Customer experience” is a term we use when we’re trying to capture each individual customer’s perspective on what it’s like to deal with a business. When we say “customer experience” the implication is that we’re looking at the business from an outside-in point of view, because this is how the customer experiences the business. But the company’s own point of view is inside-out, it often crosses different, departments, products, and personalities within the company.
At many companies it’s easy to point fingers at the service people, or the sales people, or the account handlers. Customer experience is their job, it’s not my job. But I think delivering a better customer experience should be considered everyone’s job, and everyone needs to know something about what that means. A colleague of mine used to do consulting work for restaurant chains. He said in evaluating any sit-down restaurant he visited, there were two things he absolutely insisted that every single employee should know, from maitre d’ to the kitchen clean-up crew:
What was on the menu,
How to seat a guest.
This is a great analogy for the way most businesses should train their people. Everyone, no matter what their function – HR, accounting, sales, service, engineering – everyone should know what the business offers customers, and how to serve these customers, as well.
The thing is, customers don’t know who does what at a company they deal with, and for the most part they don’t really care. If a customer happens to be talking with an accountant at the company they’re buying from, they’re not really interested in that person’s department or job function. They’re focused on the problem they have. But if the accountant – or the administrative assistant, or the product engineer – doesn’t know anything about how the firm wants to serve customers, then it’s likely to generate a bad experience. And the customer won’t ascribe this bad experience to having dealt with the wrong person at the company, either. They’ll ascribe it to having dealt with the wrong company. A significant side benefit of this whole idea is that when everyone at a company knows not just what’s on offer but also the right way to treat customers, the culture at the firm will cohere around building the business. Workers who are united by a common vision of what the company’s mission is are more likely to make the right decision in difficult or problematic circumstances. And they’re more likely to enjoy working for you, as well. So ask yourself whether everyone at your business knows what’s on your company’s menu, and how to seat a guest.
7 reasons why your price increases fail (and your bottom line suffers)
“When it comes to the prices we pay, we study them, we map them, we work on them. But with the prices we charge, we are too sloppy!”
pricing is the most important driver of profit
But unfortunately managers and entrepreneurs seem to neglect the issue. In one of our global pricing studies we asked over 3,900 high-level decision makers from all major service and manufacturing industries around the world how they set their prices. The main findings in a nutshell: many of them don’t get the money for the value they deliver. And weak pricing cuts their profits by 25 percent.
untapped pricing power = lost profits
Every company has the ability to achieve high pricing power. If a company can offer its customers real value and communicate that through a top brand, this will translate into money.Asked what or who is responsible for their weak pricing, managers often blame “tough competition”. Another favorite is to blame customers, and stating that the customers are very consolidated and have tremendous negotiation power is very common. These are all excuses that avoid getting to the bottom of the problem. Poor pricing performance is not a question of fate; it is largely up to each company to either become a pricing champion or go the road of devastating price wars.There are no structural reasons for pricing weakness, but three fundamental causes that make the difference:
insufficient monitoring
a lack of pricing know-how
and poor strategies
A few simple steps can help tremendously when it comes to pricing.
1. By focusing on market share, you start price wars
“If you ask your people to strive for volume, you should not be too surprised when you end up in a price war.”The effect of price wars on profits is disastrous for all sides. There are no winners— except the customer. That’s why companies should avoid price wars if at all possible and it’s up to their managers and owners to encourage their employees to strive for profit, not for market share.
2. You underestimate inflation threat
Neglecting prices and being weak at pricing will also prove devastating with inflation around the corner. What will happen if you are weak at pricing, you will typically achieve only half of your targeted price increases. That means you only get 53 percent in the end, although you wanted 100 percent of your targeted price.
3. You give discounts and goodies in return for price increases
Although price increases are essential for survival in inflation periods, managers and entrepreneurs are mostly insecure about how to plan and implement price increases. There are a few steps though that can help them.
First and foremost, you need a consistent and systematic process for pricing. For every single activity companies have detailed processes with descriptions and explanations, but when it comes to price increases many don’t exactly know what to do. Such a process includes starting with the price increase targets, selecting the right instruments, preparing the price increase and, finally, executing it.
Price increases are often accompanied by “goodies”, discounts, give-aways, customer-friendly payment terms, etc. Many fail to factor in the effect of these customer-friendly measures.
4. You don’t fight hard enough for the necessary price increases
5. You don’t think creatively enough about prices
Also, it helps to think creatively about prices. Besides a classical list price increase, there are tens or perhaps even hundreds of price instruments available. The key is to go through the list of possible instruments, analyze which one fits your specific situation the best and then make a conscious decision as to which instruments to take – be it discounts, shorter payment terms, smaller package sizes and so on.Take this example: the price of a one-liter bottle is known by most consumers. Almost nobody overestimates the price of a one liter bottle of water. But customers have a much lower price awareness of the small pack. More importantly, 50 percentoverestimate the price.
If you want to increase the price of your water bottles, the solution seems clear: don’t touch the price of the one liter pack, but apply a disproportionally high increase for the small pack. This is a general message that applies to B2B as well as B2C companies:set different price increases by product/customer groups based on the level of price elasticity.
6. You weren’t the first to set an ‘anchor’ price
Companies often ask us whether they should be the first ones to make a price move. If a company is or wants to be the leader of an industry, then it must make the first move and set the anchor price.
Many but still too few companies are doing that. When you knock at your client’s door and ask for higher prices, the clients are already informed, they already know about the price change, and the bad news has already been communicated.
7. You don’t reward your sales team right
Implementing the new price is the job of the sales department, but very often sales is struggling with this task. Either they only manage to implement a small part of the planned price increase or they give away goodies and discounts in exchange for the price increase; the bottom line being that nothing is achieved.
Every once in a while I run across someone who doesn’t want to change. What do I do to convince them that the change is good for them?
Nothing!
Have you ever tried to change the behavior of an adult who had absolutely no interest in changing? How much luck did you have with your attempts at this? Have you ever tried to change the behavior of a spouse, partner or parent who had no interest in changing? How did that work out for you?
My guess is that if you have ever tried to change someone else’s behaviour, and that person did not want to change, you have been consistently unsuccessful in changing their behaviour. You may have even alienated the person you were trying to enlighten.
If they don’t care, don’t waste your time.
Research on coaching is clear and consistent. Coaching is most successful when applied to people who want to improve. This is true whether you are acting as a coach, a manager, a family member, or a friend.
Your time is very limited. The time you waste trying to change people who do not care is time stolen from people who do want to change.
As an example, back in Valley Station, Kentucky, my mother was an outstanding first grade school teacher. In Mom’s mind, I was always in the first grade, my Dad was in the first grade, and all of our relatives were in the first grade.
She was always correcting everybody.
Dad’s name was Bill. Mom was always scolding “Bill! Bill!” when he did something wrong. We bought a talking bird. In a remarkably short period of time the bird started screeching “Bill! Bill!” Now Dad was being corrected by a bird.
Years passed. When Mom corrected his faulty grammar for the thousandth time, Dad sighed, “Honey, I am 70 years old. Let it go.”
If you are still trying to change people who have no interest in changing, take Dad’s advice. Let it go.
There’s a bit of ego that comes with running a business. After all, if you were smart enough to figure out how to launch this company in the first place, surely you’re smart enough to figure out how to design a logo. Or manage your finances. Or tell everyone else what to do. Unfortunately, the more micromanaging you’re doing, the more harm you’re probably doing. Entrepreneurs know the things they excel at, and outsource the things they don’t. The most successful entrepreneurs do only the things that only they can do. Anything else can almost always be outsourced more efficiently.
What to Do About It: Get out of your own way. Think about those tasks that take you far too long to do, or result in shoddy work (that logo that took you 18 hours to design still doesn’t look as good as what a professional could have done in an hour), and outsource it. If you’ve got staff, trust them to do what you hired them to do. If they aren’t doing it correctly, fire and re-hire. Focus on what you do best: running your company.
6. you can’t handle growth
You started small and didn’t expect to burgeon overnight. Just ask any business that’s ever been the recipient of the “Oprah Effect” or even the “Groupon Effect” and then had a flood of sales the next day: rapid growth isn’t always a blessing. If you’re not prepared for the strain your servers will experience, the number of sales to process, or the flood of customer service calls, you risk seriously harming your brand’s reputation.
What to Do About It: Overall, rapid scaling should be a good thing, but you need a plan to quickly hire more staff and train them, as well as how you’ll manage more website traffic, phone calls, and customer service requests. For a great read on scaling up properly, see “Eleven Lessons For Scaling Up.”
7. you don’t have business savvy
While it’s not imperative that you have an MBA to start a business (or even a college degree), a solid understanding of finances, management, marketing, leadership, and sales will take you far. If you’ve mixed your personal and business finances, have trouble managing staff, or are just throwing your hands up at running your business in general, your risk of failure is multiplying by the minute.
What to Do About It: Consider whether you truly want to be an entrepreneur. Many business owners start a business because they want to “do what they love.” That’s respectable, but without a CEO that knows how to run a successful business, any business is doomed. And to be honest, many business owners get far away from the actual thing they love doing once the business takes flight; focus shifts from fulfillment work, and toward running the business. If you’re committed to sticking it out, invest time in classes, workshops, and resources to beef up the skills you’re weak in.
Take these as warning signs that things need to change for your business. Then start making changes that will positively change the direction your ship is sailing. Have you successfully recovered a failing business? What were the warning signs? Leave a comment and let us know!
If sales are declining, you’ve got fewer customers coming in your door, or you’re having trouble paying your vendors, it’s time to figure out what’s broken in your business and make a serious commitment toward fixing it.
While every business is different, there are some typical reasons for small business failure. See if any of these resonate with you, then check out the “What to Do About It” section to turn things around.
1. you don’t know how to market your business
Not every business owner is born knowing how to get the word out about their business, and that’s fine. But when a business owner’s shortcomings put their business in jeopardy, that’s when somebody must take responsibility and take action.If you think marketing is too hard to figure out yourself, or you assume it costs more than you’ve got to hire someone, you’re essentially shutting down the possibility of finding new customers. Yes, marketing is an investment in time, money, or both, but an essential one.
What to Do About It: Start marketing. If you lack money, then invest an hour or two a week to read a few marketing books, blogs, or articles and teach yourself how to usesocial media, blogging, and PR to draw more people to your website and/or your store. If you’ve got more money than time, get a quote from a few marketing consultants or freelancers, or see my article, “7 Killer Online Marketing Tactics That Take a Minute or Less.”
2. your prices are too low
If you’ve got more work than you can handle but are still having trouble making ends meet, it’s time to assess your pricing. Pricing products tends to be a bit easier than pricing services, because you know what it cost you to buy or make those products, so price can be determined easily based on desired profit margin. But even with business services, you’ve got to factor in things like overhead (Internet service, heating/cooling), salary, and office expenses. Your profit shouldn’t be so scant you have difficulty paying your own bills.
What to Do About It: Don’t double your prices overnight. Instead, raise prices for new clients only and see what the market will bear. If you’re getting pushback, you might have raised them too much. If you’re closing sales too easily, you might have room to raise those rates even more.
3. you don’t really know your customers
You know who you think they are, but unless you’re really clued in to your demographic, know what makes them tick, and understand their problems, you’ll do a terrible job of trying to present an appropriate solution.
What to Do About It: A little market research can go a long way. Talk to actual customers. Use surveys. Ask questions on social media. Build out buyer personasthat will turn numbers into humans, and solve the riddle of how to connect with each type of customer you’ve got.
4. you think SEO and social media don’t apply to you
Regardless of whether you’re a global accounting firm or the bakery down the street, you should engage in an SEO campaign to help you get more customers. After all, it’s the keywords you use on your website that help the right people find you, and the links you’ve got online that help solidify your brand reputation. For entrepreneurs, SEO is uniquely important, as I outlined in my article, “7 Ways That SEO Is Uniquely Important For Entrepreneurs.”
Social media is becoming more intertwined with SEO, but has also established an extremely strong niche of its own in the online marketing sphere. If you don’t think social media can yield positive ROI for your business, see my article, “Myth Busted: My Industry Isn’t A Good Fit For Social Media.”
what to do about it:
Again, it comes down to time or money. Teach yourself SEO tactics that work and stay on top of Google’s latest algorithm updates to make sure you don’t get shot down those results. Or, hire a professional SEO company that’s well-versed on the subject and can help you focus on other areas of your business while remaining competitive online.
Over the years our clients have found the following when researching their Customer Service:
Poor follow up and lack of professionalism are the main two reasons for picking one business over another. While price may be used as an excuse, the real reason is that they did not receive the service they expected when looking for information, so had no confidence that the delivery would be any better!!
Ask yourself the following:
How quickly do you to respond to an enquiry?
How professional and friendly is the response?
How much effort do you put into giving the client information on their enquiry?
How many enquiries actually turn into business?
Why is this number not higher?
Its that short and that simple – start putting markers on your customer service.
Tiny Wisdom: Not Taking No for an Answer“Never allow a person to tell you no who doesn’t have the power to say yes.” -Eleanor Roosevelt
Many times in life we ask questions of people and then put way too much weight on their answers.
We ask people we admire if they think we have what it takes, and then consider their opinions fact. We ask people we respect if they think we should take a chance, and then follow their advice as law. We ask people if they’ll take a chance on us, and then interpret their response to be a reflection of our potential.
Other people can’t tell us how far we can go. They can’t tell us how our talents could evolve. They can’t tell us if our risks will pay off. Other people’s “nos” aren’t what limit our future–it’s our own “nos” that do that.
I read an interview with television producer and former American Idol judge Simon Cowell. He admitted that if Lady Gaga had auditioned for the show, he would have instantly rejected her because of her over-the-top persona. Like her or not, Lady Gaga has emerged as a force to be reckoned with n the music industry–a bona fide record-breaking pop icon, who likely isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
Odds are she heard her fair share of “nos,” as does anyone with a dream.
Sometimes we hear “no” before we even get a chance to contact the person we really want to reach. We hear “no” from assistants, and publicists, and agents, and associates, and a number of other gatekeepers. Those “nos” are rarely final since a gate is made to be opened.
We can take all these “nos” and use them as proof that we shouldn’t move forward with our goals. Or we can learn from them, release them, and then keep moving ahead, driven by a deep internal yes that refuses to be ignored.
Today if you come up against rejection, remember:This does not mean “no.” It just means “not this way.”
1) “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan2) “Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark; professionals built the Titanic.” – Anonymous 3) “Don’t be afraid to fail. Don’t waste energy trying to cover up failure. Learn from your failures and go on to the next challenge. It’s OK to fail. If you’re not failing, you’re not growing.” – H. Stanley Judd 4) “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible: the fear of failure.” – Paulo Coelho5) “I’m intimidated by the fear of being average.” – Taylor Swift 6) “You’ll always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky7) “Forget about the consequences of failure. Failure is only a temporary change in direction to set you straight for your next success.” – Denis Waitley8) “I really don’t think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don’t mind the failure but I can’t imagine that I’d forgive myself if I didn’t try.” – Nikki Giovanni9) “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up” – Thomas Edision10) “Remember that failure is an event, not a person” – Zig Ziglar 11) “I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.” – George Burns12) “It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” – Theodore Roosevelt13) “There is no failure except in no longer trying.” – Elbert Hubbard14) “If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative” – Woody Allen 15) “Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.” – Denis Waitley 16) “There is no such thing as failure. There are only results” – Tony Robbins 17) “Success is not built on success. It’s built on failure It’s built on frustration. Sometimes it’s built on catastrophe.” – Sumner Redstone 18) “One who fears failure limits his activities. Failure is only the opportunity to more intelligently begin again.” – Henry Ford 19) “Most people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.” – Napoleon Hill 20) “The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually be afraid you will make one.” – Elbert Hubbard 21) “Failure is success if we learn from it.” – Malcolm Forbes
I hope you are all in great form for a great week.
Coach Chris
Remarkable employees spend significant time helping other people succeed: their company, their employees, their customers and suppliers…But remarkable employees also spend a little time helping themselves succeed, both for “selfish” reasons and because their success creates success for others.
1. be first, but with a purpose
Many people try to be the first to arrive each day. That’s great, but what do you actually do with that time?Take care of unresolved problems from the day before. Set things up so it’s easier for other employees to hit the ground running when they come in. Chip away at an ongoing project others ignore.Don’t just be the one who turns on or off the lights – be the one who gets in early in order to get things done. Not only will your performance stand out, you’ll also start to…
2. master a specific — and valuable — skill
Meeting standards won’t help you stand out.So go above the norm. Be the leader known for turning things around Be the shipping manager who makes a few deliveries a week to personally check in with customers. Be the MD who promotes from within. Be known as the employee who responds quicker, acts faster, or always follows up.Pick a worthwhile mission and excel at it. I promise people will notice.
3. create your own side projects
Excelling at an assigned project is expected. Excelling at a side project — especially one you created — helps you stand out.Try it. For example, experiment on a new process or service with a particular customer in mind. The customer will appreciate how you tried, without being asked, to better meet their needs… and you’ll never be forgotten.
4. put your effort where your mouth is
Lots of people talk a lot. Few take a stand and put actual effort behind their opinions.Say you think a project has gone off the rails; instead of just pointing out its flaws so you can show everyone how smart you are, jump in and help fix it.Everyone talks about problems. The people who fix problems are the few who stand out.
5. show a little of your personal side
Personal interests – help people to remember you. That’s a huge advantage for a new employee or a company competing in a crowded market.Just make sure your personal interests don’t overshadow professional accomplishments. Being “the guy who does triathlons” is fine, but being “the guy who is always training and traveling to triathlons so we can never reach him when we need him” is not.Let people know a little about you; a few personal details add color and depth to your professional image and it makes you likable.
6. work harder than everyone else
Nothing – nothing – is a substitute for hard work.Look around: How many people are working as hard as they can? Very few.One way you can always stand out — regardless of talent, experience, or skill — is by outworking everyone else.It’s also the easiest way to stand out, because I guarantee you’ll be the only one trying that hard.
The idea that Apple & Starbucks marketing methods are “best” is the biggest lie in business. Just because it works for them doesn’t mean it will work for the rest of us who work at small or medium sized businesses.
What you should be learning is that you should not be focused on brand marketing but rather on direct marketing.Every cent you spend on marketing should be tracked and expected to produce a return.
So if you’re serious about upping your game, you need to refocus on learning what the best direct marketers do to build successful businesses. And one of the best resources on this subject is Dan Kennedy’s No B.S. Direct Marketing. Below are 10 rules from the book:
1. always include an offer
“The purpose of marketing is to create a customer.” If you don’t include an offer, you’re creating more awareness instead of more customers.
2. give a reason to respond right now
With everything going on in our busy lives, we’re either going to take advantage of an offer now – or not at all. Put a time limit. Make it a limited quantity offer. Put a sense of urgency. Grab the attention of the people who see your ads and give them a reason to act right now.
3. give clear instructions
Don’t assume people will know what to do when they see your marketing material. Tell them exactly what step you want them to take next.
4. focus on tracking, measurement, and accountability
If you’re not testing and tweaking your marketing continuously, you are guaranteed it won’t be as effective as it could be. And the only way to test is to track and measure everything. In fact, if it can’t be tracked and measured – don’t do it.
5. only do no-cost brand building
There’s nothing wrong with brand building. It’s only wrong when you pay for it. Instead, focus on direct marketing. Enjoy any brand building you get as a bonus of your marketing – not as the goal.
6. always follow-up
Dan Kennedy once asked a room of business owners which battery company ran ads with the bunny that kept “going and going”. Half the room thought it was Duracell. So if Energizer spent billions of dollars on advertising and still couldn’t get people to remember their brand – do you really think just one ad or marketing effort is enough to sway people to your cause? You need to follow up – follow up with your prospects, follow up with your customers.
7. make it look like mail-order advertising
Most people think mail-order advertising is ineffective. But the truth is, it works big time. The point is that mail-order advertisements are some of the most tested marketing pieces that exist. So study them. Use them as role models for all your campaigns.
8. strengthen your copy
Most marketing we see in the digital age is made of nice pictures and cute catch phrases – seems that the people behind those ads forgot that those things don’t make people buy. And remember our goal: to make people buy your product. So focus on writing in a way that sells – focus on strong copy. (I highly recommend the book How To Write An Advertisement as a great guide for that).
9. focus on results. period.
It doesn’t matter what image or copy you like, or which ad you think you should use. As a marketer, you need to listen and act only on results.
10. put your business on a strict direct marketing diet
Next time your local newspaper calls about putting your logo on the fourth page – say “no” – unless you’re ready to use the above 9 points in there as well. Forget about awareness marketing and go on the diet of business champions: direct marketing.
what did you think?
How many of those rules did you “get”? Which one was spot on? Which ones did you already know? And more interestingly—which do you disagree with?