Be Different or be dead

September 3, 2018

How your ‘brave idea’ can be turned into a fantastic win

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How your ‘brave idea’ can be turned into a fantastic win.

So you have an awesome idea for a new business. You think you can make a difference in the world and make tons of money like some others before you have.

How should you proceed?

What do you have to do to turn your “brave idea” into a “crude deed?

First you need to know that the odds that you will succeed in the long run are not that great. Many studies conclude the same thing, that around 30 percent of new businesses make it to 2 years while only half are still around after 5 years.

The herd of losers is HUGE and growing.

Why do so many die?

▪️Economies throughout the world are volatile and unpredictable;

▪️Competition is super intense; new competitors enter markets at a blistering rate;

▪️New technology rains down relentlessly disrupting the flow of plans;

▪️Markets are cluttered with sameness; products and services are undifferentiated and competitive claims are lost in the crowd;

▪️Customers are more empowered than ever before, establishing relationships with suppliers that deliver distinctive solutions and ignoring those that don’t.

What do the survivors look like?

Those that are able to survive and win are different from their competitors.

They survive the scrutiny of the discriminating customer by providing relevant, compelling value that is unmatched by their competitors.

Those that have no distinctive identity simply don’t make it.

They die.

Answer these 3 questions and discover how you can beat the odds of long term success.

Q1. Why do many companies who have been around a while fail?

a) They cease being relevant to their customers ✅

b) They don’t advertise enough

c) Their cost structure is too high

d) Their revenues decline

They get too smug and comfortable and take their existing customers for granted.

Survivors remail relevant and invest substantial resources to stay there.

When you are up and running, never feel entitled to your current revenue stream. You have to go out and earn it every day!

Q2. What is the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make when starting a new business?

a) They fail to attract great sales people

b) They don’t advertise enough

c) They don’t test their idea with potential customers

d) Their business idea is not different from their competition in a way people care about ✅

Your idea must resonate with people; it must address something the CARE about and it must be different than anything else out there.

It’s not about gee-whiz technology and all the cool things it can do.

It’s more about captivating someone with what they can do with your product or service and that they can ONLY get it from you.

Don’t launch your new idea until it passes this test.

Q3. What is the most critical thing to look for in recruiting people to join your team?

a) The innate desire to serve other people ✅

b) Social media expertise

c) Technology skills

d) A powerful personal network

The other attributes are important, but at the end of the day successful business is about building relationships with, and caring about other people.

Ensure that the individuals you recruit have demonstrated skills and experience in helping their fellow human beings. That’s what drives amazing customer service which is a key differentiator.

Change the world by being the ONLY one that does what you do with people who love human beings.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 9.3.18 at 04:42 am by Roy Osing
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August 20, 2018

5 insanely easy ways to make a customer your BFF

Source: Unsplash

Why would you want a customer to be your BFF?

Your job after all is to sell them something, answer their question on why their product isn’t functioning the way it should or why their bill is higher than what they expected.

Job descriptions never say “be the customer’s BFF”. Employees are viewed as instruments of the organization; to perform the role that maximizes results for the shareholders and owners of the organization in terms of sales and cost.

Employees serve “them”

Employees are taught to serve the organization. Period. Their essential duty is to the hierarchy; to follow the rules of the people that give them a regular pay check.

And that’s the problem because superlative performance doesn’t happen when people inside the organization serve the organization exclusively. When they are excruciatingly focused on controlling costs, minimizing the time they spend answering a customer’s request and striving to deliver all internal company metrics flawlessly day in and day out.

Majestic performance that exceeds that of every competitor in the market happens when employees are outward focused to the customer; when employees exist to satisfy one and only one objective — serve the customer in a way that surprises and delights them.

Yes, they have their “internal world” to satisfy — productivity goals and the like — but their prime purpose is to create mind blowing experiences for the customer within the confines of what makes good business sense.

Having an incredible moment with a customer is the way to delight them, have them buy, tell their friends all about how amazing you are and keep them coming back for more (sounds like a plan that would satisfy any shareholder, right?)

And the tool to create memorable moments is friendship; the ability to build credibility and trust with another person in the limited time you have with them.

Try these 5 simple approaches to build a BFF relationship with a customer that will both blow them away and satisfy your organization’s hunger for growth.

1. Reset your brain

Get out of the mindset that says your job is to fulfil the mandate of the organization. Rather than focus on the ultimate end game of your actions — generating more sales for example — concentrate on the behaviours that will yield the intended result.

Long term sales growth, for instance, isn’t achieved by flogging products and services to potential clients, it’s by consistently demonstrating the relationship building acts that get you there.

2. Unplug your ears

If you’re not really listening to the customer how can you possibly befriend them? If your agenda is to push your wares or execute the policies of your organization, it’s virtually impossible to align yourself with the customer’s wants and desires.

Customer engagement is all about THEIR agenda not the organization’s, so lean into the conversation with the intent to “hear them”, not force them to comply with what you want them to do.

3. Shut your mouth

If you listen well, this will automatically happen. Airtime with the customer will be heavily weighted to what THEY have to say not what you have to say. Your role in building a BFF relationship is to clarify their narrative so that you can respond appropriately and satisfy their requirements.
You’re not giving a speech that would try to convince them to comply with the organization; you’re simply trying to get a clear understanding of what it takes to satisfy them.

4. Surprise them

The main ‘driver of delight’ with any person is the surprise element; doing something the other person DOESN’T expect.
The airline loses your luggage which contained the clothes for your 8-month old daughter. You call the airline expecting to get the run around, but the rep first of all apologizes profusely for the unfortunate incident, tells you to go out and purchase whatever you need to replace the contents of the pieces of luggage lost and to send the bill personally to her for immediate payment (and the promise is kept).

How would you feel about the rep and the company she represents? My guess is you would be WOW’D! and would tell your story to your friends and family — and blog readers also.

5. Stay with them

Organizations have a complicated structure; for example, responsibilities are separated among marketing, sales, customer service, billing and repair departments with a strategy to concentrate expertise and (hopefully) maximize productivity.

“This isn’t my job, let me pass you over to the people who answer billing questions” doesn’t do anything to build a BFF, it destroys it. I have to enter another call queue and probably wait another 10-15 minutes to get a rep and then tell my story all over again.

Building friends requires the “Never pass a customer around!” mantra where the employee who has a customer keeps the customer until they are completely satisfied.

Why would you ever want a customer as a BFF? Because a BFF is loyal, they tell you their “secrets”, they talk you up to their friends and they like spending time with you.

Sounds like a formula for business success to me.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 8.20.18 at 03:22 am by Roy Osing
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July 16, 2018

Why a customer should never hear the two words ‘You should’

Source: Unsplash

Why a customer should never hear the two words ‘You should’.

A brilliant customer service strategy isn’t just about these factors:

Aspirations

It’s not just about what you aspire to be.

Yes, it’s critical that you have a service strategy that clearly differentiates your organization from others. It must address not only the element of service that your customers treat as their top priority, but also the one that your organization uniquely provides.

If what you do in a service sense mirrors what your closest competitor does, you really don’t provide a compelling incentive for people to choose you over others.

Technology

It’s not just about cool technology employed to facilitate customer transactions.

Employing the latest technology to maximize the efficiency of your service operations is essential — as long as it doesn’t detract from the experience your customers have when they do business with you.

And as long as its sole reason for implementing the technology is not to drive service costs down, as this end game will surely negatively impact service quality. Technology applied to enhance the customer experience and improve the use of internal resources must be the desired outcome.

Awards and Recognition

It’s not just about the awards you win for “providing the best customer service”.

This recognition is often provided by so-called experts in the customer service business who claim to have their fingers on the pulse of customers and who conduct surveys to determine the leaders in the service area.

Because they apply their own criteria on what superlative customer satisfaction looks like, your organization could be praised for achieving high marks in an element of service your specific customers don’t value as their highest priority — your award is therefore meaningless to your business.

Serving Leadership

It’s not just about serving leadership that places the emphasis on helping service employees do their job.

Serving leaders are critical to developing a successful culture based on delivering mind blowing customer experiences.

A critical component of this culture is a leadership philosophy based on helping and enabling people do their jobs — removing the roadblocks and “grunge” that get in their way.
Serving leaders are a critical ingredient to service culture, but more is required to sustain it in a highly changing and competitive world.

It’s about words

A brilliant customer service strategy IS about what is said and not said during the customer engagement process; the Moment of truth when the customer and company are connected for the purpose of satisfying what the customer wants and desires.

The organization’s service strategy comes alive in that Moment, whether it’s a real time conversation with an employee, a web page view, an advertising message or an audio response from your call answer device.

In that Moment, your service strategy is no longer a strategic intent; no longer a piece of paper with words expressed on it. It’s an experience that either renders your intent alive or dead; the truth or a lie — your strategy in that moment degenerates into reality.

Words can hurt, anger and amaze

Many words characterize the Moment; words that either leave the customer feeling heard, honoured and cared for or feeing berated, belittled and angry.

This is where most organizations fail. They don’t treat words used in the Moment as a critical element of their strategy that needs as much or even more attention than the service end game intent.

It’s one thing to say “When a mistake is made, recovery will be our #1 priority” and quite another to have service personnel equipped with the right words to manage the recovery Moment when the customer has been screwed over by their organization.

If the wrong words are chosen, the the recovery element of your service strategy dies — and your customer trots off to one of your competitors. If the right words are chosen (with the promised action of course) the customer is surprised, delighted and more loyal than if the OOPS! never occurred in the first place.

Service training must include what to say and what not to say, starting with the latter because the trash words must be expunged and replaced with the words that will support and enable your service end game.

”You should”

Start with “You should”; the one single phrase with so much implied meaning that it can singlehandedly scupper a Moment.
“You should”:
— follow the instructions (you dummy)
— upgrade your software (can’t you read?)
— call the billing department (and don’t bother me)
— have reported the problem when you were covered by your warranty (don’t expect any help now)
— be more understanding (leave me alone!)
— have known our policy (WE control YOU remember?)
— make your choice (can’t you make up your mind?)

‘You should’ explicitly says that your behaviour should be governed by my expectations of you, not by your reality.

How can that ever lead to amazing customer service and Moments that leave the customer breathless?

It can’t.

Mind your words.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 7.16.18 at 04:39 am by Roy Osing
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June 20, 2018

4 strategic ways to make your mark in the eCommerce world

In 2014, there were around 110,000 eCommerce companies in existence.

By 2017, however, that number had grown to over 2,000,000 according to Pipe Candy’s research. And this doesn’t even include China.

This means that you as an eCommerce store owner face a crazy amount of competition as you bid to stand out in the chaotic eCommerce world.
The good news is that customers are very happy to buy online, and if you get things right, they’ll buy from you.

Now, it might not be possible to turn $200 into $1,000,000 with your store overnight, but you can totally stay afloat and do super well regardless.

Let’s take a look at 4 strategic ways you can make your mark in the eCommerce world.

1. Simplify the buying process

There are a number of things that consumers want when they shop online, and chief among them is an easy as heck buying process. They want to be able to search and buy quickly.

For one thing, customers expect to be able to buy directly from your website. For another thing, they expect to be able to buy online in just one or two clicks.

Amazon is a great example of a company that has simplified the buying process by reducing the amount of clicks a user has to make before they can make a purchase. If you check MAC Cosmetics’ website, on the other hand, it takes three clicks just to view a product. This is too many.

To simplify the buying process, make it really obvious what a customer has to do to make a purchase. Implement large, colourful buttons and super clear directions and reduce the amount of pages they have to move through along their buying journey.

Install a point of service card reader to ensure payments can be made offline, too. This is particularly important if you currently (or plan to) have a physical or retail store. You want to ensure your brand is accessible across all channels.

2. Embrace cryptocurrency as a payment method

More and more people are starting to invest in cryptocurrency, but while the amount of goods and services they could purchase with digital coins used to be few and far between, more merchants in 2018 are starting to accept cryptocurrency as a payment method.

That said, many eCommerce stores still don’t accept crypto as a payment method. This means that it’s open season and you’ve got a great chance to be a trailblazer in your niche if you start accepting payment in Bitcoin and alt coin’s. You’ll capture a new audience that your rivals are missing, and this audience will become repeat customers.

In 2018, the world is changing and customers are getting more demanding. By accepting payment in cryptocurrency, you’ll show that you’re actively listening to people, and this will improve your brands reputation.

3. Offer free shipping

Business models can be the difference between a company doing well online and failing. Amazon has offered free shipping for years, something that’s very attractive to customers.

Naturally, it’s much harder for smaller online stores to offer free shipping. Sending out items around the world is a costly business. But customers love the idea of free shipping and it can boost your sales.

Here are some tips:

— Set a minimum order amount - A customer has to spend at least $X amount before they’ve qualified for free shipping

— Make free shipping a promotional event - For a limited time, offer a free shipping promotion. This will build a buzz around your store and products and can convince window shoppers to become loyal customers.

— Offer free shipping with select items only - Not every item needs to qualify for free shipping. Limit it to low shipping cost items that have a high enough markup that makes them profitable once you’ve factored in shipping fees.

4. Offer discounts and deals

Discounts aren’t available all the time and this creates a sense of urgency - and urgency is one of the key things that makes customers part with their money. If they don’t make a move now, they fear that they won’t get a second chance.

Knowing your customer is knowing human psychology. We don’t want to miss out on things.

There are many different types of discounts you can offer on your site, from a percentage off to a fixed price off, to the aforementioned free shipping. That said, the type of discount matters, as does how you word your discount. For example, if you were to write “Get $$$” off, it sounds like a win.

These small things matter, but how you present your discount will ultimately depend on the type of customer you have.

Implement different discounts, experiment with the wording and use analytics to see which ones perform the best. Creating an account with Google analytics is a great place to start.

These are 4 strategic ways you can make your mark in the eCommerce world.

Make the buying process simple, embrace cryptocurrency as payment and focus on offering deals and discounts that customers want to see.

— Michelle Deery is a writer for Heroic Search, a Tulsa based SEO agency. She writes products content that helps businesses increase their sales and build a powerful brand in the eCommerce world.

• Posted 6.20.18 at 04:11 am by Roy Osing
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