Top 5 Reasons to Call or Visit Your #Customers #smallbiz #lists #clients

It is easy to maintain a good open communication with your clients via email. But with limited "voice" contact in our daily lives when should you actually call your client or even setup an in-person meeting.

Here are your top five reasons to call or have an in-person meeting with your customers:

5. Your customer or client has been concerned about what you are actually doing for them.
4. Your contract is about to expire in 60 days and you need to find out if they intend on renewing.
3. Your client recently had a bad experience interfacing with one of your employees
2.  Your replied to your client's email, but they sent you an email wondering why you haven't replied back to their first email

and the #1 reason to call or have an in-person meeting with your customers is...

1 # The person who signed your contract is no longer with your client's company 


Do these sound obvious? Well you would be surprised. Here is an example of #2: I recently sent a complaint email to a company that I hired to do work for me that I needed feedback on an email that I had sent and I was wondering why I had not gotten a response from them. Another 24 hours went by with no response to my second email and so I called my vendor. Turns out they had responded to my first and second email and didn't consider the fact that I probably was not receiving their emails (duh?). So if I didn't call them they probably wouldn't have continued to respond to my emails vs. trying to find out why I wasn't receiving their responses. The issue? A word in the subject line was blocking my servers from delivering their emails.

Bottom-line: My vendor should have picked up the phone to call me after learning I had not received their first email, even if it was only to see if I had checked my spam folder (the emails were not in spam).


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Small Businesses: If You Have a Website – Make Sure it is Free of Errors

Recently, I put out a bid for a new printer. Within hours of posting my bid, I received dozens of estimates for my print job. One of the printers sent me a very reasonable price for my print job and because I am a savvy consumer , I was intrigued.

When I learn about a new company, the first thing I do is go the company website. So I clicked a link to the website from the email I received from the print shop. The company’s website looked modern, it was clean and looked good. Because I know a thing or two about websites, I determined that it was created from a template. But it was a decent template so that didn’t bother me so much.

Just as I was starting to feel good about the print company and its fabulous pricing, my eyes wandered to the upper right corner of the print company’s home page. There was a decently designed logo. But because I have an eye for detail, I looked closer. To my horror, I saw a typo in the tagline of the logo. The tagline said “Pint with Confidence. Print with Us” Pint? Is this also an ice cream shop? No – the word in the tagline should have been PRINT! Hello Printing – is the business. Obviously, I do not have any confidence in the printer that cannot produce a logo with confidence. Oh and this mistake is in the live text on the home page and appears as the first line of text that generates in search engine results.

How could this be? How could a business owner have a company website longer than a week and not notice that his very own logo and first line of text has typos?

My first reaction was that the owner of this small business entrusted the design of the website and logo to someone that he or she felt was capable. But why wouldn’t this owner not thoroughly examine the final website before launch or take a look at it once and a while? Or worse, that the owner employs people that are not detailed oriented haven’t noticed the typos either. The fact is many small business owners do not understand the value of a website. A website represents what your company is and what your company stands for.

As a buyer of print services, I look for a printer that produces an excellent final product. That means printed materials free of errors caused by the printer. I have had my share of horror stories with printers. My previous printer once sent me a proof to approve with half of my client’s company logo cutoff. When it comes to printed materials I am a stickler. (Well – anyone would be angry about a logo being cutoff!) But there is never an excuse for giving poor quality work to a customer to approve - never.

Obviously, I will not entrust my print job to a printer that has a serious typo in its own logo. If the owner or even the employees of the print shop haven’t noticed an error in its logo or tagline on the site how will they see errors in my print job? This is the rationale that any smart, detailed-oriented business leader would have in this situation.

Companies that have a website should follow these three simple rules:

1. Keep your site up-to-date: Don’t walk away from your website once it is built. Small businesses need not have fresh posts to the company website every day. However, a fresh customer testimonial, updates about services or new clients is nice to add to the home page.

2. Check for typos and misspellings: Have your websites reviewed for errors by fresh eyes. Your webmaster and designer will more than likely miss a few typos.

3. Treat your website as part of your brand: Your website is an extension of your business and brand. If you change the branding of your business make sure it is translated on your website. Most importantly, if you offer an email address on your site for customer comments and questions, make sure you respond promptly as you would if the customer walked into your establishment.

Nobody will ever say that running your own small business is easy. If you pay attention to the details in all aspects of your business and you will never lose a customer like myself. Don’t let website typographical errors or other nonsense not directly related to the quality of your product or service ruin a potential business relationship.

Small Businesses Shouldn't Try to Be Something They are Not

Recently, I entered a small street level eatery which appeared to be your standard pizza shop. It had neon signs in the window with the name of the establishment "Joe's Italian Kitchen" and the word "pizza". Seeing a neon sign means to me this is a casual eatery where I can get fast food. (How many upscale restaurant's have you seen with neon signage? Not many I would guess.)

I entered the shop and went to a counter where two people stood. One was an older woman on the phone taking an order. I asked for two slices. The young lady said to me that they didn't have slices. I thought perhaps she meant there were no pizzas at the time for slices. The older woman (who I believe was an owner) got off the phone and explained that they do not sell slices, but rather individual thin crust pizzas for $5.95 each. Let me just say that this place looked like a regular fast food pizza joint. Two inexpensive tables, soda and juice fridges, and nondescript decor. No pizza slices? Remember the neon sign did say "pizza", usually an indication of very casual dining.

The thought in offering the individual pizzas I believe is that every customer will get their own fresh pie. But this was a shop on a busy street. What about those who want to just get a QUICK slice to go?

My issue is that is not easy to convert a $2 slice purchase that takes two mintutes into a $6 pie purchase that would probably take 10 - 15 minutes. So why bother? I have a feeling that this "Italian Kitchen" is trying to be something it is not - a nice italian restaurant. But it has all the looks and feel of a pizza shop. The best part of this is that there is a REAL PIZZA SHOP about 30 yards away on the same side of the street that sells slices. So that is where I ended up.

The average person walks into a pizza shop looking for a slice. So sell it to them. Most pizzeria's mark up the slices about 40% per slice. For instance you can buy a large cheese pie for $9.50 but purchase a slice for $2. This is a great revenue stream.

If you want to brand your restaurant as a fine italian restaurant don't use standard pizza shop branding like a neon sign and nondescript decor. Quite frankly, if they didnt have the neon sign that said pizza, I would not have wasted my time going in there. Make sure your storefront branding matches what you really are. This will prevent disappointed customers leaving your establishment to spend money elsewhere.

I do understand that it is up to indiviual proprietors to sell the merchandise they wish, but you have to be smart about it. When I walked into the restaurant I mentioned above, they were taking a phone order, but they were NOT bursting at the seam with customers. They lost my sale, I just wonder how many customers they lose each day to their competitor just 30 yards away because they have made the decision not to sell slices. I wish that the restaurant looked at selling pizza slices as a way to market their food and not a way to diminish it. Perhaps they could have converted me into a new customer. I sometimes drive 20 minutes away to buy A whole pizza pies from a place that I fell in love with when I purchased just a slice at lunch one day. Joe's Italian Kitchen won't get that from me.

Are Your Employees Brand Ambassadors?

When was the last time you "tested" your employees about their knowledge of your product or service? You might be surprised to learn that your employees do not know as much as you think they do or would want them to.

I have a client who tests her employees regularly by asking them questions about the services she provides. She owns a medical spa and she knows it is important that they know details about the services she provides. On one occassion, she found that that two of her six employees couldn't provide basic information about the medical procedures performed at her spa. Those employees were staff for more than three months. She immediatlely started to look for new employees.

You might find my client's actions drastic, but she knows how important it is for her employees to be brand ambassadors. Let's face it, employees are the main point of contact with your customers and clients. They must be able to offer the same level of knowledge of an owner or manager.

Small business owners should regularly "quiz" employees on their knowledge of the products or services offered by your business. You can informally ask them questions during departmental meetings, perhaps give "prizes" to those who know the most. Make knowing the most about your company a competition.

Employees as brand ambassadors can increase the level of customer service and increase sales. Make sure your employees are well-versed in whatever services or products you offer.

Part 2: Small Businesses: Good Customer Service is Part of Your Branding

Good customer service also means good communications. Are you responding to your customers quickly? If you are not, your customers or ex-customers probably view your company in a poor light which to them is part of your brand reputation.

Over the last few weeks, I have made five or six cold calls to companies asking about their services. I called four printing companies, leaving messages clearly stating I was interested in their services. Only one called me back. (Here is another thing -absolutely no one was available when I called these places. I asked for a person - all I got was voicemail. This is not good.)

I was actually recommended to call one printer. I asked a small business owner and they vehemently told me that their printer was the best. Well that printer never called me back. I do not call back companies who fail to return calls.

Could they all being doing so well that they don't need my business? I doubt it. Maybe the situation is that the employees are not treated well and do not care about new business. This is also bad and an internal branding issue.

Bottom-line is that you must be responsive to new business inquiries. You must call or email back existing customers quickly to handle their requests. I believe that the printers I called didn't want my business. I won't do business with them - ever. There are other printers that will be glad to take my business.

Note: The one printer that called me back took five days to get back to me with price quotes. The owner actually mailed me a box with samples and the price quotes. I emailed her with my needs - she sent me snail mail. I was starting to believe she blew me off. If you decide to respond to email with snail mail - let your potential customer know. We are all very acclimated to receiving information quickly and we if don't - we assume our request has been forgotten.

Remember your customers are not mind readers.


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Small Businesses: Good Customer Service is Part of Your Branding - Part 1

I can't tell you how many times I have stopped patronizing a store or service because of horrendous customer service. Whether your small business is part of a large franchise or you run your own business - your customer service is a major part of your small businesses brand.

I drive to a dry cleaner in the next town because my dry cleaner goes the extra mile with my order (no pun intended). He carries dry cleaning to my car and puts it in there for me. He runs my blouses through several times to remove stains - without me asking. His elite customer service is part of his brand. I could probably save money using coupons for a dry cleaner in my town, but I received bad customer service just ONE day and I moved on.

Remember the Saturn commercials from 10-15 years ago? They were an unknown brand. They built their brand on their customer service. Commercials showed customers enjoying themselves while shopping for a Saturn. They were treated with respect, given food to eat and were taken care of even after their purchase. Saturn focused on its "no haggle" pricing to appeal to consumers who just wanted to go into one of their dealerships to buy a car.

Start building your customer service branding by making sure the people who answer your phones are informed about your company and most importantly know how to work your phone system. It is easy to deter new customers if their calls are dropped because the receptionist doesn't know how to put calls through voicemail. Make sure temporary employees have access to phone directories and instructions on how to use your telephone system. Make sure they are told how to greet callers and guests.

Part II of Good Customer Service is Part of Your Branding will be about - New Business Calls.

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