3 ACTIVITIES TO TAKE YOUR BUSINESS TO THE NEXT LEVEL
As an entrepreneur, you are interested in business growth. Regardless of where your business is now, you want it to continue to grow. In this blog post, I will discuss three activities that can move it from good to great.
Create a language around the way that you conduct your business. Corporate language refers to words and phrases that have specific meaning to a company and its employees. These can relate to company goals, visions, or processes. But this is only one aspect of language. Get your customers involved. Create terminology that they can understand and feel comfortable using. Unique jargon will not only help you better communicate with your customers, but it will help your customers, vendors, strategic partners, and employees talk about your business to other people clearly and efficiently.
Apple is a company that has done an amazing job at developing a language around the way they do business. While the terms iPod, iPhone, and iTunes all relate to specific products/services, we can learn a lesson here about how a company's created language can become mainstream. They have trained their staff and their clients in the use of this language with the result that people have become fluent in Apple-speak, and the products and services are now seen as being desirable and valuable.
Design an incredible experience for each customer interaction. In my money service business, I recognize that customers do not come to us only to have their checks cashed. They come because we treat them with honor and dignity, we make them feel special, we respect their engagement and, in many cases, we are the nicest people they will deal with that day. I served 102,000 customers in this business last year, and each one was tracked and evaluated so we can judge ourselves on how well we did with each transaction. The goal? To consistently exceed customer expectations.
You can create something similar. Design an incredible experience for every customer at every touch point. Convey value and make doing business with you a wonderful experience. This is how Nordstrom has earned a reputation for excellent customer service and how Dell has become known as a great source for affordable customized computers. When you combine language and surpassing customer interactions, what can you become known for?
Finally, create a forum for your customers. Improved communication with customers is a huge benefit. Forums are ideal as sounding boards, places for customers to share their experiences and discuss what is important to them. Actively engage them for input/ideas; customers love to be consulted. This can be accomplished with a web forum as part of your website, or it can be a customer comment box in which they leave notes/comments. Never underestimate forums as a place where your customers can become your cheerleaders; watch as they defend your brand and sell for you.
Apple is a great example of putting into practice these three activities. They have created a language around their business, an incredible experience for their client interactions, and a forum that benefits both the company and the customers.
How can implementing these three activities impact your business? If you currently have even one of them in place, please share your experience with me. What has it meant to your business?
Create a language around the way that you conduct your business. Corporate language refers to words and phrases that have specific meaning to a company and its employees. These can relate to company goals, visions, or processes. But this is only one aspect of language. Get your customers involved. Create terminology that they can understand and feel comfortable using. Unique jargon will not only help you better communicate with your customers, but it will help your customers, vendors, strategic partners, and employees talk about your business to other people clearly and efficiently.
Apple is a company that has done an amazing job at developing a language around the way they do business. While the terms iPod, iPhone, and iTunes all relate to specific products/services, we can learn a lesson here about how a company's created language can become mainstream. They have trained their staff and their clients in the use of this language with the result that people have become fluent in Apple-speak, and the products and services are now seen as being desirable and valuable.
Design an incredible experience for each customer interaction. In my money service business, I recognize that customers do not come to us only to have their checks cashed. They come because we treat them with honor and dignity, we make them feel special, we respect their engagement and, in many cases, we are the nicest people they will deal with that day. I served 102,000 customers in this business last year, and each one was tracked and evaluated so we can judge ourselves on how well we did with each transaction. The goal? To consistently exceed customer expectations.
You can create something similar. Design an incredible experience for every customer at every touch point. Convey value and make doing business with you a wonderful experience. This is how Nordstrom has earned a reputation for excellent customer service and how Dell has become known as a great source for affordable customized computers. When you combine language and surpassing customer interactions, what can you become known for?
Finally, create a forum for your customers. Improved communication with customers is a huge benefit. Forums are ideal as sounding boards, places for customers to share their experiences and discuss what is important to them. Actively engage them for input/ideas; customers love to be consulted. This can be accomplished with a web forum as part of your website, or it can be a customer comment box in which they leave notes/comments. Never underestimate forums as a place where your customers can become your cheerleaders; watch as they defend your brand and sell for you.
Apple is a great example of putting into practice these three activities. They have created a language around their business, an incredible experience for their client interactions, and a forum that benefits both the company and the customers.
How can implementing these three activities impact your business? If you currently have even one of them in place, please share your experience with me. What has it meant to your business?
