Local David vs. Big Box Goliath
Local companies can be more than competitive with big box, big chain competitors. Here’s how.
Read MoreThe “Oh Duh” Way to Acquire New Customers
So here’s the headline and the lead of the article… Positive Customer Experience Drives Loyalty, Revenues There is a high degree of correlation between customers’ experiences and their likelihood to recommend a company and consider purchasing more products and services from that company in the future…Source: MarketingCharts.com And when I read it my reaction was “Oh Duh“! Everyone knows that (or should), right? But then it got interesting… How My Dad Taught Me to Increase Revenue My dad was an up-by-his-bootstraps entrepreneur who went from migrant laborer...
Read MoreWhat Your Customers Really Think
Marketing Sherpa provides great information and guidance on what works, and doesn’t, in all aspects of marketing. They recently published a chart reflecting the results of a poll conducted with webinar attendees. The results, if you’re a vendor, should be eye opening. Why do you lose business? Why does your customer loyalty stink? The lie we tell ourselves is that our competitors offered a superior price. The truth? Our service sucks. If you’re into pain, take a look at the following chart and link through to Marketing Sherpa’s analysis (but be forewarned, they only...
Read MoreOnline Retailers Need to Drink Their Own Kool-aid®
Mark Sanborn is a hall of fame speaker and the best selling author of The Fred Factor and You Don’t Need a Title to Be a Leader. He’s also a friend and client. He has a new web site and, in addition to his books and training products, he makes several free resources available. One of them that I highly recommend is called The 10 Commandments of Customer Service: 150 Ideas for Improving Service. Diamonds, gold & rubies abound in this customer service treasury. For example every e- or retailer needs to embrace Idea #47: Flight attendant: “Sir, would you like the chicken...
Read MoreSprint, Customer Service and Wondering if it’s Ever Okay to Fire Your Customers
Is it ever okay to fire your customers? The small or struggling business may gasp in horror, “NEVER!” But the truth is that we fire customers everyday; too often in a passive aggressive manner of being slow to respond, offering shoddy products or delivering sub-par service. You should delight your customers but I think that customers should delight you as well. Otherwise, what’s the point? Oh yeah, money… but sometimes there’s not enough money in the world to make certain customers worth it so why not focus on finding customers that are a delight to delight!...
Read MoreTrack What People are Saying About You, Your Company, Your Products
Don’t be caught off guard by negative reports about you, your company or the products and services you offer. Likewise, don’t fail to take advantage of the positive buzz that the online community generates on your behalf. Failure to track and react to the negative as soon as it appears limits your opportunities to control the damage while not tracking and leveraging the latter can be a waste of golden opportunities. It’s one thing when we say something nice about ourselves, it’s exponentially more powerful when it’s said by an unbiased 3rd party. The web...
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