The Leading Edge: How to Gain Competitive Advantage
Once brand loyalty is established, loyal customers usually stick around for the long-haul. But getting to that point is a tough, complex process that involves
One of the world’s largest telecom agencies has the habit of boasting about how big they are, how fast they are and that sort of thing. They tend to buy up competition and technology at what seems to be an alarming rate and have been given leeway to dominate the marketplace. Interestingly, despite its boasts, it still has one of the highest consumer dissatisfaction rates in the world. You have to ask yourself: how successful could the company be if they put more effort into lowering the customer service?
What if we ran our companies that way? What if customer service was something that simply sits on the back burner – something we need to do something about some day? What if we just threw money or fancy gadgets at it? Do you think the problem would go away? Do you think we would create raving fans? Would we spend more time and money getting new clients or retaining old ones? Which costs more?
As leaders of smaller businesses (as in not multi-billion dollar firms) we do tend to recognize that simply due to the volume or work and business, we probably won’t be able to please every customer every time. Someone will be upset about price, someone else about level of service or customization, etc. However, there is no reason that 98% of our clients can not be extremely pleased with what we are offering, from the initial contact until the sale or engagement is completed.
The process of managing your clients’ expectation and needs is similar to managing a supply chain or any other system in your organization. Here are six steps you will want to pay attention to as you plan your customer experience chain.
Oops! Not done, yet! Just because there is money in the bank doesn’t mean that the deal is closed. We want two things: 1) raving fans and 2) repeat business. If we spend 80% of our time serving and retaining our current clients, we will find that our sales efforts are more effective. That means that doing a good job isn’t a one-time deal. It is a way of doing business.
As business leaders, we always have the choice of being self employed or growing an extraordinary business. Our clients are the life-blood of every business. We’ve got to back up everything that we say and do.
Take the extra step. Go the extra mile. Stand out from the crowd. Build an extraordinary business.
Aepiphanni Business Consulting: The Business Strategy People is an Operations Management and Business Strategy Consulting Firm dedicated to serving the needs of small to medium sized business leaders. We specialize in helping leaders create extraordinary businesses. We welcome clients in the personal and professional services industries, including Creative and Design Services, Software & IT Services, Professional Services and Specialty Consumer Services. As always, we welcome your comments, thoughts, questions and suggestions. If you are seeking a business assessment, or have further questions about creating your strategy or developing your vision, please give me, Rick Meekins, a call at 678-265-3908, or email us at [email protected].
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