Love Your Customers. Engage.

UPDATE: 

Taking a look back at past articles I have posted on this blog has been interesting. While not much has changed from a strategic viewpoint, the environment around us has definitely changed. Who could have predicted that Facebook would be the place whole families connected online - even grandma and pop! 

Engaging with customers who are online and those who are in their social circle and could be your next customer, has never been so easy. Small business has never had the leverage they do now to spread their message - and I don't mean advertisements - and attract people who love what they do. 

Yet many small business still have no real website that has the capacity to work for them in this way. The changes that would make them function are often not big, but they are significant changes in so far as how well they work. The look of the website may not even be changed, though most websites tend to be poorly designed visually and with respect to functional navigation layout. Sadly few have much in the way of quality, relevant writing that is on target for their product and customer demographic. 

In other words - they have nothing that someone looking for that information and to buy - will find from those stores. They have not bothered to make it available - not to Google, and so not to customers. 

Facebook for business pages, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, your blog - all of these have the capacity to drive traffic to your website - people who are interested in your product. See my articles on Blogging for business for more information.

Please, let this be the year you get that sorted for the sake and welfare of your business. - Lindy

The social media world is abuzz with messages on how the future is all about caring for customers and your network, showing you care and being authentic in our engagement with people online.

I see this and I know it's true, and I wonder if this should give me hope that business will soon come to understand this too.

Now while I'm prone to be optimistic, I am perhaps not optimistic enough to expect that this will happen for the great majority of businesses. More than that, I predict a great many businesses will continue to not 'get it' at all, and will keep doing what they are doing, without regard for the changing face of business and the new way that people are coming to expect to deal with businesses as they look to buy goods and services.

For the smart business owners, they will realise The Jig Is Up... and if they want to be relevant to customers, if they want to have their loyalty and their ongoing business, then they have to smarten up the way they do business. The smart ones, will do just that. And in doing that, they can own that segment of the local business, if that's what they want and if that's what they incorporate into a strategy to accomplish this as an outcome.

Enter the era of Engagement. Well it isn't such a new era. Years ago my parents opened a corner shop to let them earn money when my eldest brother was hospitalised for quite a long time. The corner store was a great example of local business engaging and relating to local customers and responding to the market. The shopkeeper was a part of the community and 'they knew where you lived', so your reputation was important, as was your ability to provide a service model that accomodated the needs of your customers and made your business an integral component of their day-to-day life.

In 2010 that's still the way it is. I hear business owners say "customers aren't loyal any more". And they are probably right. Customers have no reason to keep coming back to your store if you aren't providing them something different in the experience. If you train your customers to just look for discount prices, then guess what? They will find the stuff cheaper somewhere else. Probably at a big box store that can buy supplies cheaper than you can. So there is no future in that kind of selling model. What the big box stores can't do - and the family business can - is provide expertise, and engagement and responsiveness. The family business can determine to be the best in their particular field, sell stuff that is worth the price to buy and be there when things go wrong, to make them right again. That's what business can do - and that's what business will do... if it wants to stay in business in this new economy.

But that's not all bad. And technology lets us not only provide this expertise and superior service model in our local downtown area, but potentially, across the internet to those people who want what you specialise in. If you set your business up well, you can sell your stuff to people close by - and people not so close by, but who want what only you can do.

So what is the 'takeaway' from this? Simply this.

If you want your business to be vital into the future you need to start approaching it as a business. Understand the way the market works and you make sure you have:

• A clear Vision for what you want to achieve
• Communicate that Vision to your employees, friends, partner, and customers
• a strategy of your own to follow in implementing your vision
• actions and steps in place to deliver what you promise
• methods in place to monitor and track your progress
• a clear understanding of who your competitors are - and
• what strategy they are using.

It's not good enough now to just turn up each day and do what you do. Think. Plan. Take Action. Engage.

That's what will keep your business healthy in the new economy.

Oh and one final thing. If you don't love your customers ... get out of business now.

Related posts

Nurture your customers - how and why
Businesses are hiding online and nobody can find them
Business articles on social media and online marketing 
How this clothing business in an Australian country town started selling to the world

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Networking Imposters

Okay it seems like time to raise an issue that's been on the periphery forever but never seems to be brought into clear focus or get a mention. Networking is about more than just following people, or getting on their mailing list or showing up as a connection.

Networking - For What Purpose?

There is really only one reason that people network. To enhance their business opportunities. Yet the reality is that a lot of what passes for networking is about swapping cards and telling people about what we do. Often... and I might say most often... to people who are not there to advance your opportunities, only their own.

You see the problem.


Without a willingness to be of value to others, we are pretending to be networking. If we are not genuinely interested and willing to find some way to add value to those with whom we are networking, then we are really impersonating networkers and that leads us to being little more than networking imposters.

Imagine a network or an event for networkers... where 90% of the people have no plan or strategy for helping other members present.

What would you call that? I call it a waste of time. And it is happening at network after network, at event after event.

Lots of glad-handling. Lots of talking big. Precious little actual energy going into taking some proactive steps to advance the relationship in a practical way.

I don't know the reason for this lack of action but I have a hunch that for many, the reason is that there is no clear strategy for people to take to do something useful to advance their networking relationships.

Even in highly structured networking groups, where we are called to remember to "give first" this can often play out as "You give first" and that's really not the intention.

There are some myths that get trotted out too, from time to time.



A favourite Grand Myth, is that of "The Big Opportunity"

People love to tell you about their wonderful plans and how you can be involved, and you can be part of it too... Just spend your time getting involved in helping them to bring their grand plan to life and you'll be there in the thick of it when it comes to fruition.

Guess what?

No you won't.

And the chances are neither will they.

There will probably be nothing come of this and in the meantime you'll have wasted untold hours putting effort in to someone else's dream for nothing.

If what you do is valuable, then it is worth getting paid for. Something.

There is no business that you need to support above your own business.

That's the first rule to set for yourself.


Business Or Charity?

If they have nothing to pay you, in money or in kind that is valuable to you, then consider this a donation to charity.

It will be your donation to charity, and if you think this worthy to donate to, then go ahead, but don't for a moment confuse it with business.

Or expect a return on your investment.

And of course, this applies to you too. Don't expect people to work for you on a promise. Be better than that. If your business or your idea needs help to get going, pay the money. That's just a cost of doing business.


Of course I would... BUT

Perhaps the greatest networking myth of all is this one.


"I have to get to know you before I can refer business to you."

While that is true to a point, we don't want to refer people to known crooks, it is also a great excuse to do nothing.

How do you really get to know how good someone is?

You do some business with them or introduce them to someone who might be a good connection for them or might need their services.

Until you do that, it doesn't matter what you know about them, you won't know how they handle that situation, till you give them one to handle.

Until you do that, nothing happens.


When you collaborate effectively and with full intention, and actions to match and when you all do that... nothing can stop you.

What strategy will you use?





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