Customer Experience

Lately I've encountered too many small businesses who don't seem to understand what it means to "take care of your customers". It seems that too many businesses fail to communicate to their clientele and treat them with respect. It's been a frustrating experience to say the least!

I contracted with a tech guy who promised me completion of a project by Wednesday, then Friday, then Sunday. When nothing came through on Sunday and I inquired about the status and was informed that he was "too busy". Never mind the fact that he failed to communicate that to me earlier. Instead he kept telling me it would be done and pushing out the date. In the end, he decided he was too busy to complete the project for me and recommended that I find someone else to do it. All he did was waste my time by putting me off for 1 1/2 weeks. You can bet he won't get my recommendation!

Or how about my experience with a service provider who encouraged online scheduling. I went ahead and scheduled my services only to get an email saying that if I was using a GroupOn coupon, it wasn't valid for online scheduling. No where on their website does it say you can't schedule services if you're using a GroupOn coupon. Then when you call the business, all you get is an answering machine! Very frustrating.

The morale is to treat your customers as you would like to be treated. If you do that, you'll be sure to shine!

Are You Building Long Term Relationships

We had a recent experience with a Toyota dealer in a smaller town. When we had ordered the car, we had very positive feelings about this dealership and our relationship with them. The first time we encountered a problem with the vehicle, the service department "blew us off". They implied that we had somehow caused the bulge in an exterior panel of the vehicle.

Frustrated, we stopped at American Toyota in Albuquerque. They wanted to investigate what had caused the bulge and volunteered to have one of their technicians remove the interior panel and see what had happened. Turns out, when the smaller town dealership had installed a subwoofer, they had to remove the interior panel. In the process, the smaller town dealership had used a tool and caused the bulge. When American Toyota discovered this, rather than have us go through the hassle of contacting the smaller town dealership and having them fix the problem that they had created, American Toyota volunteered to pay for the repair. We were elated!

It's clear to me that American Toyota is trying to build a long term relationship with their customers. They could have diagnosed the problem and sent us back to the dealership we purchased the vehicle from. But they didn't. They offered to fix the bulge at their expense. That's customer service!

As a result of the service we got from American Toyota, we have purchased another car, only this time we purchased it from American Toyota!

Think about whether or not you are building a long term relationship with your customers. It doesn't take a lot of money to take care of your customers and the goodwill it creates is tremendous.

Katie Wacek is the President of Sandia Mountain Marketing, a marketing consultancy that provides strategic and tactical marketing expertise to small- and medium -sized companies, professional service firms, and thought leaders throughout the United States. Learn more.

Keep Your Customers Happy

What differentiates you from your competitors? Is it the quality of your offerings? Service? Responsiveness? Billing accuracy? Think about it. If you’re not sure, your business might be getting lost in the numerous options available.

One of the easiest things to do to differentiate your business is to be responsive. How many times have you called a business, left a message and didn’t hear back from them for several days? Or sent an e-mail and then waited for a response that might come days later or never? What message is being sent when businesses are unresponsive? Do they really care about you as a customer or prospect? It's common sense and common courtesy to be responsive, but unfortunately many businesses don't follow through.

This has been on my mind recently. Last fall I had a problem with some work that was done on our driveway. When I called the company to tell them about the problem, they reassured me that they would stand behind their product and fix it. Since October I’ve called them six times. Each time I’m reassured they will be out as soon as the weather warms up. We’ve had very hot temperatures this past week and still no call or visit from the company….so, I called again. Within the first 20 seconds of the phone call they volunteered that they had “forgotten” about me. They apologized and again reassured me that they would stand behind their product. They’re coming on Saturday. Finally. Hopefully, they won’t “forget”.

Don’t forget about your customers and prospects. Be responsive. Do what it takes to keep them coming back for more products and services. Keep them happy.

Katie Wacek is the President of Sandia Mountain Marketing, a marketing consultancy that provides strategic and tactical marketing expertise to small- and medium -sized companies, professional service firms, and thought leaders throughout the United States. Learn more.

Stand Out From the Crowd

Writing a proposal is a lot like writing a resume. When you send a proposal off, you're trying to get the business. When you submit a resume, you're trying to get a job. Think about the following guidelines when you're working on your next proposal.

1. Be concise and clear. After writing the proposal, review it for clarity. Does it say what you want it to say in a concise and clear manner? If not, rework the copy so you can articulate your points in as few words as possible.
   
2. Layout the proposal in a professional format. Is the format you chose professional looking? Is the information organized in a logical order? Did you use headers and subheads to make the information easier to read? The presentation of the information is often as important as the words you use.
   
3. Stand out from the crowd. Is your proposal unique in some way that will draw attention and stimulate interest? What's different about your proposal? Is the structure of the proposal different? You want it to be read and you ultimately want to "win" the business.

Here's to your success in writing more effective proposals.

Katie Wacek is the President of Sandia Mountain Marketing, a marketing consultancy that provides strategic and tactical marketing expertise to small- and medium -sized companies, professional service firms, and thought leaders throughout the United States. Learn more.

Help Your Employees be Successful

Provide your employees with the training and resources needed to be successful. If you neglect to provide them with the necessary tools, you may be doing your company a disservice.

Last year, a friend of mine took a part-time, temporary brand ambassador job during the holidays. The company sent her boxes of materials to use during her sales calls and provided several hours of online training. She was excited about the job and motivated to learn as much as possible. Unfortunately, most of the materials that were sent to her were not applicable to her role. The materials she really needed weren't sent to her.

To make matters worse, the company hired mystery shoppers to visit the temporary, part-time brand ambassadors to make sure they were representing the brand properly. When the mystery shopper came, she asked my friend technical questions about things she never was trained on. Not wanting to speak poorly about the company she was representing, she apologized for not knowing the answers. The result: my friend who is a competent, conscientious professional felt like a failure. She had taken this job seriously and wanted to do a great job. It would have helped if the materials she needed to support her role had been provided.

1. Help your employees (full-time, part-time, or temporary) be successful. Provide them with the necessary training and materials to be able to make a difference in your sales. Train them on the products that are available in the stores in which they will be working.
   
2. Look at more than just a spreadsheet with product sales listed by stores when making decisions on whether to place additional help in those stores. There are probably many reasons why a retail store is underperforming when it comes to sales of your products. It could be location, demographics, etc.
   
3. Don't waste your resources on mystery shoppers for temporary, part-time employees. A better approach may be to have the regional manager (or whoever is responsible for their training) visit the stores and check up on the employees. That way they are taking some responsibility of making sure the employees are up-to-speed on the offerings.

It's an interesting marketing experiment to allocate marketing dollars to putting a face on the brand rather than just advertising. I have no doubt that this strategy can work. My friend had several situations where the customer ended up buying the product she was representing versus the competitors. Had she not been there and interacted with the customer, the product she was representing wouldn't have been purchased. Just give the employees what they need to be successful!

Katie Wacek is the President of Sandia Mountain Marketing, a marketing consultancy that provides strategic and tactical marketing expertise to small- and medium -sized companies, professional service firms, and thought leaders throughout the United States. Learn more.

Perception is Reality

Years ago a friend of mine was asked to participate in a market research study. The company was going to send her product to use and provide feedback on. She was excited to participate because she loved their products. A few weeks later when the product arrived, her excitement diminished. The product was packaged in a ziploc bag! At that moment her perception of the product changed. It was no longer "special" in her mind. As a result, she declined to participate in the research study.

There are a number of things that the company could have done to minimize the negative perception created by the lack of packaging. For instance, they could have:

1. better managed customer expectations. The company could have explained what the customer was going to get and how it was going to be packaged.
2. included a note with the package. The note could have addressed the lack of packaging and reiterated the value of her feedback.
3. invested in some temporary packaging that reinforced their brand image.
4. created a better customer experience.
   

As it was, the company's attempt to gain customer feedback backfired with my friend. They lost out on her feedback and she no longer thinks of the product as "special".

Remember, perception is reality!

Katie Wacek is the President of Sandia Mountain Marketing, a marketing consultancy that provides strategic and tactical marketing expertise to small- and medium -sized companies, professional service firms, and thought leaders throughout the United States. Learn more.

What's Your Plan?

Whether you are a launching a new business or have an existing business, you need a marketing plan. A well thought out marketing plan will help you reach your goals and get you the results you are striving for. Think of it as a road map. Without a plan (or map) you'll probably end up somewhere else.

Sometimes businesses underestimate the value of a marketing plan. They choose not to create one or the owners might have a vague plan in their heads but nothing written down. There is something about writing it down that makes it more real. Marketing plans don't have to be long and elaborate to be effective. They just need to be well thought out.

There are many outlines available to construct a marketing plan. Here's a fairly basic marketing plan. The most important thing is to understand your target market and think of marketing tactics that will help you reach your audience. A calendar of activities is critical to help keep you on task.

With a marketing plan you'll dramatically increase the possibility of reaching your goals and ending up where you want to be!

Katie Wacek is the President of Sandia Mountain Marketing, a marketing consultancy that provides strategic and tactical marketing expertise to small- and medium -sized companies, professional service firms, and thought leaders throughout the United States. Learn more.