MalcolmSays

Malcolm says,

To me the three most important things, irrespective of business environment, are: Listen, Think and Act.  

LISTEN to what your customers are telling you about their relationship with you. … see more Sometimes its in words other times by actions. It’s vital to look beyond the raw scores in customer relationship surveys. You need to find out what they care about and why they think like they do.

THINK about exactly what customers are telling you and what your business needs to do about it. Customers will focus on your products/services but the less obvious messages are often more important if you want to retain customers. Focus on the overall relationship. For example it could be that they love your product but hate your rude accounts department. Customers often leave for these type non obvious reasons and never tell you why.

ACT on the messages that you get from your customers and never tell them that they are wrong. When you have fixed whatever it is that you need to fix go back to your customers and thank them for pointing out the area that needed improving. Then tell them the actions that you took as a result of their concerns and ask if there has been an improvement. Your competitors will not do this so your customer has an exceptionally strong reason to stay with you. There are a number of articles at www.simpleplans.co.uk/7.HTML which may help.

Malcolm says,

I would suggest first asking why there are two such diverse market segments and what is the revenue and profitability of each segment. The answers… see more could help you make the decision if one or two marketing plans would be better. Its also likely that a more strategic question of the value and strategy of being in two significantly different segments needs to be worked on.

Malcolm says

I was very cynical about speed networking but I realized that this was because, like many people, I had unrealistic expectations about what it could… see more achieve. So let me give you a few suggestions on how I’ve learnt to get the most out of speed networking events.

1) Use going to a speed networking event to force yourself to write simple explanations of what you do and how you can help people.

2) At the meeting try different versions to see which has the most impact on the people that you speak to. Check that people have the same understanding of the messages that you intended.

3) If you have a good one to one discussion ask the person if you can contact them in a few days to talk some more.  

4) Always write notes on the back of business cards that you collect.

5) Always follow up by phone or email with interesting people and talk about how you might be able to help them.

6) Pass on sensible leads and contacts to people that you have met - you might just get some back.)  

7) Don’t expect to meet your perfect prospect at a speed networking event but do expect the attendees to know a few people who you would like meet.

Use the event to get a feel of the marketplace which may help you modify your marketing and sales approach.

Finally, don’t use it as your only form of networking. You need several types of networking to be part of the mix of things that you use to build your business.

Malcolm says

A lot of your competitors use the same types of actions to take care of top clients so you have to… see more something else as well. My research says that the most effective technique is to pass your customers leads and contacts that convert into revenue and profit for them. This trumps any other action in a difficult trading environment and often costs you nothing.

Malcolm says

It’s easy to spend too much time trying to second guess competitors plans when quite often even they are not clear about them. However, it is important to know enough about competitors to clearly position your company and products. To me the best way to do this is to ask existing customers and people who you would like to be your customers. Questions to understand could include:  Are there things that you like about our competitors that we don’t do? What is it that you like about us and why do you stay with us? It’s also important to understand what alternative ways they could spend their budget and what their business strategies are. “Competitors” are not just companies with similar products or services.Often questions like these are akward for companies to ask for themselves. Get outside help to find the best ways of getting to the answers.

When you start asking these types of questions you gain valuable information from a customers perspective that you can use to modify your sales and marketing plans or even your overall business strategy. You will most probably learn that customers care about a range of things that you will have never considered. To you they may not necessarily be logical or sensible but they are factors that influence buying decisions. One real example that I discovered was the customer who liked the way that their supplier broke down the details on the invoices because it made it easier for them to internally recharge. That was the only reason why they stayed with that supplier. This led to the no brainer decision of don’t change the invoicing system and see if it is, or could, be an important differentiating factor for other customers.

Malcolm says

1. Not listening to customers
2. Not listening to and involving staff
3. Not being clear at the beginning about the outcomes that are expected
4. Not having a planning and a communications process
5. Allowing a consultant to rigidly enforce their methodology and not adjusting it to the needs of their business.

Malcolm says

Customer care in its broadest sense is a key factor for us to stay with a particular supplier both in our private and our business life. One of the biggest problems for a supplier of products or services is that they are over optimistic in thinking that their customers love them. Have a look at the first article on my web site www.simpleplans.co.uk/7.HTML to get the whole story.

Malcolm says

I think that we all “worship” customers at one time or another. For example when they have just given us a big order or perhaps even helped our business survive by staying with us. The secret is to do the “worshiping” when customers are not looking.

Malcolm says

One of the largest challenges for Customer Services is to convince their senior management of the importance and impact on customers of what they do. Many companies talk about customer being their top priority and delighting customers but often its just marketing blah blah and has no substance.

Customer Services often need help to get the right level of investment, support and recognition of what they add to the business. I’ve found that one of the most effective ways to do this is to get senior managers to spend half a day in Customer Services listening to calls and speaking to customers. I’ve also used other methods such as analyzing why customers leave. This type of research and factual customer feedback often has a major impact in identifying issues in other parts of the company that can be improved or have to be fixed to stop customers leaving. The 2009 goal for a Customer Services team is to be recognized by top management as the function who knows most about why customers really leave and why others stay as customers.

Malcolm says

Innovation is anything that makes life better for customers, easier for staff and cheaper for the business. Real success is doing all three at once.