Every business in this generation is being hit with a variety of challenges. It would be easy to just roll over and sink. Sadly many companies are even getting to the point where simply surviving has become their daily mode of operation. They’re cutting their marketing budget, laying off people and, unfortunately, worrying about their bottom line more than they do the customer.
But the customer matters more than anything, and, believe it or not, customers and clients aren't as hard to reach as you might think.
You just have to focus on the customer, and the customer only. It isn't new advice, but it resonates now more than ever. Good old fashioned business works online and in social media because it revolves around people more than anything. It doesn’t depend on pictures, links or making sure your advertisement is mentioned 87 times in a week. It puts the customer at the focus of things and makes serving them the number one priority in the company.
As a small business owner or even a corporation that is looking for some ‘revival’ to take place in your culture, take a look at how you got to where you are. Never forget what initially made the customer feel the most important, don’t forget the long nights of coming up with unique ways to stand out so people felt special. These strategies last even as everyone else rolls over and cries, “Economic crisis!”
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Has the going gotten rough? Try these three strategies for growing your business instantly, but putting your focus back on the customer.
Have a conversation. Use social media to stretch your ad dollars by engaging directly with your clients. Don’t depend on automated tools to do the work for you. You want ROI? Then have a relationship with your customers, just like the merchants of old did many years ago over a countertop.
Talk back. That’s an ingenious idea. Stop tweeting and posting and sending out your sales message 800 times a week. Care about people. Talk back to them! Real engagement is not how often your link gets clicked or your picture gets liked, it’s about people caring enough to verbally answer, engage and have relationship with you.
Hit the stationery store. Want to increase customer loyalty and your email open rates? Then send out a handwritten thank you card to every single person who buys something from you, even if it’s a digital product. What you do daily with your clients influences your email campaigns.
It’s important to be the one sender that they LOVE to receive mail from. Be the one they can’t wait to hear from, just like a good friend. Your company's emails should be a favorite. We want to hear customers say things like, “I have a special folder for your emails so I don’t miss a thing!” This means you won, and your open rates will tell the rest.
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Obsess about them. Want to blow the socks off of your competitors and increase your sales? Then start obsessing about your customers and quit worrying about your bottom line all day. Your customers are your bottom line. Ignore them and you have a beautiful recipe for failure.
This whole “be less and don’t compete and just be content with where you are” is a pathetic scheme to disable the entrepreneurial spirit from our world. You were created to fight.
Life is not a playground. It is a battlefield. Inside every entrepreneur is a dream that if pursued and won, and I believe with all of my heart, the entire world benefits from this. This is about more than just dollars and ROI, it’s about economic change, creating jobs and creating a better world. The wealth will follow the entrepreneurs who resist the status quo and do everything they can to serve well.
Be more as a company. Your customers deserve it.
Related: Why Faith Belongs In Your Workplace