How often does this happen to you? When calling a business or colleague, you hear ‘Your call is being forwarded to an automated voice messaging system … 475 338-0298 is not available … beep.‘
That sucks! While short and harmless, these recordings can subtly imply characteristics about the business or person:
Here’s a great idea for distinctive holiday gifts that will set you apart from your competitors. I’ve used this best practice myself and recommended it to my clients. Instead of sending the usual food or SWAG gifts, make a small donation to a local charity in each customer’s name. Better still, find a local charity that they already support if you can.
(Now that some live networking events are returning to our area, it’s time to re-run this bit of sage advice.)
I’ve seen a lot of Networking Worst Practices in my 25 plus years of writing and speaking about the topic, but the worst of the worst is making an absolutely terrible first impression on a stranger in less than one minute by delivering an Elevator Speech from Hell! That happens when pitifully amateur networkers:
How do you deal with angry customers? First, have a well-defined policy in place that senior management participated in creating and signed off on. Second, make sure that everyone who touches customers understands, embraces and follows consistently. Third, periodic re-training or review can be helpful.
Networking with ‘Uncommon Courtesy’ is both simple and easy and can clearly differentiate you from everyone else:
Regular readers may recall that I often contribute content to several of Carol Roth’s popular e-publications. She’s a nationally known PR and Entrepreneurship expert, speaker and author … and apparently a fan of my work. She ran my most recent item in her ‘Positive Mindset Tips for Small Business’ blog.
Right! During a recent zoom business conference, the experienced and otherwise effective speaker had a conspicuous habit of saying ‘… right’ all the time. It was as if he replaced the annoying ‘ummm’ with the equally annoying ‘right’.
You know that old adage, ‘There’s no such thing as a dumb question’? Sorry to spoil your fantasy, but that’s wrong. There are plenty of dumb questions.
In responding to a reporter’s request for a marketing tip that is both effective and profitable, I indicated that mine was neither new, sexy or high tech. It’s old and simple, yet everything old is new again and simple is always good. My tip is embracing Customer-Centered Marketing.
A reader recently asked for some simple tips to network with more courtesy and to avoid coming off like a ‘slug’ at networking events.