The Thriving Small Business

Say This, Not That – 7 Things Retail Businesses Should Not Say To A Customer

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As I was out and about this holiday season shopping, I made a point of supporting small business retail shops.

What I learned through the experience is that many small retail shops undermine their own success by doing silly things that turn off customers – and most likely costing them sales. Read the Full Article →

7 Steps to Creating a Customer Service Strategy

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Thinking through and planning a customer service strategy is critical to the development of a strong service culture.

Organizations need to incorporate customer service into their business goals and those strategies should be incorporated into employee goals to ensure the organization reaches their customer service objectives.

Employees only perform at the level they are managed and it takes great leadership to help employees understand the importance of the customer experience.   Read the Full Article →

Did You Know That There Are 5 Levels of Customer Satisfaction?

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Customer retention is the result of an organization’s ability to create customer loyalty.

This is done by providing the systems, processes and support, to not only keep a customer happy, but to transition them into an advocate for the organization – who is not only loyal but also recruits others. Read the Full Article →

10 Steps to Developing and Managing a Budget

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Having a formal and structured budgeting process is the foundation for good business management, growth and development.

Very similar to our personal finances, discipline and planning should be the cornerstone of a business budgeting process.

So where do we begin?  As with most things that come with managing an organization, budgeting needs to be driven by the vision (what we are trying to accomplish) and the strategic plan (the steps to get there). Read the Full Article →

How to Turn Customer Satisfaction into Customer Loyalty

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Organizations that understand the importance of happy customers, need to think strategically in order to build a loyal customer base.

Successful organizations have learned that there is a difference between attracting customers, keeping customers and developing loyal customers.

Devoted customers are not only loyal to the organization, but also serve as advocates and help to solicit new customers by sharing their positive experiences. Read the Full Article →

8 Steps for Creating a Customer Service System

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Have you ever interacted with an organization that provided great service in one area and terrible service in another?  How can there be such a cultural disconnect in the service that is provided by the same organization? Every interaction a customer has with an organization is an opportunity to win or lose that customer. Read the Full Article →

5 Reasons You Should Welcome Customer Complaints!

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The sad fact is only about 4% of dissatisfied customers complain. If a customer does not complain and has an issue that is not resolved, they are likely to go to the competition.

The worst part about this is that the organization isn’t even aware that there was an issue. The other sad fact is that a dissatisfied customer is more comfortable telling their friends about a bad experience than the organization. Read the Full Article →

Free Customer Comment Card Template

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Businesses rise and fall based on their ability to understand the experience and expectations of their customers.

Assessing your customer needs and expectations is part of managing customer satisfaction.  There are several ways to obtain customer feedback – focus groups, customer satisfaction surveys and text analytics.  But the main goal of a customer comment card process is to capture the customer experience when it is fresh in the customer’s mind. Read the Full Article →

Will Toyota Recover?

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Unless you live in a cave, don’t listen to the news, don’t read the paper and don’t get online, you are aware of Toyota’s current “quality” challenge in dealing with millions of recalled vehicles. The question is, how will Toyota recover from this one?

It’s funny, I’ve never had a Toyota. Read the Full Article →