Tag: customer

Are you Focused on your Customers?

On today’s episode of Solopreneur Success Strategies, it is all about the customer. Are you focused on your current customers?  Developing your customer retention rate can increase your bottom line easily. If you focus on your current customers rather than trying to get new customers ever day, you can recommend or upsell new products or services to your current customers.

It is 10X harder to acquire a new customer than to sell new products or services to your existing customers.  Connect and follow up with your current customers to make sure they are happy with your customer service or there are ways to improve your customer service.

By spending more time on your current customers, you can increase your profits without extra advertising.

For more on customer acquistion and retention, join The Business of At Home Business community at http://boahbtips.com/members. 

What Is Your Solution For Your Customer

 

It is all about selling and your customers. And as I mentioned previously in the other episode we’re going to start at the very basics of looking at who is your customer. Before we even talk about selling because if you haven’t defined who your customer is then you won’t be able to find them in order to sell to them.

Because not everyone is your customer.

Not everyone wants your gadget.

No everyone wants your information

Not everyone wants your newest Plumbing apparatus.

So you have to decide. what are you selling.

That’s the first step.

What is the outcome that your customers will get from buying your solution?

Is it something they desire?

Is it the newest golf club?

Is it something that is a solution to their problem?

What is your solution?

So first of all, you should really actually define what your outcome is as a result of using your product or service.

If someone was to actually use your product or service, what is their outcome and how will it improve their life? 

What is the end results?

Will they have more money at the end of using your solution or are you just solving one little problem in their life?Maybe it’s time to define that little problem as to how small it is and decide if you can help by adding a few more other solutions to get it into a bigger solution and bigger results.

So first off, you’ve got to decide what you’re going to be selling as a solution.

What is that solution and what is the end results of that solution?

Next question.

Who would want that solution?

So you’d be surprised who wants your solution. At one point, I thought the coaches would want my solution for someone who is thinking of starting a home business in general. But actually I’ve found that for one of my products, I could actually have real estate agents who would be more interested in my solution. So that’s from doing the research and finding out that there aren’t that demand and the audience.

For example, I’ve found out on Facebook that the majority of people there in my audience are from 45 to 65. There are a lot of people out there at 45 to 65 who are starting another business in their life because they want to have the freedom and control of their own life in terms of having a business, so that was a big surprise. I thought it was just teenagers and young people who are on Facebook.

But then I’m not usually on Facebook. 

So, what I’m trying to say is first you got to figure out what your solution is and what is the end result for that solution.

What is the outcome for anyone who might happen to use that solution?

And then go and do research on your social media in trade publications in your industry go out and talk to people in your industry about what kind of problems they have and see if they actually NEED YOUR solution. They may not need it because they already have a quicker way to solve what they want so that you’re going to have to find a way to have a solution that is a different, unique way of solving that problem.

So really before you can even start selling or even defining who your customers are, you have to decide what your solution is and what is the end result.

What is the process that you go through to use your solution and get a better outcome?

They always want to buy something for a better outcome, quicker outcome or a more fun outcome of all kinds of outcomes that are positive.

So before you can start even defining your customers, which we will do next time, are you even selling to the right customers. You have to know what your solution is that you have that your product or service solves in terms of what the problems might be or what do they desire.

So, start with the basics and decide what it is that is the outcome for your product or service. And then go and research with a few examples on customers and what they need and who they are and finding out who they are.

Now I’ll tell you bluntly, with our structural engineering firm, we didn’t have to do any of this research because basically people when you want to build and renovate a house and they need an engineer then we are the solution. Obviously, the only thing that is really required in terms of our solution is how we could be quicker; how we can be more responsive; on how we can be on call; for your client and get a good reputation. So we didn’t have to do too much research on what the market was because we have a pretty large market. So the competition was not too fierce in our area.

So just so you know I’m talking right now about online.

But of course we’ll also define offline research but before we can do any of that out, figure out what your solution is whether it’s a product or service that you want to sell.

What is it solving?

What is the end result for your client?

why would they want to buy it?

So have a look at that this week and see what you think about your solution for your business. Maybe look at what you’re going to be doing and see what is the end result of your solution.

That’s a very important task.

And then the next phase, very important, is defining your customer and who they are and where they are. So we’ll do that next week.

 

Selling Sales You and Your Customer

Well today is Wednesday and it’s all going to be about selling sales and your customers.

Today, I wanted to start off by talking about how you don’t have to be salesy in order to sell as a human being.

You sell yourself all the time and you sell ideas that you have all the time.

When you were a baby, you would always try to persuade your mother or father that you wanted a certain food or that you would could see that either doing a tantrum or you would smile and be happy and you could make them understand that you wanted something. As you got older we were always putting our “best face forward” as they call it to people in your school. You wanted to have friends so you always either went with the crowd or you persuaded others you were someone to meet. You’re always persuading other people to do what you were interested in.
So, it comes to reason that “To Sell is Human.”

Of course, there’s a book called “To Sell is Human” by Daniel Pink that I’ll go into it further another time but I just want to say you don’t have to be intimidated by the idea of selling because you’re doing it every day;

  1. you’re giving a first impression to someone new that you meet;
  2. you’re showing people you’re interested in what they have to say or you’re ordering people around
  3. always whatever you’re always selling and always having a certain face that you put forward to other people.

So, what we’re going to be talking about is first how we’re always selling anyway so it shouldn’t be foreign to you and to not be intimidated by the idea of selling but I’m going to be talking sort of backwards in terms of we’ll be talking about because we are talking about the customer first because really “it’s not what you’re selling as much as what your customers want.”

Of course, first you have to define who you think your customers are and what they want before you can approach them.
Give them a solution to what they want to buy and what their pain is or what they desire to have.
So we’re really actually not going to be talking about selling so much as trying to understand who your customer is and what they want what they want to experience with you and what they enjoy and all those kind of things. So, first of all, we’ll probably be talking about the actual process of selling itself and we will be talking about how you can give a good impression to others in terms of selling and how you can be more human in your selling and use your human skills as you are.
Now you don’t have to become that enthusiastic loud salesmen of the old days because with (of course) podcasting as we have now and being on video, you can still be human and connect with others and be engaged by these type of media.

So, in Season 1, I talked about first defining who your customer is and how you can do that as well as researching what they want and where they hang out so that you can find out where they hang out and connect with them there and obviously figuring out what they actually want rather than what you think they want and then selling them the solution to what they want.
Then after that develop the relationship such that you can also then give them what they need in terms of what they want as well.
So as long as you can learn how to define what they want and give them that solution then you will be able to sell very easily to them in terms of having a transaction of money for what the solution is that they want to have from you.
Of course, we’ll be talking about my business and with my husband as well as other businesses and how they work and how they sell and how they market and also offline as well as online. A lot of offline businesses can go online and become more internationally known so that’s awesome. We’ll be talking a lot about how to market yourself and probably growing your business because we’ll be talking more about the internet. But today I just wanted to mention to you that first.

  •  It’s about your potential customers and do you know what they really want.
  •  You don’t have to sell or be salesy.
  • You can just be human and use the way you are.

We’ll be talking about that further in a later episode. Use the way that your personality is and you can then match it or change it to match your customers personalities such that they feel that you’re an old friend and that it’s not a matter of selling.
It’s just a matter of being human to human and realizing that you have the solution to what they want.

So I know that sounds all very confusing but I certainly thought I would start out with an introduction to selling and then we’ll be going on to understanding that selling is not about you, it’s about your customers of course.
First you have to figure out who your customers are.
So we’ll see you next week and will be starting on finding out who your customer is and what do they want.
So ask your questions or ask yourself that question over the next week and maybe you’ll find out that the people that you thought were your customers aren’t actually and other people and others who actually want your solution that you hadn’t thought about selling to ..so see you next week.  Subscribe on Itunes.
[7:12.2]

Good Customer Service could keep your Customers loving you!

In today’s world of smartphones and social media, companies have to be aware that good customer service is critical. 

When United Airlines created a social media storm about removing a passenger this week– 

A man was forcibly removed from a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Louisville, Ky., on Sunday, after the flight was overbooked and the passenger refused to adhere to the airline’s decision to randomly remove four passengers. by United Airlines forcibly removes passenger from overbooked flight

United Airlines stock plunged during the week and it has lawsuits pending due to the incident. 

Make me Feel Important

Mary Kay Ash of Mary Kay Cosmetics said about customer service once, “Imagine that every customer is holding up a sign that says, Make me feel important. When you get that this is all a customer wants, you can create a customer friendly environment. 

Love_your_Customer_Service_LM4RkX

According to The US Department of Commerce, the main reason customers leave a business, after poor product quality, is due to poor customer service.

That says it all.

The truth is, every customer is always at risk of leaving you. It’s like a middle school romance. Any little thing can cause you to break up.

What are a few steps to stop your customer from leaving you?

  • Apologize

    • Even if you don’t think it’s your company’s fault, it’s important to apologize to the client anyway.  “I’m so sorry you feel this way,” is a good way to apologize without taking the blame. However, if it was truly your fault, own up to it and apologize profusely.

 

  • Empathize

    • Put yourself in their shoes. Try stating, “I certainly understand; that would upset me too.” Then, move on toward getting answers that can help you solve the customer’s complaint to their satisfaction. You can empathize without being emotional. While it is personal to them, or they would not be irate, this is business and you should not take anything they say personally.

 

  • Listen

    • Even if you’re reading a complaint rather than listening on the telephone, take special care to really hear what the customer is saying between the negative words. If you have to, cut and paste what they are saying in a separate document, add in appropriate spaces, take out curse words, and find out what is really the issue by eliminating the extraneous information. If you need to, escalate the issue and call the customer. Phones can be very humanizing.

 

  • Start Small

    • Once you’ve determined the root problems, take small steps toward rectifying the problems one at a time. If you have to, ask the customer what you can do to make it better.  If it’s possible to solve the problem in the manner the customer desires, do it. If not, offer to meet in the middle.

 

  • Draw the Line 

    • Know when to give up. Yes, there are times with some customers that it’s better to simply give up. If you’ve done all the things that you can above, and they’re still irate and have not calmed down, it’s time to consider letting the customer go. Not every customer is going to fit with your vision and that is okay. Calmly return their money, and send them on their way.

Click here to get book

Providing Excellent Customer Service to Increase Sales by Jane Gardner on Scribd

How the Emotions of the Customer can affect the relationship with your business

The old way at looking at the customer business relationship was that the customer made the decision on whether they bought your product or service based on cold hard facts, features and benefits.

The emotions of the customer are playing in as a greater factor in purchase decision making than previously thought.

Behavioral economics has shown that rational decision-making accounts for approximately one-third of people’s decisions and behavior. Feelings influence engagement and engagement boosts sales, as engaged customers buy 90% more frequently and spend 60% more per transaction. by Unlock the Key to Customer Engagement with Virtual Reality

As new technology and our use of the internet is making how we connect more intimate with a business  (or more anonymous as “Fake News” and social media have no accountability for slander or negative reviews). A customer can instantly register a review on your business positive or negative depending on their experience in all of the social media platforms. They don’t have to pick up the phone to complain to an agent. A negative review can be spread 10x faster than a positive. 

According to Jay Baer in Forbes article, a business should respond to any complaint on social media whether true or untrue.

As (Jay) Baer puts it, “A lack of response is a response. It’s a response that says, ‘We don’t care about you very much.’ from the Forbes article Top 3 tips for acing customer service in the age of social media.

So what is a business to do to create the engagement and emotional connection that the customer wants? 

A few ways to engage and connect with your customer include:

1/ Connecting your business with an Influencer that your customer follows

customers

An oldie but a goodie is that  we, as customers, pay attention to the hero’s or heroines that we admire who tell us how wonderful is a new detergent soap or insurance company.

Today, we have new influencers we follow and some of them are celebrities but more often now, it can be influential people on social media that we follow and we pay attention to their recommendations. There are brands who pay celebrities to use and post an Instagram picture using the product now. There are brands who see the large engaged followers of a celebrity in the media and they offer a product line to them to create in that celebrity’s style.

The new pet lifestyle brand taps Ellen’s distinctive design sensibility and PetSmart’s pet know-how to create exciting new products for pet parents everywhere. by PetSmart Gets Big Customer Engagement Assist from Ellen DeGeneres

2/ Connect with their customers on social media

l a4Ips9
Public Domain from pixabay

All you have to do is have a look at the Instagram accounts for Levi’s, Mercedes Benz with 8.1 million followers or Levi’s with 9.1 million followers or Ben and Jerry’s (benandjerry’s) with 600,000 followers and you can see how simple photos can still be engaging for any business.

If you can humanize your brand and products, and provide something for your customers to identify with, you are likely to build loyal fans. by How Customer Engagement Can Benefit Your Business – Due

3/ Have great responsive customer service

l a4Ips9

Even a small business should have great customer service. A loyal customer will buy from you again and again if you provide a great experience.  Just something as simple as support@yourwebsite.com can be an easy way for a customer to connect to you on a personal level. I have discussed great customer service over on my youtube channel Solopreneur Success Strategies channel at http://jgtips.com/youtube if you want to get a few ideas.

4/Keep up to date on the new technology coming for customer business relationship

image2

For example, Virtual Reality technology is coming to the customer purchase experience according to this article (well worth looking at what is enterprise VR) as soon you’ll be able to view a product in a catalogue from all three sides, flip it over and measure it to see if it will fit etc. to answer all your questions on whether you need it. It is coming!

Enterprise VR empowers customers to interact with products and content in virtual reality and preview in 3D, touch, flip, and customize the products they are interested in. by Unlock the Key to Customer Engagement with Virtual Reality

image2

As well, how a business will communicate with a customer may change as text messaging becomes more acceptable as communication link to get questions answered or specials broadcast for the business.

An eWeek study revealed that 52% of consumers would be likely to exchange text with a live customer service agent and that the same number would actually prefer it to their existing channel of communication. by Increase Customer Engagement by Delivering Text-Generation Customer Service

To keep up to date on trends follow The Business of At Home Business

Customer Service Trends Predictions

Gartner Research predicts that customers will handle 85% of their relationships with a company without ever interacting with another human by the year 2020 from 8 Mega Customer Service Trends for 2016

This year it will be more important than ever for your customer service teams to provide quality support. At the end of the day, it’s all about understanding the customer and predicting what they will want next from  8 Mega Customer Service Trends for 2016

As a result savvy retailers will be switching to mobile formats, with  AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) tipped to be the system of choice for the future from Top eCommerce trends for customer experience – Fourth Source

In 2016 forward-thinking online retailers, particularly in the fashion space, will make more use of augmented reality to successfully redress the balance and eliminate the likelihood of missed sales and abandoned baskets from  Top eCommerce trends for customer experience – Fourth Source

A big focus for Google and one which will become even more prevalent amongst retailers this year is to champion a personalised approach that takes an individual user view to secure not just repeat custom, but incresed purchase volumes. Maintaining relevance means having a broad awareness of past purchases and personal preferences to win the hearts, mind and wallets of shoppers from  Top eCommerce trends for customer experience – Fourth Source

Categories: Customer Acquistion Tags: Tags:

There are 3 Billion People online-Your Tribe is out there!

multi ethnic hands reaching for globe ball

There are 3,279,088,431 people on the internet today!
Tweet: There are 3,279,088,431 people on the internet today!

Your message
Your product
Your service
Your passion will serve those who need or want you to help them solve a problem or fulfill a need.
Don’t be intimidated by the idea of reaching EVERYONE!
You aren’t in the Everyone Business , according to Darren Scott Monroe.

There are 3 Billion Online and your TRIBE, your AUDIENCE, your CUSTOMERS will find you if you message is clear and you go to where THEY are.

How do you find your Customers?

Define who your Customers are and this will tell you where they like to hangout on the Internet (or whether they don’t come onto the internet).


Categories: Ideal Customer Tags: Tags: ,

Powered by WishList Member - Membership Software