Delivering outstanding customer service is simple: just give your customers everything they expect and then some.
If you think your customers’ expectations are too high or if you’re just not willing to make the commitment to do whatever it takes to make them happy, please don’t whine when they choose to do business with someone who will.
OK, I really need someone to tell me where all the days are going. Have you ever seen that 80′s movie, Looker? I saw it something like two dozen times on HBO when I was a kid. The bad guys had this really cool weapon that you could point at someone and basically freeze them for a few minutes, so that when they woke up they’d feel like they had moved forward in time; you could also smack them around while they were “frozen”.
Yeah…that’s kind of what these past few weeks have been like. I keep waking up thinking “Now what the devil happened to Tuesday? I could have sworn I left it here somewhere…”
I blame The Blog Whisperer. Since that guy showed up, I’ve been introduced to the meaning of busy…and a lot of new clients. Don’t get me wrong; it’s definitely a good thing; in fact, it’s exactly what I wanted. I’m just in that adjustment period, I guess, trying to figure out how to keep everything moving forward and not lose track of anything important along the way.
I’ve written here before about the fact that I don’t really believe in work-life balance. I’ve made a conscious decision that, for the foreseeable future at least, I’m going to throw myself whole-hog into my work. It helps that I love my work; I can’t imagine I’d be as motivated to do something that I didn’t love, let alone something that I hated with every fiber of my being.
Last post, I discussed the problem with the “fake it ’til you make it” approach to business, namely the difficulty it creates for building open, honest, transparent relationships with your clients. I promised to follow with a post discussing the benefits of transparency in your business, so here goes.
When I read a post by Johnny B. Truant that detailed a financial difficulty he had in the past and how he dealt with it, I felt an instant affinity for him. I could tell as I was reading the post that this was a guy who really got it, a guy who could relate to the struggles I was going through and, as a result, I trusted him immediately.
Funny how that works, isn’t it. I mean, I’ve never met Johnny; for all I know, he could be a guy who beats up Boy Scouts and steals money from nuns to support his toad-licking habit. Whatever he is, though, I trust him because he had the guts to tell the world that his life isn’t always sunshine and roses, and that occasionally he gets kicked in the crotch, too.
pos·tur·ing
1 : to assume a posture; especially : to strike a pose for effect
2 : to assume an artificial or pretended attitude
This post has been stewing in my brain for days, and I think it’s about time I get it out. If it seems a little disjointed, well, consider the source.
I’m calling out the “fake it ’til you make it crowd”; I think it’s time to put that idea to rest. While the philosophy seemed like a good one at first blush, I’m beginning to understand that “faking it” is just another way of hiding from the fear of being open, honest and transparent.
The thought is that by pretending you’ve already arrived at the destination, somehow the journey will be less arduous and time-consuming. If you’ll just act like a successful business person (i.e. “fake it”), so the theory goes, people will assume that you are a successful businessperson and will want to do business with you (i.e. you’ll “make it”). Sounds good, right? You can move to the front of the class without doing any homework or passing any tests; who wouldn’t want to do that? Where do I sign up?
I’m part of a discussion over at LinkedIn Groups (I didn’t link to it to protect my their identity) about branding and whether or not it’s still relevant. They’re tossing around terms like media channels and marketing equations. They are confusing brand equity with market share. The marketing insiders just don’t get it. Granted they are talking to other marketing professionals. However, if they are true to their own brand then it is bound to leak through – ask any I.T. marketer about verticals, optimization, and integration.
I’m of the belief that, while the spirit of branding is still applicable (only it’s called promotion), the term branding is WAY over used. And because of the communication platform of the Internet (I tried really, really hard not say Social Media) branding has given way, thankfully, to “having a conversation”.
I used this example:
You have a company of 500 people. 400 people manufacture, package, and ship your super-duper baby spit-up remover. 50 of them are out there selling it. 10 are marketing folks. 40 provide support services and management. What’s the chance of all 500 employees living the brand? A snowball’s survival comes to mind.
Carl Taylor, Entrepreneur and Author
There are a lot of websites and speakers that are trying to motivate you. They motivate you to take action, to get off your ass and achieve more. But if you’re an idiot and someone motivates you, you are now just a motivated idiot, and you are going to do idiotic things faster.
Motivated idiots are those people who go to their first property seminar, hear a sales pitch disguised as education that says you must invest right now in this off the plan unit block, immediately sign on the dotted line and a few years later wonder why they don’t have the returns they expected.
I’m not meaning to have a go at seminar selling, or even property seminars; they are viable business methods and have their place. What you should be focusing on is “their first” as in it was their first seminar. The presenter did a great job and got them motivated, but at this stage they were just a motivated idiot and they made an idiotic decision because they didn’t know what questions to ask.
Just when you thought you had it all figured out...
So there I was, minding my own business, traveling down the highway, when I noticed that all the cars taking my exit were slowing down pretty drastically. Naturally I slowed down too and, being the defensive driver that I am, I also checked my rear view mirror to make sure the driver behind me was following suit. Strangely enough, he wasn’t.
I did my best to get out of his way, but there simply wasn’t enough time. By the time he realized what was happening and hit his brakes, it was too late. SMACK! Bumper met bumper, a lot of glass and plastic was shattered, and two days immediately changed direction. Just like that: no warning, no preparation, no planning, just change.
Life is full of little surprises like that, some good, some not so good, and each contains a lesson…if you look for it. I know it will come as a surprise to everyone reading this, but I’ve decided to look for the lesson in my little melodrama.
You’re standing on the playground and it’s the first day of school. You know exactly two people – your little brother and the lady that says she’s your new teacher – neither beneficial to making new friends. You’re scared stiff and you’re at a crossroads… Do I act like them? Or, do I be myself? What’s the best way to get them all to like me?
Wisdom tells us you can’t please everyone. However, it can be tough to call some entrepreneurs wise. It’s been my experience working with first time business owners and salespeople that it’s instinctual to group “everyone” into the “user of my product/service” category. We want everyone to fall in love with our wares. It’s also been my first-hand experience that no, not everyone is your ideal prospect (or client, partner, etc). Some customers can actually cost you money! How, you ask?
By being so different from you, and most importantly your core values and beliefs, that you are forced to repeatedly convince them why they need you. Then you have the added burden of selling them your product or service. Then you have to constantly reinforce their decisions just to retain them. Have you recognized your worst clients yet?
So what’s to do about it? Repeat after me: “Just like them”.
So, I had this crazy idea on Wednesday: why not spend this weekend doing a Blog Building Marathon? After all, I love blogging, I love the setup process, I know people who want to start blogging but don’t know how, and, best of all, it beats doing yard-work. Never one to think small, I immediately set a BHAG I could be proud of: I set the intention to create 20 new blogs between Friday evening and Monday morning. I know, crazy, right?
I told a few friends what I was planning and asked them to spread the word to anyone they knew who wanted to start blogging but needed a little help to get going. There were questions, of course. I also posted my plans on Facebook, which generated a few more questions. I got my first two new bloggers lined up, and they had even more questions. So I thought, why not write a blog post to let everyone know why I’m doing this and to answer some of those questions publicly. Here goes:
Why are you doing this? First and foremost, I’m doing this because I love blogging. I think blogging is a great way to connect with other people who share your passions. I believe that blogging is a fantastic tool for attracting new clients to your business (or new fans for your music, or new readers for your books…you get the point). I’m also doing this because I’m getting tired of hearing stories from people who’ve paid big money to blogging “experts”, waited for months to see their sites, and still been disappointed with the results. I figured that if I could knock out 20 blogs in a weekend for a minimal cost, maybe more people would realize that it’s not as complicated as the “experts” make it sound.
What are you offering? Basically, what you’re going to get is a WordPress blog configured with what I consider to be the essential plugins (if you don’t know what plugins are, don’t worry…I’ll send instructions for using them), including a domain name of your choice and hosting for 12 months. The blog will be built on one of the thousands of available free WordPress themes, with a little bit of customization to make it uniquely your own. Nothing fancy, unless you really want it, in which case we’ll need to work out some details. The blog will also be integrated with your accounts on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn so that when you write a new post, your followers on those sites will know about it automatically.
I love the moxie of a small company in a small town in Northern California who looks at a giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and says “Yeah…we can fix that.”
That’s exactly what Mobius Technologies, of Lincoln, CA, has done, and they didn’t stop there. When Mobius realized that it was going to take too long to get through the bureaucracy and red tape required to get their product approved for use in the cleanup, they set about using social media tools like YouTube and Facebook to recruit a volunteer army and encouraged them to spread the message.
And while I think the powers that be at Mobius Technologies are making a huge mistake by not engaging with bloggers to help them spread their message (it seems they don’t consider bloggers to be “true” media outlets), I can’t argue with the results they’re getting. Have a look at this video from the local ABC affiliate in Sacramento.
Mobius is starting to get some traction, and I applaud the work they’re doing. More than that, though, I applaud the way they’re going about it. Here are some valuable lessons other small business owners and entrepreneurs can learn from the example of Mobius Technologies:
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