SimpleBiz360™ Podcast

Sounds like a funny question right? Well I just ran into a very strange situation a few months ago, and I feel compelled to share it. I was leaving a voice message for a vendor when I heard a bunch of F-bombs coming from him as I was leaving my message. Apparently, the vendor never stopped recording, and it eventually captured an inter-office business conversation laced with vendor F-bombs. The F-bombs start revealing themselves about 10 seconds after the vendor voice message finishes, but the caller never hears a beep prompting the caller to start leaving their message. Imagine how many customers, or better yet, potential customers, have heard this, but never said anything to the vendor. I called the vendor to let him know, and he was flabbergasted. Maybe it’s time to check your voice message. Keep listening to make sure it doesn’t contain something potentially embarrassing, or damaging to business opportunities. Support the show

In today’s world, so many buyers have one eyebrow up when they meet with vendors. A classic, and easily detectable mistake is when vendors rely on assertions instead of claims. What’s the difference? A claim is a statement that can be backed up with evidence, and an assertion is a baseless statement with little, to no evidence as back up. Where do you and your customer facing teams fall? Maybe it’s time to make sure that you’re using claims instead of assertions?Support the show

I learned a valuable, and painful lesson years ago. I met three customers for important lunch, and for the second time, I was 15 minutes late. Little did I know that the leader of the customer group was an ex-marine, and punctuality was a standard operating procedure for him. As I greeted everyone and sat down… I got my head handed to me. From that day on, I have worked diligently on trying to be punctual in business. It’s probably one of my biggest weaknesses in business, and life. I constantly try to get better at it. What say you? Where do you fall in the spectrum of punctuality? What improvements can you make?Support the show

This concept may get a chuckle or two. However, this operating tenant is often times skimmed over in the board rooms and training rooms. The customer experience is set on the right axis if the vendor displays genuine politeness. This is especially important in the first 30 seconds of a business relationship. Starting the transaction, and continuing the transaction with the common thread of politeness will enhance positive reviews for each customer experience. It’s simple, yet grossly overlooked. Maybe it’s time to find out what your customers think of you? Don’t be shy… ask the question and be prepared to be a little shocked.Support the show

Customers find great comfort when their vendors operate in patterns that are consistent, and good for the customer. Inconsistency is one of the most common occurrences in business today. The companies that flourish are those that operate with a set of standard operating procedures that becomes an insurance policy for consistency.Support the show

Successful businesses don’t live on the extremes where people either really like you, or really dislike you. Successful businesses, learn how to win the middle staying away from the exterior. Utilizing the tenants of professionalism is the best way to avoid the traps of being on the outer edges. Winning the middle acts is like an insurance policy that leads to healthy repeat and referral customers levels.Support the show

Business streakers are fast operators who vanish just before they get the project ball across the finish line. These enthusiastic beginners magically disappear at critical times. As a result, customer projects yawn past expected completion dates, and the streaker fails to answer crucial phone calls, emails, text messages, or knocks on the door. Poof! Gone! Nowhere to be found! Then all of a sudden, like an unexpected sand storm, the streaker reappears to frantically bring the project across the finish line with a flurry of issues, mistakes and excuses. If you are a company leader, we encourage you to locate your streakers, and then STOP them before they ruin your company. Retrain them if possible, or remove them. This is why customers detest business streakers. Customers want even-keeled project management that avoids streaky service hampered by problems!Support the show

We are going to flip the tables and talk about customers for one minute. As vendors attempt to provide quality services, questions may arise that need customer input, or direction. The customers can be both invoice-paying customers, or internal associates. Regardless, I have watched many transactions travel through time-wasting, and money-wasting rapids that could have been avoided with expedient, and comprehensive customer feedback. Do you want smooth and timely transactions? Okay, then answer 100% of the questions you are asked, and answer them with punctuality! Quality transactions are usually paid for with the two-sided, customer/vendor coin. Support the show

This can be a fun, simple and productive exercise. Start by asking yourself for the top three things that irritate you when you purchase something? Then, hunt within your own company to see if these pain points exist within your operational structure. Once found, eradicate them and replace them with customer-pleasing services. Do this exercise periodically, and turn your lemons into saleable lemonade.  Support the show

Design well. Manufacture to exceed expectations. Take no shortcuts. Audit properly. Audit regularly. Be the customer. Constantly improve. Imagine if you were to run your company with these seven principals? The result could be a premium price that you explain once, and that is defended by exceptional deliverables.Support the show

Do you want to deliver a pleasant surprise to your customers? Do you want to look fresh and exciting to customers? If so, all you have to do is take ownership of you actions, and retire the societal trend of blame-shifting. Novel. Humble. Endearing. Lucrative. Make action ownership a hallmark of your company, and watch your business grow!Support the show

Many companies put the cart before the horse by expecting customers to trust them first, rather than earning trust through action. Has your company inverted the trust relationship? Repeat and referral business grows for companies that consistently demonstrate trustworthiness. Do your actions back up your marketing and sales claims? Are you expecting and demanding trust from customers, or are you willing to be an earner?Support the show

We live in a feature driven product world. Buttons, modes, settings and codes accompany so many products we buy. But what benefits do all these features serve? If you are not in the habit of explaining what the features do for customers, now would be a great time to start generating effective ways to explain the benefits of all these buttons, modes, settings, and codes.Support the show

This is a classic example of putting yourself in the customer shoes. If you want to make customers happy, do your very best to eliminate mysteries. The best place to start is to voluntarily provide information that addresses the questions of why. If you can prevent your customers from asking unnecessary questions, they will love you for a long time, and refer your company to other people.Support the show

The majority of our business correspondence is quickly embracing minimalistic content over comprehensiveness. In other words, we are leaning into communications that look like texts instead of letters. If this is you, are you confusing customers more than assisting them? Is your communication becoming too abbreviated and cryptic? Are you creating a cache of customer defections? If so, maybe it’s time to be brief, clear and succinct!Support the show

Changing customer expectations mid-transaction is usually a dangerous proposition. If you want to increase repeat and referral business, make sure that your deliverables meet the expectations that you advertise.Support the show

Most customers like vendors that employ sales and service personnel who make things happen. There is nothing more frustrating to customers than to watch their orders handled sluggishly. In addition, customers love vendors that can solve problems quickly, efficiently, creatively, and with tenacity. If your customer facing employees lack these inherent qualities, it’s probably time to move to Plan B which is a focus on hiring initiators who can lead.Support the show

Business issues that have no immediate solutions are rather common. What’s uncommon are vendors that meet problems with multiple solutions that are ready to plug and play. No one likes to hear about problems unless they can also hear about remedies. We encourage you to find ways to be a remedy centric company who focuses on creative problem-solving.Support the show

Often times we overlook the significance of providing customers with voluntary updates. Information is KING. Information is powerful. The value of putting customers at ease is hard to quantify, because it is almost priceless! Demonstrating good order stewardship is proving that you care about the customer’s money. If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, then information given away, keeps your customers happy today.Support the show

“Tell them what they want to hear to shut them up!” “Keep the deal rolling…tell them what they want to hear.” “Don’t lose the deal…tell them whatever you want…just don’t lose the deal.” “I don’t care what you tell them…they better not cancel the deal.” Do these lines sound familiar? If so, take a look at how many customers got a line of BS from your company similar to the previous quotes. Customers are smart…much smarter than we care to admit. Today is a GREAT day to stop the BS, and start telling customers what they deserve to hear.Support the show

If you want to win over millennial and and Gen Z buyers, being authentic is essential for vendors. Be real. Be genuine. Be transparent Be honest. Be humble.Support the show

Customers want vendors who are primarily classified as doers. Customers want orders to flow seamlessly. They want action. They don’t want lip service, they don’t want clever schemes, they don’t want blame shifting… They just want vendors who do what they say they’re going to do. Ready. Set. Go.Support the show

Imagine reading one business skill-building book with a goal of obtaining three take-aways? Imagine doing this once a month for 12 months? With 36 new skills sets in one year, imagine the goals you could achieve, the raise you could get, or the new job you could obtain? Skills are transferrable from one job to the next. It all starts by cultivating a mindset to acquire new business skill sets! If you don’t know where to start, then we suggest you start With Dale Carnegie’s book entitled “How To Win Friends & Influence People.”Support the show

Our fast-paced business world is moving further away from this principle. What would happen if we made a deliberate effort to talk with our customers? It's a simple question about a lost art! We encourage you to carve out some time to bond with your customers. They will love it, and you will pick up many, many ideas that can be used for continuous improvement! Support the show

Imagine a high school football team that never practices, and only shows up to the games. They would be a disaster. Now replace the football team with your customer service team. Why do we let customer service reps play the game, without practicing with them to ensure they are creating positive customer experience experiences? Role-playing is like practicing. It is essential for success. When will you start role-playing with your team?Support the show

Business is a two sided coin. One side is what you sell. The other side is how you sell it. Each side of that coin creates customer experiences. Is your company actively dissecting all of the experiences you create? Are you sometimes overlooking the “how you sell” side of your business?Support the show

Transactions have routine components that are common with most every sale. Many of these components involve interaction with the customer. These are commonly called touch points. Do you know how many touch points are in your routine selling process? Do you manage your team for successful outcome with each touch point? If your answer to both questions is no, maybe it’s time to explore improving your customer experience deliverables as a series isolated events, rather than an overall purchasing event?Support the show

Customers can sense when companies are setting the service bar at a bare minimum. The companies that aim higher elevate the customer experience, and will benefit from an abundance of repeat and referral business. Avoid being “run of the mill” and aim at delivering exceptional customer service.Support the show

One of the hallmarks of top tier companies is to anticipate the wants, and needs of customers. if your company routinely assesses the necessary components of customer success, you will always be one step ahead of creating bad experiences. Anticipating customer desires is a well-constructed pathway to ensuring favorable deliverables, and levels of customer satisfaction that exceed buyer expectations.Support the show

 Sometimes a series of small changes help you deliver better customer satisfaction , rather than making wholesale, sweeping changes. When was the last time you sat down to identify 10 or 15 improvements you could make on your website? When was the last time you challenged the wording of your website? When’s the last time you tried to modify your procedures to make it easier for the customer? Imagine implementing 10 or 15, one-percent changes within 24 hours? These can become small force multipliers. Try it sometime. We are confident you will love the outcome.Support the show

Voluntary communication from the vendor is a display of good stewardship in action. Customers want to know that their money is being spent wisely. Vendors demonstrate good stewardship by sending voluntary information designed to educate, inform and equip customers with helpful updates about their transaction. Do you want more repeat and referral business? Courtesy communication is a great tool to help you achieve that goal.Support the show

After decades of consistently baking up conversations in writing, I let my guard down one time in December. The lack of written confirmation came back to cause me painful issues in February. Do you confirm the details of critical conversations in writing? If not, maybe it's time to start. A two-minute email could save you thousands of dollars!Support the show

Turn the noise off, leave the electronics home, find a place to think… and continuous improvement ideas will pop up everywhere. You just need to quiet the noise, search your mind, reflect on possible improvements, and then write them down. It can be therapeutic and refreshing at the same time. Our minds are amazing creations, and we really see what they can produce when we search and listen. How about you? Do you ever search your mind in total quiet, and with a pen and paper nearby! Try it. The results will astonish you!Support the show

Football quarterbacks often call audibles because they read the playing field and see something that could damage their play calling. We are no different in business. Sometimes we need to call an audible in order to reshape our approach to something we see when we read the room. Do you read the room routinely? Do you sometimes reshape your approach after reading the room?Support the show

The short answer is customer feelings. The day has come and gone, where product and services stand on their own merits. In today’s economy, businesses must be keenly aware of how they are making their customers feel. If you’re not managing this mindset, it’s time to giddy up, and address the 800 pound elephant in the room.Support the show

Time is money. Time is short. Time is a precious commodity to a business. What are you doing to reduce the time and toil customers have to spend doing business with you? Maybe it’s time to look for ways to save your customers more of their precious time?Support the show

Mature companies often find themselves saddled with internal squabbling about issues that are actually quite insignificant. If this is happening to your company, you are inadvertently taking your eye off the customer ball. Maybe it’s time to revisit your roots, and fall back in love with focusing on some of the major issues that can create good customer experiences.Support the show

Black holes are unanswered  communication. As time ticks by, the inquiring party becomes increasingly agitated because their inquiry has gone unacknowledged, and unanswered. Many deals have been lost, and many customers have defected because they were sent to a cyberspace blackhole by a vendor. It is time to Wakey-Wakey! Just answer your dang communication! Do a 180 degree turnaround today!Support the show

Margin erosion is a sneaky business killer that can unnecessarily send a company to the boneyard. Becoming a doctor of details is essential to protecting the precious pennies of profitability. If you are not willing to get into your company weeds, than brace yourself for a painful impact sooner than later? What say you? Are you putting your operational weeding gloves on to make sure you are retaining the profitability listed on your costing sheet?Support the show

After 35 years of tracking bad customer experiences, the lack of these two actions are the bedrock of buyer dissatisfaction. Period. End of Story. You want a more profitable bottom line? Do you want to stay in business for the long haul? Do you want customers to come back for more? Deliver on these two actions and most of your problems will be solved.Support the show

The best return happens when companies aim their improvements at customers. Buyers have a keen awareness of which companies prioritize customer satisfaction over company profitability. The best companies know that happy customers will lead to healthy bottom lines. Where are your improvements aimed at?Support the show

The common thread of championship athletic teams is humility. At a certain point, once the collective team becomes humble, the real improvement and growth starts. Without that humility, the teams will never achieve the ultimate goal of a championship. It’s no different in business. If we want to succeed, and grow as businesses, the collective personnel must become humble enough to pursue improvement. Are you humble enough?Support the show

Sadly, customer perception molds customer reality. This reality may not be true, but to the customer, it is their reality. If companies want to create better customer experiences, it behooves the company to understand the various realities customers are seeing, feeling and receiving. If you have never jumped into the customer shoes to experience your product/service, now might be the perfect time to do so. While your at it, get behind their keyboard, wear their glasses, and sit in their chair. You will quickly learn that customers see our companies differently than we imagine.Support the show

Companies can lose BIG money when they deliver a product that looks, and feels inferior to the original sample. This happens all too often. Why? Companies want to pad profitability by using cheaper raw materials for the order fulfillment production. Is your company doing this? If so, maybe it’s time for an integrity-driven approach to filling customer orders? BTW…the example in this video created a $696,000 loss for the manufacturer!!!Support the show

Many of us split our work week between our homes and company offices. Trade professionals transition from job to job in the same day. Each of us has common tools of our trade to work quickly and efficiently. However, many of us come to a work location without the necessary tools to perform our duties. Is this fair to our employers? Is it fair to customers? What about our associates and team members? Is it time to repack your backpack or car to make sure you have what you need to do your job?Support the show

We invite you to follow us for two minutes per week. With a small weekly investment of 120 seconds, you will come away with two business questions designed to stimulate your thoughts about how to improve customer satisfaction. Follow. Like. Share.Support the show

I could pay for a weekend at a ski resort If I had a dollar for every time a business associate printed an attachment, but ignored the email it came with! The accompanying emails often contain special instructions, requests, conditions, or previous agreements that act as addendums to the attachment. Are you training your associates to pay attention to both components of correspondence they receive?Support the show

Many buyers prefer to order products and services independent of interacting with customer service personnel. Does your order entry process service “do it yourself” purchasing?Support the show

Can your customers effectively order product from your catalog? Or, do your customers have to go on a hunt and peck internet search to gather the information they need to place an order, just because your catalog is not informative enough? If you are making customers go through more investigating to order, then it is time for the marketing department to wakey-wakey!Support the show

Perception is a two-sided coin, but only one side truly matters! Does customer perception matter to your company? Some executives are blinded by self-pats on their backs while delivering mediocre service. Are your eyes opened to the cruddy service your customers are getting from you? Time to wakey-wakey!Support the show