The Customer Revolution
Who’s Talking About Your Business? Everybody!
With the ever evolving, in-you-face, social media frenzy, your business has reached a pivotal point as now the customers are more revolutionary – now more than ever. We don’t own them… they own us!
YOU CAN’T OWN YOUR CUSTOMERS. THEY CAN WALK AWAY MORE EASILY, AND MORE LOUDLY, THAN EVER. | Forbes.
What does this mean? Well, the experiences that customers receive whether from your business or elsewhere may be recorded in real time with the entire world. This is both good and bad. Why? Well think about it.
You may be a business owner, but you’re also a consumer of other products separate from your own making you a customer. So realistically, you as a customer have too experienced both good and bad services… have you not?
This generation of human beings… us… y’all… we love sharing our experiences with strangers so we have no problem stating the beginning and ends to those experiences on social media – good or bad.
Of course the good is… well, good and the bad… well, you get the point. Historically, word-of-mouth has been the most reputable source of promotion. People just believe people. So if you hear from your friend that one company is better than another, then you are most likely to take heed and support the company your friend refers rather than try them both out and decide for yourself.
No need to feel ashamed. We all do it. But listen here… all you business owners out there… social media or technology as a whole has made the voices of your customers extremely loud and easily accessible. Nowadays it really doesn’t matter who the referral is coming from, if enough people are weighted one side or the other, chances are you will make your decision based off what the masses appeal to. If you’re doing this whether consciously or unconsciously, what do you think your customers are doing? Right.
So here’s what I’m suggesting to you.
Take customer experiences seriously! Even if you have to hire me to come in and train your staff… do it. (shameless plug) No, really, no matter what stage you are in business, you and your team must be on the same page when it comes to providing excellence in customer experiences. This is very important. I mean, your livelihood and future business success may very well depend on it.
Measure and evaluate. My CEO has this thing he always says, “you can’t manage what you don’t measure.” At first I thought, this is just a clever way to make us feel good about more work, but it really does make perfect sense. There’s no way you can be an effective business owner without measuring every essential part of your business… especially customer relations. Do a running tally of what works and what doesn’t. Although very boring and annoying, surveys matter! You need some form of feedback in order to track what’s right and what’s wrong directly from your customers. Evaluate, make necessary improvements, and repeat.
Ditch your bad apples. Ain’t nobody got time for team members with bad attitudes or those who just refuse to get on board. You need dedicated team members who will uphold the integrity of your business while providing great customer experiences. They need to be able to relate to the customers in making sure that their needs are met within the realm of your services and of course the boundaries of the law. Your business is a reflection of you and your product, so if there are a few bad apples in the bunch, throw them suckers out before you’re out of business. I’m serious! Don’t let your cousin destroy something you’ve put blood, sweat, and tears into just because you don’t want to let your family down.
Be Proactive! No business should just sit around and wait for bad news to spread about their company. If you or your team members are noticing things that should be changed or improved, act like NIKE and just do it!
Trust me, when you take the concerns and appreciation from your customers seriously, continually measure and evaluate customer relations, remove deadweight and be proactive, your customers will not only LOVE you, but they will literally scream your praises using every social medium possible. Then prepare yourself… more clients will be tearing down your door.
Blessings,
LSherie
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