A pat on the back before you move on
Author: BrightBiz
“Thank You and Hello” – How to Keep More Customers
How many times have you
- eaten in a restaurant
- bought new clothes
- stayed in a hotel
- bought a magazine
- gone 10 pin bowling
- bought a gift for a friend
- gone to the movies
- bought take-away food…
…and felt like a valued customer?
Not just in the moment (it’s fairly easy for a business to deliver that, although often quite rare) but in a long term relationship with that business.
As a customer how do you like to be treated? I’m always delighted when someone recognises me as a customer or prospective customer. I’m even more delighted when they call me by name and remember something about me.
Sure every business owner pays lip service to providing “excellent customer service” but if you don’t know your customer’s name when they shop with you again or never get in touch with them to add value or offer something else, then you’ve made the fatal mistake of saying “thank you and goodbye” instead of “thank you and hello”
What does this mean for your business?
You might be spending way too much money on trying to get new customers instead of serving the customers you already have. Thinking about how you could get even better at customer service and keeping your customers will significantly boost your profit.
If you have an invoice book or some kind of sales system to record customer details then you might be sitting on a gold mine and not even realising it.
If you keep a record of your customer’s name and phone number or email address then you have the start of some very effective low cost marketing.
How many times have you put your business card in a bowl at a restaurant to win a free dinner – and NEVER heard from them again? If you collect business cards from your customers and prospects you have an amazing resource for specific effective targeted marketing
If you offer a product or service that requires you to collect their home or business address then you have everything you need to send targeted direct mail marketing; the kind they’ll like receiving because it’s tailor made for them
Now, before you get hung up on privacy and spam issues –
OF COURSE you will let your customer know that you’ll be in touch with them again, get their permission to send them only things of value like reminders, special offers, invitations, VIP programs and helpful information about the product or service they bought and more.
Enjoy! You are creating customers for life 🙂
My Gift to You
If you suspect you might be a closet WORKAHOLIC…
…squeezing in just one more task, one more little “nightcap” before you shut down and turn off…
…working weekends again when you promised yourself you wouldn’t…
If the deadly cocktail of broken sleep, problem clients, and money stress is making you doubt your ability to run a successful business…
and you’d really much rather have more…
Confidence,.. Money… Passion… and Freedom…
Then this is my Gift to You…
Click the image below to open my gift…
Pauline Bright
Zero to Hero takes a little time
Is impatience stopping you from getting what you want?
Are you sabotaging your ability to reach your goals by putting impossible deadlines on them?
Wouldn’t it be great to just slow down, take a breath, contemplate where you’re headed and go forward with more focus and clarity on the things that will give you the outcomes you want? (psst – they’re also called goals)
The oddest thing happens when you stop being frantic and desperate… you calm down and so does the world around you.
You appear more confident and “in control” – you become more attractive to prospective customers; you begin to generate a sense of competence and expertise. People get to know you better, they get to like you and trust you more. They’re more willing to engage with you and entertain the idea of doing business with you.
Isn’t that better than what you are probably doing now?
And after you’ve calmed down, you can eliminate the “busy” stuff and focus on the important stuff, the practical stuff that gets you closer to your desired outcome.
Step by step here’s how to approach getting the outcomes you want:
1) This is some of the most important work you will ever do in your business, so commit to a few hours or even a couple of days if necessary of TOTAL FOCUS to get the ideas out of your head and into some kind of format that will give you a step by step action plan. Please don’t use the excuse “I don’t have time” – MAKE the time or stay stuck until you do.
2) Let’s assume that you want to make more sales, sit down and work out the specific number – the ACTUAL dollars that you would like to increase your sales by. Next work out the time frame – over what period of time: a month, 3 months, 12 months?
3) Then, work out the easiest most leveraged way to do that. Take your time and dig deep into all of the ways you could achieve the outcome you want. Get creative, get crazy, think BIG! Don’t limit your thinking; just brainstorm ideas for the moment.
4) Then break it down again to make sure it’s possible. If you want to double your sales in 3 months it’s going to take some laser sharp planning and activity. Can it be done – do you have the infrastructure to deliver your product or service to twice the number of customers in that space of time? If not – DON’T give up the dream – lengthen the time instead.
5) Keep tweaking the plan and the timeframe until you come up with something workable that has actual practical daily strategies in it that you can do – turn it into a daily chart or calendar and tick off the items as you complete them.
6) Remove ALL excuses. NO one wants to hear the sorry story of how you couldn’t do stuff. People like to back a winner – and winners have the best stories – make yours a GREAT story. Be a HERO
It won’t happen overnight… You need to get used to that idea.
Good things take time to brew. Enjoy the journey 🙂
Fake it ’til you become it
I’ve always been a big fan of the “fake it til you make it”
method of dealing with new situations and being outside my comfort zone.
And I know from experience that your body language tells far more that your words, so thank you Amy Cuddy for adding scientific evidence that not only can your mind change your body, but your body can change your mind…not just “fake it til you make it” but “fake it til you become it”. Your body language
shapes who you are.
Click the picture or this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc&w=180&rel=0 to see the video Amy Cuddy: Your body language shapes who you are
These are my own “confidence secrets”… Try these simple postures next time you need to feel more positive and more powerful: (Best done in private before you go into a meeting or start your day)
1. If you’ve struggled out of bed – strike the gymnast’s pose – the one they do after they’ve finished their routine – legs together, arms up and spread wide, chest out head up and look up. And if you feel slightly ridiculous, you’ll at least get your day off to a better start with a good laugh!
2. The winning runner’s pose – same position as the gymnast pose but
running like you just WON the race.
3. The “I love you this much” pose – stand up – spread your arms as wide as you can, stretch your hands out and get ready to receive…
4. The Wonder Woman pose – watch the video – the picture says it all.
These ones you can do in public… in fact I highly recommend them for when you’re out networking, when you’re giving a presentation on stage or talking in a group, making a sale…
1. Stand tall – get your feet grounded, legs slightly apart, arms comfortably at your side of loosely hold hands at waist height, head up like you’re attached to the sky, shoulders back…breathe and smile
2. Sitting pose – same as above – not slumped in a chair
3. Walking pose – same as standing – move confidently.
This is pretty easy for an extrovert. For introverts, practice it in your mind until you
are more comfortable with it – then give it a go.
Observe the results and let me know how it goes 🙂