Successful Business Attribute #1 - Put Your Customers First

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As small business entrepreneurs, we all understand the importance of ensuring our customers have a great experience with our company. We have all been on the receiving end of terrible customer service at restaurants or in a retail store.

Samantha Irwin, from Kaizen Small Business Solutions, shares how her recent customer experience at her local store resulted in her spending zero dollars. She is a small business customer experience consultant and focuses on where the customer experience starts:

Your Employees

She goes on to state that, “Cultivating a positive and productive workplace happens intentionally.”

Why Is This Important?

We have all heard that if employees are happy and productive, this will trickle down to your customers having great interactions with your business. I saw this firsthand when I worked at Zappos. Zappos is so well-known for their wow customer approach that other businesses take tours and training to learn how to implement it in their own business.

The result is positive feedback, referral business, and increased revenue. All the well-known successful brands we buy from like Apple, Starbucks, and Amazon understand this success attribute. 

Here are a few simple ideas you can use to put your customers first:

1. Make sure every customer interaction is met with a friendly, helpful, and solution-oriented approach

2. Show customers you care about their needs by being responsive to their feedback and requests.

3. Create customer rewards programs to build loyalty and provide a personal touch.

4. Empower your team to deliver an impeccable customer experience every time. If you need help finding the right team members check out, Jamie Stringer Van Cuyk from Growing Your Team. Also, check out Samantha Irwin for help empowering your team to deliver an exceptional customer experience. 

   
   Operating a successful business has many moving parts. The most important attribute is learning how to put your customers first and create amazing interactions that they will share with others. 

Keep IT Sunny~

Are You A Problem Solver?

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Hi to everyone out there. How is your business doing these days? Is it too slow? Or are you on fire? Well, in my opinion the difference between the two extremes could be how your customers view your problem solving ability. According to a book excerpt from James A. DeSena, Solving Your Customers Problems, “You must describe the problem clearly, and do it from the customer's point of view. The problem should be one the customer sees value in solving.” Does your product or service solve your customers' problems in the most efficient manner possible? If not, then it may be time to dig a bit deeper to find out what pressure points or roadblocks your customers are facing and be the superior resource for that problem. Having great insight into what challenges your customers need resolved is extremely important. The difference between being profitable or closing your doors is what is at stake. Just a bit of food for thought. Next week we will take a look at a few ways we as business owners can get to the root cause of what our customers are facing so that we can be THE resource they think of to provide resolutions.

 

Keep It Sunny!