Tag Archives: Customer Communication

Brand Your Way to Success

Everything a small business does brands itself. Everything we say or do brands us as worthy resources … or not. But, the marketplace really determines our brand. It’s what they really think of us. It’s why they buy from us rather than the competition. It’s their reaction to what we communicate as our value proposition.

So, to effectively communicate your small business brand, consider:

  • Accurately describe your Value Proposition – what you do through the lens of who benefits from what you do. You don’t ‘fix computers’, you ‘solve technology problems for small businesses.’ You may need help with the specific details from colleagues, or even better, from customers.
  • Be specific. Many small businesses provide lots of different products or services. Identify what you do best, sell the most and produces the most revenue … and profit. This narrowing of scope doesn’t limit your appeal, it makes it much easier for the marketplace to remember what you can do for them.
  • If your company name no longer communicates that value proposition – or never did – time to consider re-branding. What makes more sense – ‘The Andrew Peters Group, Inc.’ or ‘Tech Solutions, Inc.’?

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Gratitude Magnitude

A key concept for a successful Referral Strategy is the Magnitude of your Gratitude. You have lots of potential people to thank – here are seven steps to making the most of your gratitude.  Read More »

So … How Ya Doin?

Thankfully, most NE OH small businesses have survived dealing with Covid-19 … so far. One interesting strategy some COSE members have successfully used is the ‘Covid Check In’.  It’s simple and easy and can reap excellent benefits. 

Let’s briefly consider ‘Checking In’ with three important groups for your business – your staff, your colleges and your customers. Read More »

Resistance is Futile

(A reader favorite from my archive of the COSE ‘Mind Your Business’ eLetter.)

In his still frightening classic dystopian novel, ‘1984’, George Orwell invented ‘NewSpeak’, the official language of Oceania, used to control communication and thought. Read More »

What if Your Business IS the Best Choice?

Late last year, we discussed some strategies to consider when you realize you’re not the right choice for a product or service your prospect needs. It earned lots of positive comments and some people even indicated that they had never even thought about some of the strategies mentioned. 

So, this topic should be obvious – What if Your Business IS the right choice?’ Some of the brief 10 steps will be obvious, too, … but, some won’t. So read and heed. Read More »

Why I Hate Lame Customer Service

While no one believes that customers are really always right, CSRs and Sales Reps should believe that customers are always critically important to their jobs and the success of the company. And they should act like that all the time. Problems occur when employees make these mistakes: Read More »

Why I Love Customer Centricity

People have different preferences about how they communicate. Some people would rather talk than write. Others would rather write than talk. Yet others have very high response rate to text. No surprises there! Read More »

Avoid these Customer Service Mistakes

Here’s a summary of my comments from a wide-ranging conversation with a blogger about mistakes employees make that prevent customer engagement and make them unhappy. Read More »

Dealing with Angry Customers

Of utmost importance is having a well-defined policy in place that senior management participated in creating and signed off on and that everyone who touches customers understands, embraces and follows consistently. Periodic re-training or review can be helpful. Components of that policy should include: Read More »