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Customer Buying Journey Stages | Small Business Sales and Marketing

                                            Efficient Marketing Through a Customer's Buying Journey Prospects find their way to your website for different reasons.  Not only for different reasons, but at different stages of their customer buying journey from beginning to end.  It's not enough to hope that customers will learn about your company and find their way to your website.  It is imperative to use the best marketing skills and tools available to help qualified prospects find their way to you. Whether you know [...]

By |2020-12-23T20:16:58-05:00December 10th, 2019|Customer Experience, Customer Relationships, Marketing, Sales|
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Behaviors That Cause Problems With Angry Customers

In a recent ‘Designing Strategies’ newsletter  we wrote about staying cool when customers get ‘hot’.  The discussion focused on how to keep yourself ‘calm and cool’ during a heated confrontation from a dissatisfied client.  Perhaps we should take one step backward and consider what moved them to the screaming and yelling level and how to avoid pushing their ‘Rage’ button.  There are a number of behaviors that cause problems with angry customers.  Needless to say, these should be avoided like the plague. Customer service should be more than a priority for your business - it should be a strategy for [...]

By |2022-05-05T21:22:39-04:00August 5th, 2019|Customer Experience, Customer Relationships, Strategy|
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Customer Service Tips – Keep Cool When Customers Get Hot

                                May - June, 2019                                 Volume 16 -  Issue 89 It’s definitely a no-brainer to understand that customers are the most important thing your small business has going for it.  Without them, there will be no sales, no revenues coming in, no cash flow and no profit.  Furthermore, there will be no satisfied customers to act as brand ambassadors for your company. How can we take better care of our customers?  [...]

By |2019-07-06T00:49:59-04:00July 6th, 2019|Customer Experience, Customer Relationships, Newsletter, Strategy|
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Customers Are Important – 8 Ways to Make Them Feel That Way

'Designing Strategies' newsletter July - August 2018          Volume 15 - Issue 84   Customers are important.  They are probably the most important element of any business. They represent sales and revenue that keeps your business going.   If we ask a thousand small business owners if they have good - or great - customer service, the majority would yell out:  "Yes, of course!"  Everyone seems to think they have awesome customer service.  Could that be because they have never heard, or paid much attention to complaints?  On the other hand, what if we ask the same number [...]

By |2018-07-27T18:44:52-04:00July 20th, 2018|Customer Experience, Customer Relationships, Newsletter|
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First Steps: Identify and Find Ideal Customers

Designing Strategies newsletter March - April 2018            Volume 15 - Issue 82   Face it, if your small business doesn’t have customers, who will purchase your products or use your services?  You’ll be out of business in no time.  A steady stream of revenue coming in on a regular basis is what keeps businesses of all types running smoothly and profitably.  Advertising and marketing to the masses is not the way you want to go.  Unless you are selling a commodity like soap or toothpaste, you need to be looking for your ideal customers.  Ideal customers [...]

By |2018-04-06T22:48:53-04:00April 6th, 2018|Customer Experience, Customer Relationships, Newsletter|
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Customers Deserve Our Thanks and Appreciation

Designing Strategies  eNewsletter Volume 14                          Issue 80   Happy Thanksgiving  and the Coming Holiday Season Everyone! It's hard to believe that we are half way through Fall and that Thanksgiving is just around the corner.  Somehow these holidays have a habit of sneaking up on us.  Lots of cleaning to do.  Long grocery lists with ingredients for traditional family recipes are on refrigerator doors or in our digital To Do list.  Run the good china and silverware through the dish washer.  Pull out that special table cloth.  Time to [...]

By |2017-11-30T03:02:19-05:00November 20th, 2017|Customer Experience, Customer Relationships, Newsletter|
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Exceptional Customer Experiences:  7 Infallible Rules Not To Be Ignored

Every small business claims to have excellent customer service.  I’m not kidding.  Go out and do an informal survey of your own.  At your next association meeting, ask ten or twelve colleagues – read:  competitors – how they rate their own customer service.   I’d be willing to bet that 9 out of 10 will tell you they are just ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ when it comes to customer service and exceptional customer experiences. For those of you who prefer to speak in simpler terms, that very, very long word from Mary Poppins just means “exceptionally good”.  By claiming to have exceptionally good customer service, [...]

By |2017-11-20T16:22:24-05:00August 9th, 2017|Customer Experience, Customer Relationships, Newsletter|
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Does Your Firm Accept Credit Cards? Maybe You Should.

This week, we contracted with an award winning local landscape firm to do some stone and brick work on our property.  We met with the owner to sign the contract so work could begin.  When I asked if they would accept credit card payment for our deposit, we were told their company doesn't accept credit cards.  Interesting.  I thought most every small business today accepts credit cards for payment. Credit and debit cards have taken over the world.  Those, myself included, who still write the occasional check are looked at strangely.  Change takes time for most people.  Yes, I do [...]

By |2017-08-03T00:12:00-04:00August 3rd, 2017|Customer Experience, Strategic Management|
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Influences on Small Businesses for 2017: Competition & Customer Behaviors

'Designing Strategies' eNewsletter July - August, 2017               Volume 14     Issue 78   Any small business owner or manager who has been operating over the past ten years has experienced big time changes coming at them.  It is no secret that changes and external  influences on small businesses are a constant we need to prepare for.   Any not willing to do necessary zig-zagging required to change strategies or pivot on a dime may well be gone now.  We have been facing more than a few significant external changes, trying to stay afloat.  [...]

By |2017-10-23T00:12:35-04:00July 23rd, 2017|Customer Experience, Customer Relationships, Market Research, Strategy|
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Build Customer Loyalty to Grow Your Small Business

Acquiring new customers helps any small business grow.  Customers are known to come and go.  All customers that leave are not necessarily dissatisfied or disgruntled.  Customers may move out of your area for any number of reasons, or no longer need your products or services.  Worst case scenario would be that for some reason, you failed to build customer loyalty. To grow a small business,  former customers have to be replaced. Remember that current customers are the lifeblood of your business and keeping them satisfied should be your highest priority.  Their experience with your firm, your products or services and your staff [...]

By |2016-12-27T17:52:58-05:00October 30th, 2016|Customer Experience, Customer Relationships|
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