Inside Small Business | Small Business & Home Business Marketing

How Happy are Your Customers? Find out!

Have you ever wondered what your customers think about you or how to better communicate to them? It may be time to think about doing a customers satisfaction assessment (CSA).

Some small or medium sized companies as well as divisions of larger organizations who consider a customer satisfaction assessment (CSA) program say, “We’re not ready for it yet!” These organizations often have a relatively small number of customers. They believe they are close to their customers, and they will probably need a formal CSA program when they can no longer easily touch base with each customer. It is unclear when this point will occur. A small or medium sized company or organization early in its growth and development can benefit from a cost-effective, Internet-based customer satisfaction assessment (CSA) program.

Customer focused culture

There is little argument today about the benefits of having a customer-focused culture to an organization’s current and future success. The development of a customer-focused culture starts at the very beginning and is difficult and expensive to develop if an organization’s culture has been established without it.Many small and medium sized organizations feel that because they have a relatively small number of customers they, almost by definition, understand their customers and are customer-focused. However, the understanding of the customer in this situation tends to be very project and account focused, i.e. sales focused. This leads to an almost complete orientation to tactical and operational issues at the expense of strategic and long-term issues. And because the dialogue with the customer tends to be around the account and sale, it usually doesn’t explore and uncover problem areas that the customer has not explicitly identified. It is often anecdotal in nature.

Starting an independent and objective CSA study early in an organization’s life helps establish a customer-focused culture and provides customer-based strategic information to help guide the investment of the organization’s scarce resources in strategic areas important to customers as well as the company’s future.

Understanding the competition

It is crucial to a small or medium sized organization’s future to understand the competition and how customers view them and the competition. It is fairly easy to understand a competitor’s current products. It is not so straightforward to understand

- Customers’ view of the competition

- Their current use of the competitors’ products

- Their plans to use the competitors’ products in the future

- How the organization’s products compare to the competitions’ products in criteria most important to customers

This kind of information does not typically come out of operational and anecdotal communications with the customer. Not having valid, customer-based information in this area can doom the future plans of a small or medium sized company as well as a division of a larger organization.

Meeting and Exceeding Customer Expectations

It is easy for a small or medium sized organization to determine a customer’s program or project needs. These tend to be very product and service specific, and they are often documented in a purchase specification. They are usually in the comfort zone of the supplier.However, it is not so easy to determine what factors are important to customers for a successful supplier relationship or what their expectations are for a product or service over the long term. Determining what the important supplier and product issues are and how well the company is meeting or exceeding customer expectations in these areas are best determined using an independent and objective method. These findings are very important to small or medium sized organizations

Fixing Problems

Fixing problems in an operational, tactical environment is easy. Often the customer with the loudest complaint gets serviced first, then the next loudest, etc. This is reinforced by the size of the order and account. This usually works until it comes to developing, enhancing, or fixing an organization’s business systems and strategies. Then, the absence of customer-based, factual information can cause an organization to make key decisions subjectively based on anecdotal information rather than objective findings from a CSA.

What are the Benefits?

- Assurance that the organization meets or exceeds the expectations of key customers

- Confidence that they are better than or equal to their competition based on criteria important to customers

- The ability to take cost-effective corrective actions to enhance products, services, and market position based on objective customer findings

- The ability to refine business and product strategies based on changing customer needs, requirements, and expectations

- Satisfaction of a quality system’s requirements for customer benchmarking

Time and Money

At the end of the day, the real issue with an organization that considers a customer satisfaction assessment study isn’t “we’re not ready for it yet!” or even “we don’t need it yet!” The real issues are time and secondarily money.

But these are the real benefits of an independent and objective CSA study. Besides providing needed customer information, a formal study relieves a small or medium sized organization’s staff from the burden of developing and conducting a state-of-the-art customer study. And the small or medium sized organization gets the added benefit of years of industry experience as the CSA study results are summarized and analyzed.

At the end it comes down to money. An Internet-based customer satisfaction assessment (CSA) program is very cost effective compared to traditional methods because it is based on WEB technology and therefore has significantly reduced costs in the area of data collection.

Noel is president and founder of Six 9s Associates, Inc., a full service customer research firm. Six 9s delivers actionable intelligence that enables clients to resolve customer problems, add value, and enhance their competitive position.

To find out more about how to start a Customer Satisfaction Assessment program for your organization, contact Six 9s Associates, Inc. at +480.488.7936 or contact@six-9s.com.

 www.six-9s.com

Related Topics: Customer Service, Customer Spotlight, Small Business    No Comments    

Speaking Your Customer’s Language

Nancy Michaels, Author and Coach

It’s not uncommon in business, as in life, for connections to be made between individuals who feel a like-mindedness or personal connection with a person, service or product. The key is to uncover the language and manner of communication your prospect and customer are most likely to respond positively to.

Here are 10 thoughts to ponder when determining how to speak your customer’s language.

1. Know enough about their business to sound knowledgeable

Too often, we overwhelm prospects with far too much information about ourselves and our businesses. Instead, do some on-line research about your prospect/customer prior to a meeting so you sound aware and informed. Remember to ask them questions about their objectives and make connections only where you think there is one. If they state a need that your company is not able to provide, refer them to someone who can assist them more effectively. You’ll begin to position yourself as a trusted and credible resource.

2. Do not profess to know more about their business than they do

Remember, however, not too much so that you sound more informed, aware and intelligent about their product or service than they are. Everyone wants to feel there’s a basis of understanding when someone walks through the door to attempt to sell them something; we need to grow our business and be more successful. No one wants to feel as if they’ll be doing business with a know-it-all, either.

3. Know who their clients and vendors are

Thank goodness for the world wide web! It’s easy to determine plenty of information from your prospect’s Web sites or those of your competitors, colleagues and your prospects’ competitors who are doing business with each other.

4. Search the web for industry-specific information

Look into trends, past performance, industry leaders and rainmakers. If their names come up in a meeting, you will sound smart and well-read on your prospect’s industry and will win points with whomever you meet.

5. Research their company’s key players, recent press releases, etc.

I recommend to my coaching clients that they sign up to receive the press releases of the companies they have targeted to do business with. This way, they are finding out timely information about their prospect exactly when their prospect employee base is becoming aware. It also provides you with an up-to-date opportunity, when appropriate, to contact your prospect and comment on the announcement.

6. Create a monthly communication plan

Marketing is having VCR – visibility, consistency and repetition in the marketplace. It is as simple as that. You want to be in front of your prospects and customers on a consistent basis, and you want to repeat that image and message repeatedly. There’s an advertising rule-of-thumb that you have to make a minimum of six impressions in the minds of your customer base before they make a connection with you and what service or product you are selling. Be sure to make the most positive impressions with them each time you communicate with them.

7. Ask your contacts (current and past clients, vendors, colleagues) for an introduction or direct referral

Chances are that if you have done a great job in the past, or are currently servicing your clients well, they will be happy to spread the word about your good work and how it might benefit another department within their organization, or another company they have connections with. Oftentimes though, we don’t ask. If you don’t ask for a referral, people are busy and may not offer it on their own.

8. Pay attention to the details

Details matter. Have someone proofread your proposals and correspondence. Show up five minutes before you are scheduled to meet with someone. Send them relevant information you think would help their business – it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with what you’re selling, simply a resource that would appeal to them. Attempt to be “they” focused, not “me” or “we” focused. This is another great way to continue to earn their trust.

9. Do what you say you will do and what they have requested you do

Be a person of your word. Do not forget to under promise and over deliver — consistently. Do not contact a prospect until you have delivered on whatever requests they might have made of you.

10. Exercise pleasant persistence

Easier said than done; being pleasantly persistent takes a special kind of talent. Treat your prospects and customers as you would want to be treated. As part of your monthly communication plan, touch base with them without expecting a response from them. Send them an invitation to an event or an article you think they might be interested in. Put special dates or occasions they might have mentioned in your database management program and refer to them at the anniversary of these events.

Speaking your customer’s language is about solidifying meaningful connections and relationships. We all like to do business with people we know and trust. These points will help you to create the bond necessary for someone to want to sign on the bottom line and enter into a financial relationship with you.

Nancy Michaels is a nationally-known business development coach, author, speaker and consultant to women business owners, as well as to companies that target women business owners.

She can be reached at nmichaels@growyourbusinessnetwork.com

Related Topics: Customer Service, Marketing, Small Business    No Comments    

The Secret to What Keeps Customers Coming Back

By John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing

An often-discussed topic in the world of small business marketing is the idea of getting your customers to come back for more and to keep coming back for more. The most profitable businesses in the world are built this way. I have a simple approach to this challenge and it may change the way you look at customer loyalty.

Earning your second sale with a client has as much to do with the way you generated the lead, presented your value proposition and converted the prospect to a client as it does with some technique your employ after the sale.

Customer loyalty is a natural by-product of targeting the right client, with right need and setting and exceeding their expectations. The rest is just details.

What happens when the phone actually rings?

So you’ve managed to make the phone ring. It’s an ideal prospect on the other end; now what? It’s amazing how few small business owners consider this question.

There’s no question that certain people are more naturally suited to the role of lead conversion than others, but we’re not talking about certain people, we’re talking about you and your business. What I want to introduce in this article is a system that will allow almost anyone to succeed, even with average lead-conversion skills.

A lead conversion system relies on three distinct components:

Discovery - In discovery, the central goal is to discover if a prospect actually fits your ideal target market. If you’ve done a good job in your marketing up to this point, you will usually attract qualified prospects. Your lead conversion system should help you quickly make this assessment on an individual basis and continue to deliver the expectations you have set with initial lead generation activity.

Presentation - Whether across the desk or over the phone, most businesses need to present an offer of a product or service to the eventual buyer. The Duct Tape Marketing tool of choice for this step is something I call an Internal Seminar. The Internal Seminar is a quasi-scripted presentation made as part of your initial client meetings.

Transaction -The final leg of the Lead Conversion System is a planned “first purchase” transaction process. In other words, a thought out and consistently executed way to take the order, deliver the goods or execute an agreement. Put a little flair into this sometimes, awkward step in the client relationship building process and you are well on your way to order number two and three.

What to do when a prospect says yes

Many small business owners spend months chasing a new customer and then once they land them, have no process in place to make sure they serve they wow them and exceed their expectation.

When a client says yes you should be prepared to shift your marketing process to teach them how to get the most from this new relationship or product by putting a new customer kit in their hands. Your new customer kit allows your new client to fully understand what to expect now that they are a client. That’s right your educational marketing approach doesn’t end once you make a sale. Almost every type of business, service or product based, should develop “training” documents that communicate key bits of information.

Your new customer kit can contain pages that explain:

• What to expect from us next
• How to contact us if you have a question
• How to get the most from your new product/service
• What we need from you to get started
• What we agreed upon today
• How we invoice for our work
• A copy of our invoice

Creating a series of documents like the one’s suggested above and having a systematic step that allows you to communicate this information demonstrates a level of professionalism not always displayed by small businesses. Nothing derails a client relationship faster than failing to set and meet initial expectations.

So now you have a customer loyalty generating system based on solid marketing principles that anyone in your firm can operate.

John Jantsch is a veteran marketing coach, award winning blogger and author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide published by Thomas Nelson - due out in the fall of 2006. He is the creator of the Duct Tape Marketing small business marketing system. www.ducttapemarketing.com His Duct Tape Marketing Blog was chosen as a Forbes favorite for small business and marketing and is a Harvard Business School featured marketing site. www.ducttapemarketing.com/weblog.php

Related Topics: Customer Service, Small Business    No Comments