makes them part of our online family, and the value in that should be obvious.

When you’re planning and executing your online strategy, don’t forget your current customers!

photo credit: saname777

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Andrew Bennett runs Deneki Outdoors, a company that owns and operates fly fishing lodges in Alaska, British Columbia, the Bahamas and Chile.  Deneki Outdoors has a web site , a blog , a Facebook page and a Twitter page .