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

Grandpa Gray Taught Dad to Sell

My dad was an up-by-his-bootstraps entrepreneur who went from migrant laborer as a kid to self-made millionaire by the time he was 40. His formal education ended in the 6th Grade which is where his business education began.

He taught me there were only two ways to increase revenues:

1. Increase sales or
2. Decrease expenses.

He pursued both methods fanatically.

Sell more, spend less. Makes sense but there are ways to sell smarter that make it easier to sell more.

The Secret to Increasing Revenues. NOW!

So what’s the secret to increased sales revealed in the “Oh Duh” report? Simple. Treat the customer in front of you now better. That’s right, oh duh!

So what happens when you treat customers better?

• They buy more
• They don’t go to the competition
• They tell their friends
• They don’t slam you on social media; they might even praise you

How Much Extra Revenue Can You Generate?

How Can You Increase Your Revenues?

I’m extrapolating the numbers to some degree as the report cites the benefits for billion dollar companies which most companies aren’t but if you use their numbers and you’re doing a million dollars in annual revenues, you’ll realize an extra $300-400,000 dollars in revenue over a 3 year period.

What could your business do with an extra $100-200,000 per year? 

Oh, and You’ll Probably Decrease Expenses Too

At least those expenses dedicated to marketing because, as you probably know, a sale to an existing customer costs 6-7 times less than a sale to a new customer.

How I’ll Teach My Son to Increase Revenues

My formula won’t be a whole lot different than my Dad’s. I’ll teach my son that the way to increase revenues and improve profits is to

1. Increase Sales
2. Lower Expenses
3. Improve Your Customer’s Experience

In fact, I’d advise him to work on providing the best experience possible for everybody who interacts with his business: customers, employees, suppliers and prospects.

I love the fact that I can email you, link up with you on Linkedin, like you on Facebook and @reply you on Twitter. I’m thrilled that I can subscribe to your blog and download your free report on 5 ways to fabulous riches online.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I mean it, thank YOU!

Unfortunately, I want to call you.

Archaic, I know, but I want to pick up the phone and ring you up and talk to you about what your business can do for my business and I don’t want to be limited to 140 characters or what my brain can remember to squeeze into an email before my knubby fingers accidentally brush the send key on my lilliputian smart phone’s keypad.

Unfortunate because I spent 10 wasted minutes cruising your website for a phone number to no avail. No phone number, no where. Now I’m cranky, the moment’s lost, I’ll call someone else, maybe someone who feels it’s valuable and appropriate to allow those who so desire to cut to the chase (and cut out all the social chaff) and actually pick up the phone and call them.

Webdesign 101 – Include a Phone Number

Include a phone number on every page, prominently if possible. Don’t assume that people don’t want to call you, often times they do. Often times that’s the only reason they go to your website, to get a phone number. So certainly, include all of the other means to communicate, socially and otherwise, but don’t forget the freak’n phone number!

After all, our whole site is geared to (supposedly) converting visitors to prospects to customers and what better way to convert than to actually engage in an ear-to-ear dialogue.

(By the way, you can call me to discuss how your website converts at (720) 319-8256!)

Call me

And now, back to our regularly scheduled entertainment…

Google, in their never ending quest to make the internet search experience more relevant, not to mention faster, is rolling out Google Instant Previews.

Back Button Joins the Unemployment Ranks

Google Instant Previews provides a magnifying glass to the right of the top line of the search results…

Clicking on the magnifying glass turns the Instant Preview feature on and displays a snapshot of the page along with the search terms outlined on the snapshot page as well as displayed in a call out box. Clicking any ‘preview’ icon turns the feature on for all the listings on the page.

Search Term Used: Best Toaster Ovens

How Does Instant Preview Affect Small Business Search Results?

What do small business (or any size organization) need to understand about the impact of Google Instant Preview?

• Consider how your website appears in the scaled down window that Google Instant Preview provides. Searchers only give you 8 seconds to convince them they’re at the right place when clicking through to your site; how many seconds will they give you when scanning through Instant Previews?One impact I noticed immediately is that Google previews don’t appear to like Flash as shown here:

• Be prepared, I believe, to see your bounce rate drop and a corresponding decline in site traffic – your bounce rate is determined by the number of people who click away immediately after landing on your page. They’ve determined from their initial scan that your site won’t fit their search needs. An example would be a search for a “motivational speaker” that lands you on a “car stereo” site.This is not necessarily a bad thing but if the wrong terms are bringing the wrong traffic to your site, it can be a bit of a downer if you measure site success by overall traffic (never a good idea).
• Better clarity about how your site displays keyword terms and phrases versus your site and, with a little analysis, an opportunity for improvement.

What’s Wrong with this (Internet Explorer) Picture

Interestingly enough, the Google Instant Previews icon was available in my Chrome and Firefox browser but not Internet Explorer. I’m sure it will but an interesting omission for the time being…

I’ve been out of touch recently with good friend and business coach, Elli St. George Godfrey. Elli dispenses business advice to established and would be entrepreneurs at www.abilitysuccessgrowth.com and moderates an interesting and informative Friday Twitter chat for small business owners that can be followed using #kaizenblog.

What’s the (Marketing) Plan

In the course of exchanging emails to arrange some catch-up time, I noticed Elli had added a tag line promoting her forthcoming book titled, “When Life Happens: How Women Business Owners Handle Personal Crisis“. Great premise and I’m sure it’s going to be a great book.

The problem, I noticed, was that while Elli piqued my interest with her tag line there was nothing I could do about it. In other words, there was no link leading me to more information.

Seeing a missed marketing opportunity always fires up my fingers so I sent her the following email:

Noticed your tag line about upcoming book. Do you have a publisher or will you self publish (not sure if you’d told me this before). What’s written so far? Do you have any excerpts that you can drive people to that will build excitement and interest faster than just a “it’s coming” tag line? I looked at your site and found no reference to the book. Are you planning a new website to promote? Have you registered a domain name for the book? Are you reaching out online to mommy bloggers, mompreneur sites and other woman-run sites to build relationships that you can tap when the book is out? I’m very interested in your launch plan.

More (Book) Marketing Advice

If I were advising Elli, I’d suggest that she have at least a page up on her site describing the book and providing links to excerpts if not whole chapters with a mechanism (email, RSS) to subscribe to future updates and social media links to enable visitors to spread the word.

Don’t Wait to Setup Your Social Media Presence

And don’t wait to start developing your social media channels themselves. I’d suggest that she create a Facebook page to support the book and use the Discussions tab to start a dialogue with her potential audience. If she can manage it I’d also have her start a companion group on Linkedin and promote it to working women business owners and other interested parties.

Both these social initiatives could be set up with the mission to provide a resource and create a community for women who are facing or who have surmounted personal crisis while growing or managing a business. Wow! How needed is that?

The fact is that close to 9,000 Business titles were published in 2009 so getting attention, and readers, for yours is a process that has to begin well before the ink is dried on your initial production run.

Listen as Kait shares a little Christmas Spirit with us!

Emmanuelle

Baby It’s Cold Outside with Tom Carassco…