They Said What?
As business owners most of us would like to think we have a good idea what our customers think of us, our products, and our services. But do we?
How well do we really know what our customers think of what we are doing? Sure, some will verbally tell us if we are doing a great job, and others may tell us just exactly what we are doing wrong, but unless we have a systematic way to capture feedback we could be letting opportunity slip through our hands.
The Need for Anonymous Feedback
For most people telling someone what they are doing right comes fairly easily. We are naturally quick with praise, and if someone has met or exceeded our needs it’s satisfying to tell them so.
However, when the feedback is critical, or improvement focused, that conversation becomes a little more uncomfortable face to face. Don’t think you’re doing everything right just because your customers aren’t complaining. The ones who are dissatisfied are probably “keeping mum” and just not coming back, and never say anything because it is uncomfortable. Thus the need for a way to capture their feedback anonymously.
Why Solicit Customer Feedback
Customer feedback plays an integral role in filling holes in your service model. It not only reinforces what you are doing well, but if collected and used appropriately can help you identify areas of opportunity that you may be missing. Many of our interactions with customers can come across as noise, and if we get feedback on an ad-hoc basis can get lost in the shuffle. We aren’t able to spot trends this way. Having a systematic way to collect the feedback, and cut through the noise is the best way to spot trends in what our customers are saying and then address those trends.
Four Types of Customer Feedback
1. Middle of the Roaders – Most of your customers will be generally happy with your service, they will give you a “B” so to speak.
2. The Evangels - A smaller percentage will think you walk on water, and it will be “A+” all the way with them.
3. We’re all Going to Hell – A very small percentage will use the opportunity to unload pent up aggression they have against the world and will damn you to a life in purgatory, think “F-“ here.
4. The Magical Few - This is where the magic happens. Think of these folks as giving you anywhere from a “D” to a “B-“. Nowhere in the customer feedback spectrum can you make more headway than with this group. They generally like your products and services. They want to shop with you more. They want to give you more money, and they are telling you exactly what you need to do in order to get it.
Focus on the Magical Few
These customers are the absolutely key to growing your business. Spend the majority of your time analyzingwhat they are saying and taking to heart their feedback. They are giving you a gift, don’t let it get away. Do your best to spot trends in their comments, and address those issues in your processes or procedures. You can very easily move somebody whose given you a “C-“ in the “B+” category just by making some small changes, and those changes could result in years of revenue from those customers who may have given up on you if you couldn’t get it together.
How to Get Feedback
If you want good feedback, and lots of it, the mechanism you use to get it will be important. The more automated you can make it, the quicker for the customer to give it, and the more relevant what you are surveying the better. There are numerous ways to get feedback. Not the least of which are online surveys, in store questionnaires, mailed surveys, website voting/surveying, etc.
The survey choice you choose should be the one that fits your business model the best while adhering these four keys the closest
Four Keys to Successfully Getting Customer Feedback
1. Anonymous
For feedback to get from the customer to you, an anonymous system needs to be in place. As stated above, many people will not feel comfortable telling you face to face what you need to improve on. Have a system that captures feedback, without being confrontational for the customer.
2. Easy
The easier the mechanism is to get the feedback, the more you will get. To get the most feedback possible from your customers you’ll need it to be quick and easy on their end. Anything that takes them longer than 5 minutes to complete will lower your collected responses considerably.
3. Timely
Feedback needs to be collected from your customer in a timely fashion. Don’t send them a survey in the mail three months after they made a purchase. The closer to the time of service the more accurate the responses will be.
4. Relevant
You want your survey questions to be as short and relevant as possible. Spend time thinking about what you want to know from your customers. How you will craft the questions will play a part in the responses you get. Seek consultation in the writing of the survey if need be, it’s important that your phrasing and format be suitable to your customer base and what you are trying to query them on.
Final Words
Feedback is imperative for business owners to receive. Sometimes you’ll get face to face feedback, but that is the tip of the iceberg compared to what you will find out by giving your customers an avenue to tell you what they think in an anonymous fashion. Knowing what feedback to pay the most attention too, and then addressing those issues can be a huge revenue booster for your business for years to come. However as you build your own format of collecting customer feedback, keep in mind you need to be ready to hear what they have to say and then act on it.
Photo Credits:bfelice
5 Dangerous Trends Facing Small Business in 2009
The following presentation based on research by the Empire Research Team looks at what they perceive to be the 5 most dangerous trends facing small business in 2009.
I agree with the overall theme of the presentation, but also look at it with an objective eye. Overall I think they do a good job here at identifying risk areas for all business that we should keep on our radar.
What Are The Five Dangers?
- Fighting the clutter factor
- Customers leaving you for perceived indifference
- Lagging behind in technology
- Increasing marketing cost with decreased effectiveness
- Increasing competition
What do you think the biggest dangers are for small business in 2009?
Twitter Fest Friday – Jan 09, 2009
We’ve been talking a bit lately on this website about differentating your business as a way to compete, and about building your personal brand, and thought I would see what the Twiiterverse thought about the subject. As usual I got some very good replies!
Friday January 09, 2009
What differentiates you? What makes you different?
childsi: @SmallBizBee we’re a brand new charity and a community, we are looking for open dialogue with our supporters not a one-way conversation http://www.childsifoundation.org/
keylimecreative: @SmallBizBee I’m not just here to do design – I’m here to help you succeed. Clients often marvel at the fact that I have given them so many Ideas and spent a great deal of time with them to figure out what they really need. what they want and what they need to succeed is usually 2 very different things. http://www.keylimecreative.ca/
AlignedDeb: RT @SmallBizBee: Question: What differentiates you? What makes you different? My site is orange. 
and … I speak easy speak not UX s … http://www.alignedstructures.com/
CFOwise: @SmallBizBee what if what makes you different is impossible to replicate into a sustainable business model? http://www.cfowise.com/
blukentucky: @SmallBizBee guess I’m pretty ordinary … not too spectacular http://www.blukentucky.com/
andrawatkins: @smallbizbee I take natural right brained creativity and combine it with trained left brain analytical skills to help small biz clients grow http://www.positusonline.com/
pinkbrickroad: @SmallBizBee – Always wanting to know more, learn more and try more. http://www.creatingabuzz.ca/
toptomato: @smallbizbee I value quality over quantity and speed in both my design work and my personal life. http://www.tomatographics.com/
YML: @SmallBizBee A: We are a network of some of the best mkt. firms in the US. So, we can offer options that are truly client based. http://www.yourmarketinglab.com/
giazzpet: @SmallBizBee I play jazz flute and Renaissance music – hmm ren jazz? jazzren? not sure 
oh wait, plus I’m cute http://www.giazzworld.blogspot.com/
purplepopple: @SmallBizBee Scope. Statistics. Size. Rules. That is what makeshttp://www.fanhistory.com/ different. http://fanhistory.com/wiki/User:Laura
zheller: @SmallBizBee a never ending desire to learn and try new things http://www.zachheller.com/
Thanks to all who took part in this weeks Twitter Fest Friday, we’ll see you next week!
Just Give Them The Pickle!
A couple days ago I found myself in a situation where I was forced to watch one of those cheesy, poorly lit, low budget videos on customer service.
The “star” was a guy who appeared to be in his 70’s and needless to say I was not looking forward to the presentation.
Only one thing surprised me, the video was great!
If you ever get a chance to watch the film featuring Bob Farrell called “Give’em the Pickle”, it will get you thinking about how you are giving customer service. Last I looked the DVD sold for $895, but you’re in luck that you can get the Cliff Note version here, absolutely free.
Pre-Pickle
Bob is an entrepreneur who started a chain of ice cream parlors in the 1960’s, the first of which being in Portland, OR and was a raving success. Customers were lining up for Bob’s ice cream and hamburgers. He was
becoming known as the place for a great meal, and word quickly spread and Bob’s empire grew.
Within five years Bob had six stores, all going great guns, and he began to franchise operations, eventually selling out to the Marriot Corporation in 1973 when he had 55 ice cream parlors total.
The Pickle Incident
As a young entrepreneur, with only one store open at the time, something happened to Bob that forever changed the way he approached customer service, and became the bedrock to all of his success.
He received a letter from a customer that went something like this:
Dear Mr. Farrell
I love your restaurant and have eaten there many times. Your hamburgers are the best, the ice cream is top notch, and the fact that you sang Happy Birthday to my kid made a memory he won’t forget. However, I have to tell you of an incident that happened last time we were in your restaurant. I asked for an extra pickle on my hamburger, which I’ve gotten many times before, and was told there would an additional fee of .50 for another pickle. I was shocked an appalled that you could no longer just put an extra slice of pickle on my sandwich, and you were going to nickel and dime me. I hate to say it, but if this is how you are going to treat your loyal customers I will not be back!!
Mr. Unhappy Customer
The Aftermath
It didn’t take Bob but a second to figure out that he may have lost a customer for life because a waitress wanted to charge .50 for a pickle that cost Bob next to nothing.
He quickly trained the staff to not quibble over things as trivial as a pickle, that making the customer happy was the priority. And soon thereafter whenever a worker at Bob’s restaurant was not wanting to do something a customer requested the mantra became “Just give them the pickle!”
Not only that, but this incident shaped the way Bob approached customer service, adding value, and crafting an experience that stayed with him throughout his career.
He learned his customer’s names. He sang to kids on their birthday and gave them free sundaes. He righted every wrong immediately. He treated every customer like his first customer.
And most importantly:
He didn’t treat people how he would like to be treated, he treated people how they liked to be treated.
Who Are Your Customers, Really?
Bob’s opinion on who a customer is struck me as well. Your customer is your boss!
They pay your mortgage, buy the boat in your driveway, put your kids through college, and ensure you have a comfortable retirement. Your customers pay for all of those niceties in your life. They are in charge, not you. You are there to serve them, they are not there to serve you.
The Takeaway
We all have “pickles” we can give our customers. Some of the things we can give them to make them feel valued may not cost a dime. Other “pickles” may cost the business owner something, but as Bob found out he would rather have the customer come back over and over again by giving them a .50 pickle than never coming back at all.
Take a few minutes to think about what pickles you can give your customers. And do you think of your customers as a means to your end, or as the person you are reporting too? For the sake of your future business success I hope you start giving out pickles, and keeping the boss happy.
Have you given out any pickles recently?
Photo credits: StormySleep, KB35
The Only Piece of Advice You’ll Ever Need
When I was 15 years old I worked in a shoe store. My boss at the time may not have been the most astute businessperson, but he gave me a piece of advice that I’ve never forgotten, and one that may be the only thing I’ve needed to know to get ahead in business.
“Keep doing what you’ve always done and you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got”.
That one phrase has stuck with me through the years, and has proved a reminder whenever I feel myself getting a little complacent, that if I’m not getting the results I want it’s most likely because I’m “doing what I’ve always done”, yet expecting more than “what I’ve always gotten”.
For those of you who want more from your business, or who want to startup your first business, think about this phrase. In my opinion in it lies the reason many people never obtain the level of success they want, or never take that all important first step to start the business they’ve always dreamed of.
It’s not only easy, but comfortable, doing what you’ve always done. Yet if your business isn’t growing at the rate you wish it would, or you just can’t seem to bring yourself to start your own business, think about if it’s because you’re currently doing what you’ve always done. I’d bet for a lot of you that is exactly the case.
Getting outside your comfort zone is something you will have to do often and consistently to make it as an entrepreneur. In fact, if you are ever going to get “comfortable” with something in your life, make it being outside your comfort zone.
Neil Patel recently said on his blog:
Learn to not be comfortable – staying inside of your comfort zone will stop you from experiencing new things. I know it gets scary when you get out of your comfort zone, so just take baby steps by doing something small every month that you would normally be terrified to do. After a few months, start doing bigger things until you learn to fully get out of your comfort zone.
And there couldn’t be more valuable advice to an entrepreneur, or would be entrepreneur. Consistently pushing yourself out of a comfort zone will lead to growth, in business, and as a person that will propel you towards success like no other tool or piece of advice I can offer you.
Quit being okay with doing what you’ve always done, and getting what you’ve always gotten. The magic happens on the fringe, so step out there and take a look around.
Photo credit: chelseagirl
Competitive Game Changing with Social Media
A couple days ago we talked about a main ingredient to your success as a business being differentiation from your competition. Breaking away from the crowd, and standing out in the minds of your customer can be a real driver in taking your business to the next level. Today Steven Reeves offers up his suggestions and take on how businesses can use social media to help differentiate and separate themselves from their competitors.
For those of us in “me too” markets differentiation can be a real problem.This is particularly true in the business services sector, where the majority of start-ups are, but it’s also true of any product or service which moulds to fit individual client requirements.
Competitive Advantage
Our competitive advantage isn’t that we help people buy property, or broker mortgages, or design/build web sites. It’s in the way we do it. The ways we help the client understand what’s important, and what isn’t. The ways we use our expertise to minimize client costs, and risks. The ways we commit to client satisfaction, in order to build those on-going relationships that bring us repeat orders and referrals.
When our competitive advantage resides in our ability to add value, it’s awful hard to stand out from the crowd. Everybody claims to do the same. Using our marketing pages to describe it just positions us alongside everybody else. Explaining how we do it in that little Adwords box is close to impossible.
Marketing sites and paid search advertising do nothing to help us stand out from the crowd.
Changing The Game
But the Social Media sites are an entirely different proposition. They provide us with a platform for really demonstrating profiles, personalities and expertise that doesn’t exist in the traditional marketing media, and for the moment at least they’re free of charge.
These Social Media sites (there are thousands) give us the opportunity to meet lots of new people, some of whom will be prospective customers/clients and others who will know people who are looking for what we offer. They probably aren’t looking to buy right now, but when they do, we can be established as a credited, and differentiated, provider. That’s a whole lot better than being just another Ad in Google’s paid search results.
However, that isn’t the point of this particular post. For the moment we’re talking about credibility and differentiation.
Linked In Example
For the purposes of the article we can limit the discussion to Linked In, but depending on our business there are other sites offering the same kind of opportunities, including Xing, Facebook, and literally 1,000s of Ning and Collective X sites. The really advanced thinkers can add Twitter to the list, but that’s a different subject we’ll get to later.
As people who have accounts with Linked In will know, joining is as simple as registering with an email address and password.
The site immediately offers to search existing accounts for people we already know (via our address book) and invite those it finds to “connect” with us. It also offers to email invitations to our contacts who aren’t already registered, asking them to join.
Next we create our “profile” summarizing our career, education and interests. We can add our blog addresses and Linked In automatically fetches and displays our recent posts. Then we can ask our contacts to write recommendations on our profile and publish the testimonials we want visitors to see.
Within a few minutes, our entire profile is up and running, and our network starts to build. We have our value proposition summarized on one page for anybody to visit, and we can direct others we meet to find out about us, sending them the link to our public profile. Check mine out at http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevensreeves
This differentiates us from the competition, demonstrates our expertise and confirms our capabilities. We’re somebody – not just another three line Ad.
More than Just Networking
Moving on, we can join groups of like minded individuals, ask other members questions and answer others requests for help. We meet new people and spread our sphere of influence this way.
But for the purposes of this post at least, most importantly we can demonstrate our value add. This isn’t like a few “me too” lines – it’s real answers to real questions and lets the real “me” show through.
Even if we don’t meet new contacts to work with we still have somewhere to send people who are interested in knowing more about us.
We no longer need to “sell” ourselves, just invite people to find out about us.
A well thought out and presented profile on Social Media sites illustrates who and what we are, as individuals, and the business offer comes along for the ride.It creates a whole new competitive advantage and changes the rules of the game.
Steve has spent 30+ years in sales and marketing, in Software, Consulting, Outsourcing, Hardware and even Agricultural machinery.
Together with his son, Gareth, he’s built Front Office Box, the Web 2.0 answer to a salesman’s prayers. Gareth, based in Chicago, is an expert in Extreme Programing, Agile Development, Ruby on Rails and a lot more. The pair decided to combine their skills in software with understanding of how sales people work and create something special – software that just does, and stays out of your way. Front Office Box is the Web 2.0 response to old generation software – simple, elegant, functional, intuitive.
Now, with a team comprising the best designers and developers on the web, Front Office Box is leading the way for business applications combining the best of best business practice with social media tools and techniques.
Twitter: @Frontofficebox
photo credit: www.lumaxart.com
Featured Entrepreneur: Romy Taormina of PSI Bands
Sometimes in business we can make things too difficult. Our latest featured entrepreneur should demonstrate to us all that successful businesses boil down to seeing a need and filling it. Romy Taormin of Psi Bands has done just that. Finding a solution for symptoms affecting 1/2 of all women during pregnancy is not just good for your health and wellness, it’s good for business too.
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Extremely generous offer: Romy has agreed to give away one pair of Psi bands to a lucky Smallbizbee.com reader…keep reading to find out how you can win some FREE product!
What are Psi Bands?
Psi Bands are acupressure wrist bands for the relief of nausea due to morning sickness (pregnancy), motion sickness/travel, anesthesia, and chemotherapy. They are drug free, waterproof (no more soggy wrist bands), adjustable around the wrist and at the acupressure point for personalized comfort, reusable, affordable, and stylish!
When did you start the business?
Psi Bands launched in October 2007.
How did you get the idea?
We suffered from terrible morning sickness during our pregnancies. We found relief from wrist acupressure but were dissatisfied with existing products on the market. We wanted something “more” for others who suffer from nausea, so we created Psi Bands.
What sources did you use to fund your biz?
Personal funds as well as a business line of credit. Our bank could see the potential in us and our product.
What was the biggest startup challenges?
Psi Bands are a medical device so we needed to obtain FDA clearance, and set up systems to maintain compliance.
How did you overcome those challenges?
We hired a firm who specializes in regulatory compliance consulting. As a business owner, it’s important to identify your strengths and capitalize on those, and also to know when to ask for assistance.
What has been the response/reaction?
Amazing! We are selling nationally at Rite Aid, Longs Drugs, REI, Pharmaca, Amazon, drugstore.com, TravelSmith, etc., and recently launched internationally with our CE certification. We have received considerable press, including the coveted “O, the Oprah Magazine”. www.psibands.com/press
Best advice you can give to a new startup?
Love what you do and believe in yourself and your idea.
Biggest lesson you’ve learned from all of this?
Take one step at a time.
What’s the future look like for Psi Bands?
Great. We are landing new accounts both nationally and internationally, driving consumer awareness through the press, and adding on to our team.
In one word, what’s the key to success?
Perseverance.
What inspires you to do what you do?
We are fulfilled by helping others. We do this by providing a product that provides relief to the very common and debilitating problem. We help to inspire entrepreneurs, especially female entrepreneurs (Romy has a blog on Savor the Success: http://www.savorthesuccess.com./member/romy-taormina/blog). And, we donate to our charitable partner, Fertile Hope, a national nonprofit that provides information, hope, and resources to cancer patients and survivors whose medical treatments present the risk of infertility. $1 of every Cherry Blossom Psi Bands set sold goes to support Fertile Hope. Psi Bands and Fertile Hope are working together toward a common goal – improving the lives of both cancer patients and those who parenting dreams are coming true. www.psibands.com/giving
How to Win a Free Psi Band
Winning a free set of Psi Bands really can’t be simpler. All you need to do is tweet an @ Reply to Romy that says the following:
@RomyTaormina Saw you on Smallbizbee.com
and you will be entered into a drawing for one free set of Psi Bands. You need to be following @RomyTaormina and tweet the above no later than 12am, EST on January 12 to be entered. We will draw for the winner “semi-live” here at Smallbizbee.com on January 13, 2009. Not only is Romy the kind of entrepreneur you’ll want to be following anyway, but free stuff is always good so it’s a double win!
Carla Falcone and Romy Taormina are former advertising executives who are now Psi Bands Co-Founders/”Mompreneurs”.
Want to be our next Featured Entrepreneur? Contact Us!
The One Word Many Business Owners Don’t Understand
Notice anything about the photo to the left here? Does anything stick out just a little more than the others?
Differentiate
Take a moment to look at businesses in your niche and I bet you will see the majority of them doing the same thing, selling the same product, and offering the same services, in essentially the exact same way. Yet when asked, these same businesses will have a hard time telling you why their results are nearly the same as everyone else’s.
This doesn’t mean that you and your competitors can’t offer similar goods and services. Quite the opposite actually. You most likely will have the same offering for your target market, but something needs to get into the head of your consumer to make them choose you.
Consider This
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My point here is that you don’t need to have a completely unique product, idea, or service…but the way you bring that product, idea, or service to market better be unique enough to stand out, yet similar enough to sell.
The Law of Familiarity and Diminishing Returns
The law of familiarity states that
“as consumers become more familiar with a product or service the rate of return to the producer of that product or service will diminish over time”
What this means is that the more mainstream your offering is, the more you are going to have to work to differentiate yourself in order to make above average profits.
Example: You Don’t Need to Invent the Shoe
When the first shoe was created and sold I am sure consumers went giddy over it, and it was sold/traded for obscene prices. But over time we have become pretty familiar with shoes, and as such the opportunity for above average returns has diminished.
Enter Nike.
Nike differentiated themselves in the shoe business, took a product that has been around almost as long as humans have walked upright, and brought the “WOW” factor back to it. What do they get for their efforts to differentiate? They get the privilege of selling tennis shoes for $150 to lines of individuals eager to pay such a price.
Granted some of you will be lucky enough to be inventing today’s version of the shoe and you will experience astronomical returns by comparison to the rest of us, but you’re certainly in the minority.
Keep it Simple, But Know Your Edge
Differentiation doesn’t need to be on a grand scale. You don’t need to be so weird or out of the ordinary that people remember you. But you do need to know what your edge is, and how you are differentiated from the competition.
In fact you will be best served by being familiar enough to consumers that they know what you are about, yet different enough to stay in their minds. Much like the picture at the beginning of this post, all very alike but one just a little bit different.
Lastly: If you aren’t sure what sets you apart from the competition, figure it out quickly. If nothing sets you apart…figure out what will even quicker.
14 Questions to Ponder When Building Your Personal Brand
If you are looking for a blog post that gives you all the answers, you’re going to be sorely disappointed in this one. As I was reading a post over at PeiProfit.com on branding, it got me thinking about how and why it is important to build a personal brand. And as I thought through the “how’s” and “why’s” I found I was asking myself more questions than I was answering, and therein was the learning for me.
Below is a list of questions I came up with when thinking about building a personal brand. Possibly I will follow up with some answers, but for now I think I will just leave you with questions.
Questions to Ponder When Building Your Personal Brand
What is my passion?
What is my purpose?
Am I unique?
What am I already known for?
Am I influential?
Can I gain influence?
How am I perceived?
Can I alter the perception of me?
What makes me authentic?
What is my vision for me?
What is my mission?
What does my brand say about me?
What do I want my brand to say about me?
What am I doing to strengthen my brand?
Am I missing something? Please add it in the comments section.
Photo credit: Stéfan’s photostream
Three Sides to Social Media Effectiveness
Often we see businesses having a hard time negotiating the social media landscape, and missing the crux of what they are trying to accomplish.
Social media is not a sales mechanism, it’s a relationships mechanism that will eventually drive sales. All other aspects of the business will fall into place if you build the relationship effectively.
Key Point: The goal of using social media for your business is to listen to what your customers are saying in order to facilitate a two-way conversation between yourself and them.
So what areas should your social media efforts focus on for that two-way conversation to take place?
It All Boils Down to This
Attract
One side of the social media triangle is devoted to attraction. By interacting with your target market, networks, or customers you will be building a reputation and attracting attention to your product, brand or cause.
Attraction happens in many ways.
- Be interesting
- Be human – be a real person
- Have a point of view
- Have an exciting product or service
- Be helpful
- Become a trusted expert
Engage
Social media is about conversations and engagement. This is quite possibly the most important side of the triangle.
Social media is not a one way communication channel between you and your customers, and if you treat it as such you will never reach the kind of engagement necessary for social media to be effective in your business.The more you can engage the folks you are doing business with, the more successful your social media campaign will be.
How do you engage?
- Ask questions
- Ask for feedback
- Initiate action
- Be conversational
- Provide value, give more than you get
Effective engagement is built around the two-way value exchange
Retain
Retention should be a natural byproduct of doing the two parts above effectively. Once you attract attention to your business, and engage those individuals, they most likely will want to stick with you, if you’ve taken the time to foster the relationship.
Remember: The goal of social media is to build lasting relationships with those who chose to have the conversation with you.
