Archive for February, 2012

With my son away travelling for just over a week, I have had his dear little dog staying with me. Although she is accustomed to visiting, this is her first sleep over and I am enjoying her company.

Early this morning we took a walk enjoying the sights, sounds and fragrances of a beautiful summer morning, although it’s entirely possible that the fragrances that attract Coabi are a little different to the ones that attract me!

During this walk many things crossed my mind and one of them was an interview I listened to recently. There were three points made about questions every business should ask themselves which I would like to share with you.

1. What exactly is your business

2. How is business

3. How would you like to do better business

Good questions and ones I suspect we don’t often ask ourselves, apart from the seemingly constant discussions around the second one.

Have you noticed the tendency at the moment for a constant stream of negativity in the media, with business owners, managers and employees more inclined to comment on how difficult the circumstances are instead of  looking at how they can improve the things that are within their control? I am not saying that businesses do not have  their fair share of challenges, as that would not be accurate. What is rarely focused on is that there are organisations of all sizes and types who are not just surviving, they are thriving.

The reason for their success, despite other external influences, has a common theme.                                                                                                               They have all defined their internal culture, which is aligned with their values. They value and train their staff and see customer experience as a priority over a singular focus on profits, knowing profits come when customers rave about their experience. They also understand that the term customer means everyone they deal with both externally and internally. How you treat your suppliers, staff, colleagues, business associates etc reflects on how you are spoken about – marketed – to everyone those people come in contact with. Whether you think you are or not, you are marketing your business at every turn.

Have you considered why two similar businesses can have entirely different outcomes? It is in their approach and attitude where the differences create alternate outcomes.

There is a Facebook group called Positively Tasmania, which was set up to note, comment, reward, and generally bring to the fore, businesses embracing a defined service culture and consistently providing exceptional service standards. This has turned the tide of a negative focus into a positive approach around living and doing business in Tasmania. It is proving extremely effective and is growing at a rapid rate. The saying, we get what we focus on, comes to mind.

Sometimes we are too close to see things from an unbiased perspective, or too busy just doing it all to be able to take the time, so consider bringing in a professional viewpoint to assess your situation and see where some tweaks may just make the difference.

To a successful week.

Kind regards, Christine

Is your brand positioned to wow customers?

Proof… Not Promises

One of the major cosmetic houses has this statement in their advertising for a particular product, however is also stands for the sequence in which we should offer our customer experience.

Harvard Business School lecturer, Theodore Levitt said: “The primary business of any business is to stay in business – but to do that you have to get and keep customers.” Customer service isn’t about simply being available to serve someone who is ready to buy your service or product, or responding helpfully to a request, it’s about so much more. Done well, it is about offering an exceptional customer experience with a dedicated consistency.

All too often businesses state they provide good customer service and then leave it to chance, assuming (or hoping) the proof will be in the delivery. Promises not proof. Since touchpoints are the small moments of interaction that leave lasting impressions with a customer or potential customer, it would be far more effective if your customer service was defined through each touchpoint, with an emphasis placed on the delivery of a series of exceptional experiences. Proof not promises.

Times have changed. If numerous research, customer feedback through social media and customers increasingly moving into alternative purchasing options is anything to go by, it seems so many business owners or managers are seeing marketing and sales as a priority, with customer service considered a given because they say that’s what they offer. What is often missed is that each of these should ideally be a progressive part of their business strategy if solid growth and brand reputation is the desired outcome.

If you surveyed organisations, large or small, about the importance of their customer experience, virtually all of them would identify it as important to their success. If however, you asked for facts and figures on what initiatives are used, how they monitor their success and how future customer service strategy will be designed and implemented, you would find less certainty in their responses.

Word of mouth marketing is the most cost effective, most relied on, most valued form of marketing communication, yet so many companies don’t consider using it and certainly don’t have a strategy for it. Word of mouth marketing relies on your customers and staff being raving fans and advocates for your business, which doesn’t come about if they are simply satisfied.

Would you be emotionally connected enough to go out of your way to recommend a business because your experience was just a satisfactory one? It’s not by accident that all the successful brands aim to increase customer loyalty and utilise the power of word of mouth. They all have a strong vision,  clear values, a positive workplace culture, and defined service experiences amongst their  operational strategies.

Think carefully about why your customers should give you their money over your competitors, online or off?

Define your purpose, remember your passion and increase profit.

Warm regards

Christine

Customer service is both.

Aristotle said, “Excellence is not an act…it’s a habit” Creating brand loyalty is about developing positive habits consistent with your values. Business owners, managers and leaders determine the good habits that will drive the success of their organisation. Once the desired habits are identified, effective training and continual reinforcement are critical in making them a permanent part of your organisation’s culture.

It’s important to plan for the opportunities of tomorrow rather than simply focusing on the problems of today. With that forward focus and plan for tomorrow, strategies can then be designed to get you to where you wish to be. When you have your strategy in place, it’s also important to infuse it with genuine emotion if you want to truly touch your customer. We must remember to touch both their hearts and their minds.

Consumer habits have drastically altered. We can’t continue to do what we have always done if we wish to thrive in today’s competitive market.

A recent global survey reveals Australian consumers place a greater premium on service than most. Australia had the highest number of respondents (46%) believing companies are “helpful but don’t do anything extra to keep their business”.

25% of Australian respondents believe companies take their business for granted. 10% think companies don’t care about their business – double from a year ago. Only 2% of Australian consumers believe companies “generally exceed their expectations.”

By focusing on the experience your customer has with you, your business will profit.

Identify your core values and those of the people working in your business. It’s easier to deliver your brand vision if your values and behaviours are authentic and if the values of those working with you in your business are aligned with the organisational ones. Most businesses would say emphatically that they have values however, if asked, how many can identify them immediately. Stop here for a moment and write down yours. Can you do it in five minutes or less?

Using those values, take the time to define your business culture – This is your brand, so everything you do and everyone who represents you represents this brand. Know it, feel it, share it, live it.

Focus on serving your customers and serving each other – with a 100% total commitment, treating everyone the same whether customer, staff, colleague or supplier. To say that you care is easy; to demonstrate you do is necessary.

Simple common sense, yet how often it is simply not done?. Come on, we can all do this and create an enviable reputation for service excellence.

Raising the temperature of water by just one extra degree takes it from simply hot, to something that generates enough power to run an engine. If we take the same approach with everything we do, raising our efforts by just one extra degree, we can move from ordinary to extraordinary.

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does!” William James

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. Winston Churchill.

Some time ago Earl Nightingale created a program  called, “The Magic Word.”  The entire program was designed to help you discover what the magic word was.  When you finally discovered it, you had power. The magic word was attitude.  When you finally understood the power of your attitude, you understood the power you held.

It may not be a game, yet our attitude in business is the key to success in so many areas. For that matter, our attitude impacts our relationships in life as well as our health. Regardless of the circumstances in our life where we may not have choice, we have a choice over our attitude.

Think of how many people inspire you.  Think of your mentors in life and business. Do any of these people lack passion for what they stand for, do they lack vision, and is their attitude a questionable or half hearted one? I suspect not one of them would fall in to a category of lack in any of those areas. We are not inspired or attracted to people with a poor attitude, nor is it a pleasure to spend time in their company.

I have listened to speakers who have endured horrendous circumstances in their lives, either physically or mentally.  The books I have read on life stories have provided the same awareness of the one thing that sets each person apart. What has inspired and remained with me has not been their circumstances, it has been their amazing attitude and spirit.

When faced with a choice of doing business with an individual or an organisation, for me the deciding factor between them or their competitors would be their attitude. Whether that business is offline or online, small or large, I want to feel they care about me and value my business. Isn’t that what we all ultimately desire?

Now think of the businesses you admire, regardless of size. What are the qualities that stand out for you? I imagine they are the same qualities as those that stand out for most of us.

“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labour and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which.  He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he’s always doing both”  James A Mitchener.

Enjoy whatever it is you do and pay attention to your attitude when doing it.

Warm regards

Christine