Have you ever wondered how much money has been lost due to poor customer service?  Does it happen where you work? Or do you own your own business and are unaware of your employees’ actions?

This month, my wife and I decided to purchase a new lounge suite.  Being a business owner myself,  I try to visit small, local, businesses first if they have what meets my needs.  As it was early January and the week after Christmas we knew there were a lot of sales going on and we should be able to purchase something at a discounted price. I tried a local store that claimed to have an excellent selection of lounge suits and excellent rates.

I decided to call first so I could talk with someone on the telephone. An answering machine answered the telephone and informed “they were busy with a customer and would return the call.” I did not leave a message. I tried again an hour later and the same scenario. Finally on the third call I left a message stating “I wonder how many customers you have lost due to no response.” I did not leave any contact information. Later that day I decide to drive to the store since it was only a few miles from my home. When I arrived at the store, I find out the store is not open at all. It was closed for the week!

To say the least I did not purchase a lounge suite from this store, nor will I purchase from them in the future. I did send them a letter notifying them of situation that occurred and how I could help them improve on their services.  I didn’t receive any response which I guess correlates with their customer service values.

What do you think this cost that company?  I spent approximately NZ$4,000 on my suite, but was I the only customer that tried to contact them that week? Probably not. Being one of a few local stores to have the services and items they claim to carry, there were probably other inquiries and potential customers went elsewhere.

This company had an opportunity to be the best source for suites in the area.  Being a local company, they had the opportunity to show their customer they were “the shop” for all of their furniture needs with the home town appeal. I much prefer to buy from a local company than one of the bigger firms when their customer service is the personal touch. All of us want the personal touch when dealing with companies and I believe the smaller business has the greatest opportunity to apply and show they care.

Customer service is so important, no matter whether you are big or small. People want to buy from companies they know who will take care of them but also care about them. It is not all about the company but it is all about the customer and what you do for them! Take care of your customers everyday as if it were their birthday! Do we not try to be nice to people on their birthdays if we are aware?

Creating a great Unique Selling Point or USP is much like making a love letter.  You must, through words, create an image of yourself that the object of your affection will love in return.  Unlike love letters though, you’ll have fewer words with which to accomplish your goal.

Daunting as it may seem, making a USP for your business is actually quite easy if you follow the steps outlined below.  By breaking the task down into manageable items, you will be able to trim down your message to include only the most pertinent, compelling and effective words in your USP.

1.  List down the Unmet Wants or Needs. 

To make an effective USP, know what your customers want and need.  Next, determine which among them are not being met by your competitors’ USPs.  For instance, due to the rising popularity of health products and healthy lifestyle, a restaurant that has a USP of “all ingredients are 100% organic, guaranteed!” can effectively compel a significant portion of the market to dine in the said restaurant.  Gift shops can also take advantage of the market’s growing need for more personalised gifts; they can offer a range of customised or made-to-order products as well as free hand courier service.  To gain some insight on your customers’ unmet needs, talk to your customers; conduct a baseline market study.

2.  Determine Which among Possible USPs You Can Deliver. 

A powerful USP is only half of the equation.  For your USP to be really effective, you should actually be able to deliver its promise.  Offering a 30-minute delivery guarantee to customers, for example, entails that you make a study of the routes, traffic flow, production process, and the many factors involved in making and delivering your product to your customers.  This can cost money.  You may have to invest in new equipment (e.g. automatic ovens, GPS-capable gadgets), a traffic update service subscription, personnel training, etc.  Choose from among your possible USPs one that not only packs a powerful message but is also affordable, manageable and deliverable.

3.  Keep it Short, Effective and Unique: 

Now, trim down your USP to its most effective length.  Keep it below 10 words.  Include powerful ad words such as YOU (to directly communicate with the customer) and highly visual adjectives.  Furthermore, the benefit must be couched in tangible and measurable terms (delivery within 30 minutes, $xx dollars less, uses 300 Watts less power, etc) so that the readers will immediately realise its value to them.  Naturally, your final USP must be unique.
 

Having a business without a Unique Selling Point (USP) is like running for office without a defining slogan.  The result can be similarly devastating:  you’ll lose.

Your business needs a USP.  It’s your business’ unique promise to customers.  It cuts through miles of marketing red tape and categorically tells your customers that “this is who we are and this is what we can do for you that any other company cannot”.

Not having a USP will hurt your business in more ways than one:

1.  Lower Conversion Rate: 

Having no USP almost certainly means a lower conversion rate for your ads.  Your Unique Selling Point is the central marketing message upon which the customers you are targeting will focus; it will be the pivotal factor in converting potential customers into buying customers.  To illustrate, imagine that you are a typical customer who has become tired of pizza delivery delays.  Wouldn’t an ad for a pizza place that says “delivered within 30 minutes or your money back” compel you to try out the company that made this claim?

2.  Less Memorable: 

People tend to think of businesses and brands the way they think of other people.  Some are hard to remember and yet others (the noisiest, the most trustworthy, the most artistic, etc) are very easy to remember because of their defining characteristic.  In the same way, businesses that are able to invoke emotional responses from customers through a defining characteristic are usually remembered and get referred to others.  Loreal’s “because you are worth it” manages to cut through the price issue by addressing its customers’ need for quality and their desire to pamper themselves and to feel good.

3.  Less Focused: 

Not having a USP also decreases the focus for your business and leads you to try covering all the bases – to try satisfying all of the implicit and explicit promises you make to your customers.  This stretches out your resources for less the market share.  Consider Head & Shoulders’ USP “you get rid of dandruff”.  By focusing on the dandruff issue, Head & Shoulders is able to concentrate all of its resources in delivering this single promise.  It is also able to corner a specific niche or portion of the shampoo-buying market.

Indeed, being generic hurts your business.  Stand out from the crowd through your unique selling point.  Start by reading about how you can formulate a USP for your business.  Resources abound online; marketing newsletters are especially helpful in this regard.  If you are finding it exceedingly hard to create your own USP, seek professional marketing help.

It is widely reported that there are 6.5 billion people on the planet spread throughout 194 countries (I only have another 171 to see!)  Follow this link to test yourself. 

How many do you attempt to reach?  Perhaps you concentrate on your domestic market only.  What if you looked overseas?  How would you promote your service or products to them?

In the age of the internet, it is possible to reach many of them.  According to World Internet Stats (www.internetworldstats.com) there are approximately 1.3 billion internet users.  

When a company becomes a global marketer, it views the entire world as its market place and makes only a few adjustments to its product or service to accommodate local conditions.  Global Brands like Coca Cola; Nike; Ford, etc make very few changes to their products but reach a global market.  

If you already have on-line marketing strategies, you’ll appreciate the benefits of the internet.  However, if your current marketing is constrained to off-line marketing you may be missing out on a global market.

One of the most popular ways to reach a global market is to have a web site.

Too many small businesses fail to believe in the web as a business tool. A website doesn’t have to be used solely to sell your products.  It can be used to let potential customers know you are there. For small businesses particularly those that rely on a local customer base this can be an invaluable source of additional customer enquiries.
 
For companies who are now considering gaining web presence I would urge them to go for it. You have nothing to lose and a lot to gain. You do not need to sell on the web to have a meaningful website. In many cases a business website can be used purely for lead generation.

Many businesses rely on customers from the local area. Typically these would advertise locally and in doing so would receive a stream of local customers. In this situation I believe this business is losing out on an additional extra stream of customers by not having a company website. Just imagine how many people go to an internet search engine looking for your service.  Remember if you don’t buy the lotto ticket you’ll never win the prize!

If you have experience in building a website then you may be able to achieve this part on your own. If not then you would be best to leave this to a web design company. Developing a website is not something you do half hearted. You do want to convert as many users as possible, an unprofessional looking website is not going to achieve this.

You’ll need at least the following: 

Homepage: An introduction to the potential customer. Very general information and a phone number

About us: Go into a lot of detail about the company. Give the customer a lot of information about the company.

Contact us: Let the potential customer get in touch by email, ‘phone or by mail. It is also a good idea to use a feedback form so the user can contact you directly from the webpage. Another idea that can work well is a “call me” feature. The user supplies their phone number and a time. Someone then calls them back at the time specified.

If you want to go global, try this quick geography test.  It will take you 5 minutes but it’s fun and will test your knowledge.  I achieved 379, 498 the first time around…see if you can do better.  

An important aspect in any strategic marketing plan is solid market research or analysis.  Others may call it competitive research/analysis/intelligence, but they all boil down to one thing:  knowing what goes on in your industry from trending to movement in your competitors’ businesses and such before laying down your marketing campaign.

The data you have gathered will help you analyse each critical part of your business and, accordingly, conceptualise your next steps taking into consideration the information you’ve learned about the activities of your competitors, including their physical presence in strategic locations, their advertising campaigns, newest launches or re-launches and even their soon-to-be releases.

Hence, your market analyses (and who does them) are very important in the creation of your counter-attack plan, so to speak, which will be instrumental to capturing your share (and a larger share at that) of the market that you have in common with your competitors.

Down on All Fours
When doing your research, it is important to remember that your job is not only to find out EVERYTHING there is to know about what your competitors are doing but also to protect your company or brand in the process. 

The last thing you need is to be accused of spying, although in the competitive business industry, market analysis is an accepted part of any company’s research and development sector; it is acceptable as long as it is accomplished without doing anything illegal. Nevertheless, your research should be as thorough as possible. 

You may be required to go down “on all fours”, figuratively speaking, just to get relevant information on your competitors’ movements and activities.  Not to make it sound like a dirty business, the point here is that your chosen researcher/analyst should be able to gather relevant information by exhausting every legal means possible. 

Otherwise, your efforts will be in vain.

What They’re Doing
Based on what you’ve learned, you can make a few sound assumptions on what works and what needs improvements.  From here, you can conceptualise strategies that will have better results than your competitors’ and you can learn from their mistakes.

Be careful not to copy whatever successful formula they have already concocted, though, since you could also be sued for infringement.  You may however, base your campaign on what they’ve done.  Repetition and copying is not only devious but also pointless.  What would be the point of offering exactly the same services that your competitors are already providing the market? 

Your services should be distinct enough to make a difference and to generate interest. Instead of copying your competitors systems, products or services, what you should do is veer away from strategies that have failed; you’ll learn what these strategies are through a thorough competitive research. 

You can also find a way to improve your services, products or systems so that they exceed that of your competitors. In any business, knowing what your competition is doing is an integral part of success.  This will help you avoid any accusations of being a mere copycat, help you develop your products or services in a way that your niche market will be happier about and basically become the natural choice among everyone in the same field.

Do you set your prices according to what you believe your market can afford? If you’re a professional, do you offer a sliding scale for payment? When anyone requests a price break, do you automatically agree? All of the above practices carry a danger that can needlessly keep your revenues down.
 
When you’re tempted to set low prices, remember these points:
 
1. What someone can afford and what they will pay aren’t necessarily related in any logical or predictable way. I’ve had clients hire me who had next to no income or savings, while someone earning a six figure turnover or salary decides the same offering costs too much.
 
2. Someone may ask for or expect a bargain, but end up paying the original fee.
 
3. What you say about your products and services, and how you present your company and conduct yourself, influence what folks will pay.
 
4. Those willing to pay more may be the most loyal, trouble-free clients to work with.
 
Test your prices, instead of making assumptions about what your customers can afford!  You may be pleasantly surprised!
 

Think about the last time you had a negative buying experience.  Did it take forever for your call to be
answered?  Did an e-commerce site fail to respond to your email query?  Were you left with a good first impression?
 
Negative buying experiences are almost always linked to poor customer service.  Good customer service is essential for all businesses and giving it shouldn’t be seen as an extra.  It isn’t difficult to provide if you follow a few basic rules:
 
1.  Commit to quality customer service. 

Everyone in your company needs to be devoted to creating a positive and memorable experience to your customers.  Always aim to exceed customers’ expectations…may be even under-promise and over-deliver.  Think what impression that would leave on your customers.
 
2.  Always (and I mean ALWAYS) provide what you promise.

Fail to do this and you’ll lose creditability straight away…and possiblty the customer as well.  If you promise
to provide an estimate within 48 hours, get the quote out within 48 hours!  I have lost count of the people and businesses that don’t keep their promises and I am sure you can relate to these types of annoying experiences.  If you can’t keep your promise, at least have the courtesy to let your customer know before-hand.  They will appreciate this. 

Recently our swimming pool’s salt chlorinator packed up just before our relatives arrived from the UK.  Our regular pool service provider promised to fix it before the Christmas (and our summer holiday) break.  Days went by and no sight of any repair.  After 4 telephone messages later, I gave up and left them an “assertive” message advising them I will no longer deal with them.
 
3.  Listen to your customers

Be a sponge…your business may depend on it.  Try to learn as much as you can about your customers so you can tailor your service approach to their needs (not yours!) and their buying habits.  Listen attentively to their concerns and complaints…they will be doing you a favour if you can correct the problem before you run out of customers!

We regularly send our post job surveys to establish how we could improve our service.  You could do the same by offering a small incentive for your customers to return the survey.
 
4.  Know your products

Conveying knowledge about your products and services will help you win your customers’ trust and confidence.  Try to anticipate the types of questions your customers will ask.
 
5.  Focus on making customers, not sales

Salespeople often, especially those being paid commission, focus on volume instead of the quality of the sale.
Remember, that keeping a customer is often more important than closing the sale.  Research clearly shows that it costs much more to attract a new customer than it does to keep an existing one.
 
6.  Don’t leave customers waiting

Repairs, call backs and emails need to be handled with a sense of urgency.  Most customers want immediate resolution and if you give it them, you’ll probably win their repeat business.  Research shows that 95% of dissatisfied customers will do business with a company again if their complaint is resolved on the spot.

We have a policy that insists that customer emails and calls are responded to within 4 hours. 

Every customer is different, so why treat them all the same?

To start treating customers as individuals, look at how and when they buy. This will help to start putting them into groups and understanding the needs of each group. For example:

1.  High volume / high value buyers…who place frequent large orders
2.  High volume / low value buyers…who place frequent small orders
3.  Low volume / high value buyers…who place occasional large orders
4.  Low volume / low value buyers…who place occasional small orders

Groups of customers who have similar needs or who behave in a similar way are known in marketing as ’segments’. You will probably need to use different marketing techniques and approaches to reach different types of customer. 
 
Now you can identify why each customer segment buys your products and services and what ‘benefits’ they are seeking.  This in turn will help you to target existing and new customers more effectively with specific products and services. As a result you can make better profits. For example, low volume/high value buyers may be more profitable for you than high volume/high value buyers who may continually squeeze you on price. 
 
You deliver benefits through what marketing people call the ‘”marketing mix”. These are essentially the tools of the marketing trade. Your goal here is to define your “unique selling proposition” (USP) - something that truly sets you apart from your competitors.

The basic marketing mix consists of:

1.  Product - the goods and services you are offering, including packaging and service content, such as warranty, after sales.
2.  Price - what the customer pays. Remember that there are different types of prices, such as list prices, discounted prices, and many different ways to arrive at prices. Price may be used to communicate the position and values of the product/service.
3.  Place - how and where the customer obtains the product/service. For example, a catalogue company may allow customers to buy through the catalogue itself, on the company’s web page or through off-the-page advertising.
4.  Promotion - the means and mix of activities used to promote the product or service, for example, advertising, direct marketing, PR, exhibitions and trade shows.

So, take some time to review your current marketing mix and identify if its giving you the best results.

Quite often good public relations (PR) is an essential component of any small business marketing strategy.  Get it wrong and it could cost you a heap of business.

A friend of mine in Sydney sent me this link a few days ago, which demonstrates that even the experts  often get it wrong! 

Take a quick peak here

WARNING:  It’s great viewing but some of the language is blue, so it is not for the faint hearted!  You’ll find some of the best on-air gaffes and links to videos of them all.  

Let me know what you think by posting a comment