Get Social: Brilliant Benefits For Your Business

Three focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. As today’s world has become more digital, your social media presence is critical to your business’s success. While social media is misused on a personal level by many people, it’s a very valuable weapon in your arsenal for your business. The following contributed post is entitled, Get Social: Brilliant Benefits For Your Business.

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More than 3 billion people use social media platforms. While social networks may have started out as a communications hub designed to help friends, colleagues and family members stay in touch, its role has undoubtedly evolved. Today, social media plays an integral role in promoting businesses and enabling companies to reach out to customers. If you’re not already reaping the rewards of utilizing these networks and apps for your business, now is the time to get social.

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Brilliant benefits for your business
If you’ve never used social media as a business tool before, you might be wondering what all the fuss is about. The truth is that social sites offer an incredible platform for all kinds of companies, and an effective social media marketing campaign can have an amazing impact. Here are some of the most significant advantages of using social media as a marketing tool:

Raising brand awareness
Branding is a means of giving your business personality and showing potential customers what you are all about. Social networks offer an opportunity to enable followers and friends to get to know your brand and to show the human side of your company. Whether you’re a fun, quirky business selling gifts, toys or novelty items, or a smart, professional firm offering services like accounting or legal advice, you can use social media to enhance your brand image. You can also get your name out there by encouraging all your existing friends and followers to share your pages and posts. A small group of virtual friends can soon become an expansive network.

Reaching more customers
Billions of people use social apps and sites, and many subscribers check their profiles and news feeds several times per day. Using social media advertising and sharing posts can help you build your client base and reach out to users you may never have been able to contact without social networks.

Defining an audience
Social platforms often have tools you can use to pinpoint users and define your audience. If you’re using adverts to promote your business, for example, you don’t want to pay for posts that have no chance of converting. You can use features like Facebook’s audience insights to maximize your chances of targeting people who are likely to have an interest in the products or services you’re selling. If you are looking to use social media to expand your customer base and increase conversion rates, and you’re not sure how to go about it, it’s wise to consider working with a social media agency. Marketing experts will be able to design and implement a campaign based on your objectives and your target market.

Engaging and communicating with users
Communication is key in modern business, and many customers like to have a relationship with the brands they buy from. Social sites enable you to share posts, comment and send messages within a matter of seconds.

Social media may be a platform for catching up with friends and sharing funny videos, but it can also be an incredibly effective marketing ploy. If you’re not already using these networks to showcase your business and attract customers, what are you waiting for?

What Does It Take To Deliver Great Customer Service?

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Regardless of the sector of business or niche, one of its key pillars is its customer service. No matter how good the product is, if the customer service component is broken, the business will ultimately be hindered. The following contributed post is entitled, What Does It Take To Deliver Great Customer Service?

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It is certainly one of the fine arts of getting a business to transcend to the next level. While there are numerous aspects of a company that needs fine-tuning on a near-constant basis of the major issue that any business needs to overcome is improving on that relationship between them and the customer. As the golden rule, customer service is vital. This means that we have to ensure that our business delivers it in spades, but what does it really take to deliver great customer service?

Keeping Behind The Scenes Well Oiled

The front of house services cannot function unless the people behind the scenes are operating at 110%. This means that come out regardless of the business you have, you must think about everything that goes on behind the front line so that the people that have the duty of dealing with customers face to face can have the ability to forge that important relationship. This means utilizing one very simple component: technology. Whether it is restaurant accounting software for your small eatery, or it’s is organizational software so that everybody knows what’s going on at any one time, as well as new changes, keep everything running smoothly behind the scenes makes it easier for the people at the front to do their jobs properly. It’s not a case that the people on the front line rely on those behind the scenes, but it’s about providing a symbiotic relationship between the two. You have to remember that the bigger picture is the important thing especially when it comes to delivering customer service. With something like a restaurant the premise is simple, you deliver food to the customer that tastes great alongside impeccable service. These things as simple to explain, but in order to ensure that everything is running like clockwork, there are so many different components to get right.

Having The Passion To Deliver Customer Service

There’s a major disparity between the millennial generation and the baby boomers. While this is not the place to get into major quibbles about either generation, it appears that the younger generations that have been raised on social media have to work that little bit harder on face to face communication and soft skills. Having that passion in a business and striving to deliver amazing customer service is the bedrock of any successful company. Customer service is about going the extra mile for them, but when we look at the skills our employees have, we’ve got to make sure that they know the basics before they can build upon those. Something like soft skills and establishing that rapport with a customer can be difficult to implement, but some tips and tricks can help, such as open-ended questions. It’s these things that our workers need to know because when an employee develops this rapport with the customer, the relationship will soon follow, and then we make a great impact on the customer. As such, when we see an employee delivering excellent customer service, even when we are the customer, we will remember this. These days, you provide feedback forms, but we remember the person more than anything, and maybe they did something for us that day to make our experience more pleasurable, or even easier. And we can see that those people have the passion, not just to deliver customer service, but it’s a part of who they are. That doesn’t mean that we need to hire exclusively people that can have a passion for customer service, but for those people who want to do well and have the skills of building a rapport, they are like gold dust.

Providing Morale In The Ranks

The focus is on the customer for her, but we have to remember about the people that are providing this service. We have to keep the morale up, and in one respect, we need to treat our employees like our customers. Giving them the respect that they need, listening to the problems they have, and being genuine in our support for their development. As customers need to see the journey that we go through, we have to remember that our employees can have much more of an insight into what we do, and this can easily filter back to customers. For example, if an employee is unhappy, we can see it plastered all over their faces, and the service they will deliver will naturally be subpar, even if they phone in the performance. This will make us think, as the customer, what is the problem here? Is it to do with them, or is it a much wider, more endemic issue? This is why we have to ensure our employees are happy, and morale is up. It’s about creating that environment which belies a dynamic and thriving workplace. It’s a very difficult thing to implement, but if we start to work on morale, by imbuing the company culture with something more than a strict hierarchy where the people at the very bottom don’t feel supported everybody can feel the benefit. It’s not enough to tell them to put a smile on for the sake of the customer, because this is fake. But at the same time, if we don’t give our employees reason to smile anyway, we can’t be surprised if we have complaints from customers.

Encourage Employees To Have Awareness Of Their Language

On the most basic level, soft skills work wonders at building a report that we’ve also got to think about how our employees present themselves. It isn’t just about the clothes, please to do with how they stand, the intonations they use, as well as the body language, all in conjunction with the words that come out of their mouths. Having employees develop an awareness of how they are in one respect, productive, but in another way, it could be counterproductive because they are constantly watching themselves. We don’t want our employees to feel that they are being marked for grammar and poise all the time. At the same time, we need them just to have some sort of awareness of what they do that inspires a certain adverse reaction. Body language is an essential thing, but when we have employees speaking to others over the telephone, we might think that it’s not so important. But body language does have a lot of sway, especially in terms of how we communicate. There have been plenty of resources over the years that highlight just how you stand can impact your vocal strengths. Something like the Alexander technique, which, in essence, is a series of stretches, can have a great impact on how somebody performs. And when we start to get into these things, we can realize just how much of an impact we can have on a conversation, by saying it in a certain direction. Naturally, we cannot afford to send all employees on a mini drama course to become aware of their body, but by asking them to get a better understanding of the words they use, the posture a present, and how they sound, these things will all work towards a more self-assured employee.

Document!

If we document times when we interacted with a customer effectively, we can use these moments as benchmarks. Documenting interactions that we have with customers gives us the opportunity to build on our rapport with them and also understand where we may have fallen flat. Going back to the soft skills it’s about those subtle movements that we can undergo within the course of a conversation, vocally, physically, and even in terms of the subtext. Ultimately, we’ve got to work at selling something to a customer, that the customer is so sorry now that they don’t appreciate the hard sell. Instead, taking the counseling approach where we offer to help and provide a resolution for their problem makes it a more subtle approach to selling. And when we start to document the approaches that work in the ones that don’t, we are investing time into research and development so we can improve our business across the board.

A business will always be judged on the prowess of its customer service. And delivering a great experience to a customer is most definitely a fine art. When we start to look at each individual component, we can be here until the cows come home. But we have to think about giving the customer the experience that they deserve. You can look at your marketing, your products, your employees, and how they all work together, but when we deliver great customer service, we can sell ice to an Eskimo. Because customer service is the pinnacle of any great business, we have to invest more time into delivering a more effective strategy. And while we can entice people in with flashy gimmicks, when they walk away, they will remember how they felt. As such, delivering great customer service is something that we need to delve deep into. It will be the savior of the company.

Securing A Regular & Repeatable Customer Experience Every Time

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. One of the keys to being successful in business is assuring a quality experience for your customer base every time. Doing so will increase the likelihood of their repeat business and drawing new customers. The following contributed post is entitled, Securing A Regular & Repeatable Customer Experience Every Time.

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There are many ‘R’s’ in business life. Respectability, restraint, results, restructuring, but perhaps chief among them all is the term ‘reliability.’ As a firm, more than the highest-quality products, the cheapest offering, the most prestigious reputation, you should value reliability. Now, this must be viewed in a positive light of course. To be reliably awful or reliably underdeliver is not a solid way to success, but again, it is reliable in how it will lead to those results.

As a firm, reliability in a positive sense is everything. You need the tenth time a customer opens your product to be as worthwhile as the first time. You need to ensure that your safety standards are exceptional to the point where they can be relied upon time and time again. For this and more, it is important to understand how to integrate worthwhile systems into your manufacturing process, to ensure that your customer experience is a reliably positive one every single time. Let us consider how that might be achieved, and with the following advice, better your development:]

Consider Every Step Of The Customer Experience

Considering every single step of the customer experience is vital if you are to make the best decisions going forward. For example, how is the item packaged? How might it be delivered to the customer? How will they unveil the package, or how are they greeted when they come into the store? Are the prices consistent between your online presence and your in-store goods? Do your service professionals offer a refreshment every time in business meetings that are applicable? When you consider each step of the customer experience, you are much more likely to find smaller inconsistencies and consider if they are welcome or not.

Utilize Great Suppliers

You’d be surprised how a learned customer can detect changes in your supply. For example, if a restaurant switches from fresh to frozen calamari, almost everyone will notice it, despite how much money the head chef could be saving at that point. This is why excellent providers that give a completely professional service, such as Mobile Paint, can make the true difference over time. It’s more than just a simple game or a means of placating the most discerning of your customers. It’s something within which you depend on, and additionally, the better suppliers can help you curate your protect to only upgrade, never downgrade your offering if making changes.

Keep Investing In Your Support

The hallmark of any great business is how effective they are at providing their customer support. Securing a regular and repeatable customer experience every time is indicative of staff that are well trained, hold times that are acceptable, and solutions that are always necessary and compromising in their output. This requires investment. It also requires careful manage of your metrics, such as considering how many support tickets were resolved successfully in a given year, and using that information to inform your future changes.

With this advice, you will become that reliable firm you hope to be.

Making Sense Of Your Website Engagement

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. If you’re using a website as a part of your business, you want to understand its engagement with your customers. An effective website will draw in more customers and increase your profits. The following contributed post is entitled, Making Sense Of Your Website Engagement.

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As a business that runs a large amount of its customer-facing approach online, you will be subject to plenty of data over the years. User visiting time, the visitor’s geography, what ads or social media links have led them to your site are important, and yet barely scratch the surface as to what data is available.

But to an untrained eye, this data can often look completely out of the norm, and sometimes, even random. This means that making sense of your website engagement becomes a vital tool in trying to assess what your customers want, and how your business is performing across all of its web portals.

But more than that, breakthroughs in data analytics consulting have allowed businesses the chance to construct models regarding those they could potentially sell to, ensuring that marketing is more targeted in both its content and delivery methodology. Like any good business leader, you are likely also interested in the metrics that can give you a surer shot when aiming for gold.

So, let us serve as the scope:

Understand Your Promotional Reach

It’s essential to consider how your homepage is structured, and what drives the most attention. Do visitors often click on your promotional bar at the top of the screen? What has driven more traffic? Which social media pages do you often get the most engagement from? Do you find that enabling social media replies and comments is worthwhile, or that they quickly devolve into unrelated arguments (as is the way of the internet?) Furthermore, have your sponsored posts gained the traction you were hoping for, or is simple excellent hash tagging and posting at the right time of day almost comparable in the results they achieve? When you view the data of your promotional reach and branch out to make the correct changes, you have an access of power to this end.

Visitor Time

When a customer visits your website, how long do they stay for? In other words, how much functionality do you offer? For example, do you list all of the specs on your product page, as well as the different payment options, a video demonstrating the product in action, or perhaps discussing how your product differs from comparable items on the market? Do you offer them to talk on ownership forums that allows your community to get together and discuss various impressions they have? All of this can increase visitor time to your website, and every second spent there is another potential second where a purchase or booking can be made.

Feedback Forms

Sometimes, you need to hear directly from your users in the first place. Feedback forms can be a fantastic measure for this in the long run. There you might find that someone using a particular web browser has trouble loading your web pages, or perhaps an intrusive advertising strategy is breaking some of the widgets you use. It can be easy to have blinders on in regards to these issues, and so we would recommend you keep an eye on them ahead of time.

With this advice, you are certain to make sense of your website engagement.

How To Stay On The Good Side Of Your Online Customers

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. Customer service is critical in ‘bricks and mortar’ business but its especially critical for online business. You want to stay in your customers’ good graces. The following contributed post is entitled, How To Stay On The Good Side Of Your Online Customers.

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The business world has always been competitive, but none more so than now, as internet businesses are popping up all over the place.

Should you run an online business then, it is important to know that you are but a tiny dot on the internet, competing with thousands of other dots (this is probably the first time anybody has described businesses in such a way) in a bid to gain customers.

To stay ahead of the game, you need to stay on the good side of any potential or existing customers. By doing so, you will receive good word of mouth instead of bad, and you might elevate your business above the many others sharing the virtual space of the internet with you.

Here are some of the things you need to do.

#1: Deliver on your promises

Online business owners often sway potential customers with promises of fast shipping and better quality products than their rivals, as just two examples. So, if you are going to tempt customers in with promises such as these, you need to ensure that you can live up to your word.

With the examples given, you would need a steady supply of mailers in your inventory to ensure fast shipping was possible, and you would also need to work with a decent courier company that could offer speedy delivery. And in terms of your product, you would need to research what other businesses offer, and find ways to improve the quality and the functionality of what you were selling.

Having delivered on your promises, you would have very happy customers on your hands!

#2: Secure your online business

Businesses, both large and small, are in danger of hacking attempts, so never assume that your online business is safe, even if it is just you and your computer set up in your bedroom.

If you get hacked, not only will your financial information be compromised, but your customers financial and personal data might be too. Should your customers become aware of this, be that through communication from yourself or because they have become the victim of cybercrime themselves, then your reputation will plummet.

We have some tips on our website with regards to protecting your online business, so have a read and follow the advice we give you at your earliest opportunity.

#3: Treat your customers well

Customers are fickle people. If they feel mistreated in any way, they will voice their opinions on social media and business review sites.

Therefore, give them the respect that they feel they deserve by treating them well.

What does this mean in reality?

Well, we have already alluded to two ways you can do this in the previous points we made in this article. But there is more you can do. This includes offering them speedy responses when they get in touch with you. You should respond to any complaints, and do what you can to make amends to any disgruntled customers. And you should go the extra mile in your customer service, perhaps by including hand-crafted ‘thank you’ cards with your deliveries, or by offering loyal customers a discount or the occasional freebie as tokens of your appreciation.

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By staying on your customers’ good side, you will retain their loyalty and benefit from new customers who have heard about your business. Follow our suggestions then, and research other ways to win over the hearts and the wallets of potential and existing customers.

Are You Confusing Your Customers?

Two of the key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. In any business, clear communication with your customer base is critical. Ensuring this clear communication could be the difference between your business thriving or dying off. The following contributed post is entitled, Are You Confusing Your Customers?

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Everything about business can be confusing. One minute you think you know it all, then all of the sudden you realise that someone is doing something totally better than you, and that the systems you have in place haven’t been the most effective. But that’s simply because businesses are developing at such a rapid rate, that the demand for new software and systems to facilitate that is always growing, meaning it’s to keep up with the technological race that’s fueling business. But the demand on new technology production is not the only thing that seems to be increasing as the years go on, customer demand seems to only be getting worse. The world’s population is expanding at such a rapid rate, meaning more and more people are now waiting to be pleased, and more and more are there to shake up your business. Customers literally control everything you do, and manipulate your business perhaps without you even realising. So considering they’re so precious to the progression of your business, we think it’s about time that we introduced the problem that so many businesses are having, and that’s customer confusion. Confusing your customers through the processes you use is so easy to do. It’s hard to simplify your business, so much so that’s perfection to your customers. But this is what we’re going to try and help you with, because the simpler it is to use your business, the more people that will come flocking. So take some time to have a read of the tips below, and see if we can help your business!

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The End Sale

The end sale is the most important part. Just because someone is so close to clicking pay, it doesn’t mean that if your end process is clunky and hard, then people won’t just click that little x button in the corner. So you really have to think about the ways that you can simplify your sales process, so that your customers can move from one section to the next, seamlessly. So the first thing you need to do, is think about your connectivity, and what terminal you connect to, to allow your customers to pay. Some of you will be connected to the slowest vendors, meaning your customers experience delay after delay, and you experience more hassle. Some vendors mean you have to download software that could so easily malfunction at any point, meaning potential customers will definitely turn away. What you need to look into, is methods such as the InovioPay virtual terminal. Virtual meaning you don’t have to download any dodgy software packages and hope that you find them easy to use, and an outsourced terminal will handle all of the transaction for you. Having something like this to facilitate payments and make the whole thing easier is exactly what you need, especially if you’re finding that people are never actually completing a sale, only getting close to the end!

Filling Them With Jargon

Filling Them with jargon is the worst thing that you can do, but most likely the thing that you are doing right now. Customers might not always want to hear the technical side of things, they want to know what it does, and how it’s going to benefit them. Yet so many businesses fill their website with all these technical terms, facts and figures, and we don’t understand why! So have a scroll through your website at the minute, and see if you can change the way you’re describing your company and the products you sell. You might find you can dumb it down a little, and make the whole website a little more attractive, so that you can retain more customers!

Terrible Add Ons

One that we want to finish with, because we know how damaging this can be to a business. So many of you will be selling products, but selling a lie. It’s a trap we’ve all fell into as customers, and it’s so frustrating. This is when you buy one product, and then get told you need to buy add ons to make it work. This is so infuriating for someone who thinks they’ve bought all they need, only to find out they need to buy more in order to get it fully functioning. So if you’re selling anything where you could possibly do this, change your sales technique. It might seem like a good idea in terms of money, but it’s really going to damage your reputation as a business. Focus on honest products, with honest reviews!

Breaking Down Your Business’ Barriers

Two key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A key aspect of any business is its communication – its marketing and its customer relations. In today’s digital world, it’s important to understand how to leverage all tools available to make sure this important component is working for you optimally. The following contributed post is entitled, Breaking Down Your Business’ Barriers.

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Is your business reaching the right people? If not, why not? It’s something that you should be thinking about in greater detail. Small companies can be at risk of staying stagnant and not reaching the growth that they’re capable of, and there could be some simple reasons to blame. Growing your business is all about breaking down those barriers to help you bring new clients and customers on board and start enhancing your profits. Here are some of the things you can do to help your business come out on top.

Image Credit: Unsplash under Creative Commons

Targeting the right customers

Is your business targeting the right customers? Some businesses can find that the demographics they think they should be targeting might not be the right groups for them after all. Conducting some thorough research is important to find out who is buying your products and services and how you can attract similar people to your business.

Social media is one of your most useful tools for targeting. With the right approach, you can focus your digital marketing activity so that it closely targets the people who are most likely to engage with your business. If you’re not using social media targeting yet, make it a priority to get started.

Making the most of your online presence

How is your website performing? If you’re struggling to attract visitors then you should think about changing your website to help make it more appealing. The load time to the layout of your website can have an impact on how long someone will stay on it. Therefore, if people are landing on your website, but their stay is short, you need to think about how your web content might be affecting their journey.

However, if the issue is that your page visits are low, you might need to think about creating a better promotion strategy for your website. SEO is one of the most important elements of getting your website seen, and seoexplode.com can help point you in the right direction. Improving the content and the visibility of your website is vital for getting results, so make it a priority to help you drive those sales.

Talk to your customers

How well do you know your customers? If you want to gain an insight into how they feel about your business, then you need to ask them. Polls and surveys can help you gain some interesting insights into your customers’ behavior, and could help you make some big improvements. Before making any significant changes such as your brand name or launching new products, try to get the opinions of your customers first. Asking for feedback at the end of a sale is another way to ensure that you continue to improve your services and give your customers more of what they want.

It can take years for businesses to experience growth, but using some of the methods above can help you accelerate the process. Identifying what your barriers are is the first step towards breaking them, so think about your business’ performance and build strategies that will ensure growth and take your business forward.

The Power Of The Personal Touch

Two of my blog’s key focuses are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Depending upon the type of business you’re running, a key to its success is its personal touch. The more customers connect with your business, the more they’ll support your operations and return. The following contributed post is therefore entitled, The Power Of The Personal Touch.

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It should come as no surprise that the personal touch matters in business. Providing a reliable point of contact for each customer can streamline the selling process. The employee in question can then get a feel for what your customers want, and sell as much as possible. On top of which, customers will come to feel at ease with that one person. As a result, they may trust your company more than they would otherwise. For proof of how important this personal aspect of business is, consider social media. Here, companies focus on building strong voices and personal connections for just this reason.

What you might not realize is that getting personal with products can also make a difference. In the same way, this personal touch can improve customer relations. Whether you make items to order or personalize as you go, it can also benefit your business in the following ways.

A chance to give customers what they want

Any company would like to cut customer complaints wherever possible. Disgruntled customers are never pleasant to deal with. Dissatisfaction can also stop people from coming back, and damage your reputation in the bigger picture. If you choose to make items to order, though, you could cut back on complaints in a significant way. That’s because each item will be tailor-made with a customer specifications in mind. That removes any real margin for error and makes sure customers can’t pin anything they aren’t 100% happy with on you. They told you what they wanted, after all. Before you know, operating in this order-by-order way can see satisfaction levels skyrocketing. Your reputation might just rise along with them. It may be more work on the outset, but you can bet it would be worth your while.

A way to add sentimental value

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Sentimental value is an invaluable product addition. In many ways, all business owners would love to achieve this with their ideas. The things already have enough sentimental value for you, after all. And, if you can accomplish the same for customers, they’re more liable to remember your company and tell others about it. So, how do you add sentimentality with products? Through things like engraving, of course. By investing in laser cutting equipment, you can include unforgettable personal messages. All you would need to do is read up on something like this boss laser cutter review to make sure you’re investing in machinery you can trust. Then, you could offer this service to anyone who comes through your doors, and enjoy the rewards.

An increased chance of loyalty

Any business owner knows that customer loyalty is one of the best ways to make money which keeps on coming. And, loyalty is exactly what you’ll get with personal products like these. At least, you will if you do things well. Before you know, meeting with every customer need can see people coming back to you time and again. And, when that happens, you can really start to consider your company a success.

The Curse Of The One-Time Customer

Two of the key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Repeat customers are the lifeblood of all businesses, and it’s critical to understand to have your customers return to your establishment time and again. The following contributed post is thus entitled, The Curse Of The One-Time Customer.

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Repeat customers are crucial in business. They’re the most profitable customers you could hope for. They’re also most likely to promote you through word of mouth. If sites like www.bizjournals.com are anything to go by, customers who have been with you before are also liable to spend more.

Sadly, this isn’t a goal every business manages. In the starting stages especially, it isn’t unusual for sales to be a one-time thing. This is disheartening as it means continuing to spend a fortune on marketing at a time when every penny counts. But, this vicious cycle needn’t become your business reality. In truth, a trend in one-time buyers is often due to a few rookie mistakes. To ensure you don’t make them, we’re going to look at what they are, and how you can avoid them.

Too little follow up

Following up sales is crucial. At the very least, it helps you to collect reviews which show what you do right, and what you do wrong. From a repeat-custom standpoint, it’s also a fantastic way to remind customers you exist. Those first few customers might be a massive part of your business journey, but you’re just another company. The chances are that your shop was far from the only one they bought from that day. If you aren’t careful, then, you could fall off their radar even if they like what they got. By sending a review email, you nudge them into thinking about you again. All without having to outwardly advertise to them at all. With a bit of luck, that alone will get them back on your website looking for more.

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Too much follow up

In the same breath, too much follow up from a company is sure to be off-putting. As a rule, one email should be enough to cover you here. If you send more than that, you’re soon going to become a nuisance. Note, too, that even companies who only intend to send one email can often end up sending more. That’s because they haven’t dealt with a little something called data management. If your customer information is all over the place, customers may end up on more email lists than they should. This could result in a bombardment which ensures they never buy from you again. Don’t let it happen. Learn to manage customer data with the help of companies like profisee.com. That way, you can automate one follow up email and rest easy that it’s the only one which lands in your customer’s inboxes.

A stagnant business model

If a customer buys a product from you, there’s little chance that they’ll want to buy that same product again. At least, in the majority of cases. That’s why a business model which stagnates is never going to get people coming back. Instead, you need to think all the time about where to take your business next. The more developments you offer, the more opportunity there’ll be for repeat custom and increased success in the long-run.

What Really Makes A Customer Choose Your Service?

Two of the key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. The lifeblood of any business is its customer base as it won’t thrive without sales. As such, businesses need to understand what the customers are thinking, and what’s important to them. The following contributed post is thus entitled, What Really Makes A Customer Choose Your Service?

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One of the major things that you always need to try and master in business is how to get enough customers to choose your business, your services and be loyal to your way of doing things. Marketing is all about making sure that this is more likely, but if you only ever outsource your marketing you might not really have come to grips with what makes someone choose one thing over another. Personal differences and taste will always come into it in some way or another, but there are also many things we can infer from the evidence too. In this post, we are going to discuss just three things which can often make a customer choose one service or business over all the others. Improve and work on these, and you will be moving in the right direction.

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A Bold Brand

The marketing is there for a reason – it works when it is done well. Arguably the most central part of marketing is the brand – as long as you have got that right, you will find that you are much more able to get plenty of customers on your side. Very often, the brand makes an unconscious difference to the point where it might even be the thing that tips the scale. If you can work on your brand to the point where you are truly happy with it, you will find that this makes a huge difference and brings that many more customers to your doors and to your products. You’ll probably want a marketing firm to help you and let you know what kind of branding is likely to work, which is fine. But make sure it is original and creative as well.

A Strong Reputation

Just as with your personal life, you want to make sure that you have a strong reputation for your business too, as it is one of the biggest influences on whether people choose your service and product, or whether they go elsewhere. There are many things which affect your business’ reputation, and it is worth acquainting yourself with some of the more important ones and working on building them up as best as you possibly can. For instance, you will find that having a good reputable address makes a difference to what people think of your business, so using a virtual office address if you don’t have a reputable one yourself can really help things along massively. Or you might want to think about acting in a manner which is ethical, focusing on, say, environmental policies. A better reputation makes all the difference in the world.

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The Better Product

Finally, let’s not forget the product or service itself. The most important thing is that your service or product is as good as possible, in such a manner that it will encourage people to spread the word. If that happens, then you will be drawing in more customers away from other rival businesses merely because you are actually offering the better product – that is definitely the most pleasing way to go about things.