SMBs
Next week, I’m heading to the northeast for a week of presentations to local small businesses. My topic? “How to Market Effectively.”
Sounds fairly broad, so I’m narrowing it down to some basics. The first thing I discuss is branding.
What is a Brand?
I’ve written about this many times. A brand is not just your logo, look, or colors. It’s the combination of a customer’s experiences with your business at every touch point along the customer journey.
Your small business’ brand emanates from the mindsets, attitudes, and behaviors of anyone and everyone involved in it. Every word, action, nuance, interaction, story, appearance, etc., has a profound impact on your customers’ experiences.”
(from Beyond Your Logo – 7 Brand Ideas That Matter Most for Small Business Success, © 2015, Elaine Fogel)
Guest Post by Natalie Smith
When customers need help, giving them shaky and unprepared responses will make them wary and irate. Instead, they want an informative and assertive reply, which makes confidence the key to doing good business. Let’s examine some of the ways you can brim with confidence when dealing with customers and increase the quality of the support you give them.
Be Prepared
Being prepared is essential to confidence. The more knowledge you have about a given subject, the more easily you can give sufficient answers and trustworthy advice to your customers.
Learn more about your products and services, and understand why your customers need them. When in doubt, trust your instincts. The last thing you want to say is “I don’t know” – you’ll look unreliable and irritate your customer. Promise that you will find the answer instead. Continue reading
“Without customers, your [small] business would not exist. It’s that simple. Your business success and longevity depend on acquiring and retaining its target customers. You can’t do so without developing and maintaining a customer-centric mindset.” (Beyond Your Logo: 7 Brand Ideas That Matter Most For Small Business Success ©2015)
In keeping with a customer-centric theme this Friday the 13th, here are 7 things you should never do when managing external customers: Continue reading
