When a customer asks for more than they’re entitled to, you should choose between two options. You can go the extra mile with a smile on your face – and make your customer feel happy. Or you can politely tell them no – and spare yourself the extra work. But don’t choose the third option of [...]
I’ve been donating to a charity since 2005. The only time the charity calls me is to ask for money. So when the phone rings and I discover it’s the charity, I immediately feel negative and defensive, which makes me reluctant to give more money. That’s bad marketing. If the charity was smarter, it would call [...]
If you want to delight your customers, you need to think like a customer. But how? Well, one way is to remember that you are a customer every single day – with other businesses. Ask yourself what you like and dislike about their marketing. Ask yourself what you like and dislike about their customer service. Ask [...]
A common mistake small businesses make is they’ll receive a document from a client – and they won’t send a simple email in reply to acknowledge receipt. This is so annoying for customers, because they either feel worried the business hasn’t received their document or has received it and is ignoring them. Don’t be one of [...]
The way you treat someone when you have power over them is how they will one day treat you when they have power over you. This is my way of saying that your business should help customers even when you have no way of making money out of them. We've all had situations where we've made [...]
Years ago, when I was a journalist, I interviewed a business owner who’d won a customer service award, and I learned a really important lesson about customer service. He said he hated it when a customer called his company to ask about their case, because it meant his team hadn’t been keeping the customer in the [...]
People often feel vulnerable after they’ve made a purchase, especially if it’s an expensive purchase. They often question whether they bought the product from the right business, and even if they should’ve bought the product at all. That’s why it’s important to continue your marketing after the purchase, whether through written communications, verbal communications or both. [...]
Good customer service is good marketing; bad customer service is bad marketing. So pay close attention to the customer service you get when you make purchases every day. Make a note of all the little things that please you – and try to emulate them in your business. And make a note of all the little [...]
What little things can you do for free that are of low value to your but high value to your clients? Helpful gestures are great marketing, because they show your clients you care about them. And when you take care of clients, they want to take care of you. Here are three small favours I recently [...]
If you’ve ever read The Power of Moments, by Chip & Dan Heath, you would’ve learned a very important marketing and customer service lesson. You only need one exceptional touchpoint to wow a customer. You don’t have to nail every single touchpoint – you can make clients rave about you by doing just one thing that [...]
