The Little Things Count
Remember when you were a child and your mom use to tell you that it isn't the amount you spent on the present, it's the thought that counts? We've all heard that, whether it's from a family member or a Disney movie, we all know what that means. When it comes to business it's absolutely the same way. The little things that you do for a customer can be the difference between getting the sale and not.
Being a small business means I have some advantages over the bigger guys, and one of those advantages is being able to offer very personal service.
One way that I offer personalized service, is to do pick up and delivery of certain goods when they need to be customized. It shouldn't be a secret by now, but I own/operate and garment decoration outfit and my business primarily revolves are personalization. I can't always do the same quantity as the larger companies, but I can just as good on the quality and come very close in the price. This is why I offer services that the other don't, or in some cases, can't.
Convenience is the key to fitting into the lives of most customers. By working out of my home, and not paying the overhead for a shop, I have the disadvantage of not having foot traffic streaming by my business day by day. That means that I need to depend on word of mouth much more than the brick and mortar business. But that may not be a disadvantage at all.
Most of my business has come from friends telling friends, or me bumping into someone and me telling them about my business. I don't advertise, and it isn't because I don't want to, I just don't have the funding yet to do an aggressive ad campaign. However, when I do get a lead, it generally means that my leads are fully qualified, meaning they are coming to me and ready to purchase. Someone else has already done the selling for me, and an expectation has already been set. I don't have to waste my time prospecting, nor do I have to spend my time negotiating, that has typically already been done.
When I complete an order, I usually thank the customer and find out what their impression of the service was. This is something you have to prepare yourself for. If you aren't willing and able to accept criticism, then I wouldn't go this far. For me it's very important to understand why a customer keeps coming back and what I can do better next time. The results that I have received is that I should continue doing what I'm doing and keep up the personalized service. One customer even told me this:
I'd actually pay more to continue to get the level of service I'm getting right now. Keep up the good work so I can continue to tell my friends about you.
I'm going to take that as a positive note and remember to continue my same level of care with every customer. Remember, we all need to do something a little bit different in order to stand out in the crowd. Why not make your standout feature the one the customer can relate to the most. Make them feel like they are the only customer that matters and that you'll do anything to make them successful. I'll guarantee your success when you start living that everyday your in business.
Posted on: Jan 22, 2010
Filed in: Business, Customer Service
Tags:
Delivery, Door-to-Door, Personalized Service
2 Comments
Jason Webb On Jul 20, 2010 @ 10:12 p.m.
This is a great article. It's something we ALL need to keep in our heads, that's for sure. I'm including a link to another site I've found really timely, too - just like this post.
Thanks and Regards/-
<a href="http://entreper.com" rel="nofollow">Jason Webb </a>
college essays On Jan 03, 2012 @ 6:34 a.m.
I think it should be really good to follow your business recommendations!
Post Your Comment
Please use Markdown syntax for formatting. No HTML is allowed. By using this comment form, it's assumed that you agree with the terms of my comment policy.
Categories
Archives