How to stand out from your from your competition this holiday season

1. Open after dinner on Thanksgiving like have a 9 to  midnight sale. Think about all those shoppers waiting for the next morning why not help them avoid some crowds, get things off the list, and most of all give them a great reason to get them off the off the couch.

2.offer Free delivery and gift wrapping  (within reason)

3. start a list completion service during the last two weeks call you favorite customers and see if there is anything you can help them find then call your friends hopefully other business owners to help them complete their shopping. Customers will love you because you doing something they couldn’t and never expected to get help with from you. Your building goodwill among other businesses by giving them free business they never expected at the peak time. You couldn’t meet the need anyway so you never lost a dime. I guarantee the other business owner and the customer will be going out of their way to help you out when it gets slow like Jan 2010 and isn’t that what we all need to build our pipeline of new sales after the rush is over.

4.Ask yourself the question during ALL slow periods — What can I do to provide my customers the greatest value and deliver it in a way they would never expect?

5.Remember that great service ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS beats lowest price because with our uncertain economy  everybody has low price but isn’t their service getting worse? Make sure ALL employees have excellent customer service skills I mean way above others.

6 Send out hand written thank you letters just because you care and nobody else is.

7.Differetiate, differentiate, oh yeah differentiate make sure you customer KNOW you not like the competition your a hell of a lot better.

8. Don’t believe the old lowest price wins adage –then why is Apple making a killing? Simple they deliver a better product in a greater way at a higher price

9. find ways to up-sell and cross sell all customers to maximize profits

10. If you need any help with the above –email me at tom4change@gmail.com

the Next big thing in business — Advertising revolution

Marketing and advertising is going thru the biggest changes right now you just don’t see it yet.  Within every failure there is a greater opportunity that rises from the ashes. Right now there many failures that are happening as our world transitions from a physical world into a purely virtual one. we have literally destroyed the value of many of the products that we used to own are now a completely invisible medium. your going from a world where you used to touch and feel things in order to understand their value to a world that is going to completely become dependent on how companies communicate to us why and how things will be valuable. Think about that because it is by far the most mind blowing thing I have  ever written in this blog. You used to judge the value of things by their physical medium and look at this list of the things where  you used to literally “judge a book by its cover” but can’t anymore, CD’s books, newspapers, balancing your checkbook, faxes, hand written letters, waiting AT HOME for a phone call or walking through a shopping mall. Now how are you going to judge the value of things because you are not personally invested? The less involved and invested you are the more dependent you become on the world around you to show you what the value of things are. You want proof –the housing crisis. This is crazy but the whole entire thing was predicated upon changing your belief of what your house was actually worth. Up until that point the value of your home was based on what you could afford with your paycheck but at some point we stopped believing in living in our housing and value of  a lifetime of memories it become a tool of which we could just make incredible money fast. All of the sudden we went around and started looking at looking at how much money we could be making and here is the key we somehow bought into the belief that housing prices were going to continue to accelerate like an Ebay auction. The whole time our income never double but our cost of our houses did and we believed that somehow we were going to be able to afford it. We trusted  what everybody around us was doing and saying we stopped trusting ourselves and what we could afford. So we learned our lesson hopefully but it still brought to the surface a much bigger truth that our lives are going to become more and more or new ways of perceiving value. True value is built on trust and since we learned a huge lesson in who we can’t trust the opportunity  NOW is in learning who we can. The new business model will be based on TRUST since being able to touch is no longer the medium we can judge products on. FOCUS on building TRUST in your communication. Thats why Apple has Microsoft scared. APPLE is based on one thing TRUST of the customer by delivering products that do one thing they ALWAYS work better then you expect.

Getting customers to act on what you say… NOW!!!!

What is the one thing that all people have in common in communication?   Often times we NEVER think of HOW we want to say something we only think of WHAT we want to say. However as business owners we are all in competition for what we want to say to our customers. We all want to say that we have the best service, lowest prices, best quality, or fastest delivery. However everybody says those things but very few deliver and when others don’t deliver it loses it’s magic. Sure you have never tried to use power words just to get a potential clients attention however others have and it cheapen the value of what you are trying to deliver on. One of the things that I like to say is that “you don’t need a degree to start a business”. When I say that to my own clients they know that there are thousands of people that are are trying to make a buck no matter what the cost or implications to your market share. These people are no where near the high caliber of  business owners that you are. You have to realize that in the end you may end up getting the customer after they have ruined their chances( you know those horror stories customers tell about the last guy I went to). HOWEVER they have done major damage in your customers willingness or desire to believe the words that you say because of their actions.

So you have to find more ingeneous ways to communicate your potential and true value to them in ways that those bottom feeders would never be able to understand. don’t try and use the same devalued words find ways to put yourself at a higher level

Let me give you so monumental examples of business that have used this

Fastest Delivery— 30 minutes or your pizza is free {domino’s}

Storage on a MP3— 1000 songs in your pocket–{Apple}

Convenience-We do it just a little bit better WAWA–{Wawa}

What a Global economy really means

My brother along with probably many other people did something that was very disturbing to me as a business connoisseur. My brother told me that he used the mall to window shop for his presents for christmas and actually purchasing them walking around on his Iphone.  The only bad point about shopping online is that it is so specific that if don’t know exactly what you are looking for Amazon.com can’t help you find it. That why it is perfect to use the mall for random ideas. 
So my brother was walking around King of Prussia Mall and he was using it to for the experience of shopping yet he was using his Iphone to find the best pricing on everything that he saw in the mall. Using the mall for ideas then buying everything online. Here’s where the crisis comes in–malls because of the insane rent they have to pay can’t compete because Amazon doesn’t have the overhead and passes the savings on to the customers. So my brother did his shopping at the malls expense. He used the store for the random ideas and to touch things and then used the global economy to save money. The worst part of this is that you saw all the huge sales before christmas to save themselves and he STILL found cheaper prices online.
Wait until the next financial meltdown hit thats going to make the Auto bailout seem small in comparison. The retail bankruptcies whole mall are going to go bankrupt and it will be bigger than GM as far as job losses and bigger than Chryslers financial losses by probably more than a factor of two. Here are some are some of the biggest in bankruptcy right now KB Toys, Circuit City, Boscov’s, Hollywood Video and Sharper Image and we have barely gotten into 2009.

TRUST the first thing you need to build RIGHT NOW!!!

I grabbed a bite to eat the other day at a Mc Donald’s and something caught me eye. Now to start this isn’t just any McDonald’s this is one of the few that is NOT franchised but company owned and believe it is different. The food is higher quality (I know that sounds like an oxymoron) and the service is much more attentive and fast. There are many times doing my day for insight I will stop buy a business just to observe to see what makes it tick. It unbelievable what you see when you are completely independent and free of a situation. So as I sat down I realized something was different. There was this tension the sense of urgency among the employees. I was watching the employees run around this restaurant being busy like somebody important (aka manager, district supervisor was there) Having working in retail for several years myself I know that feeling its like second nature to me. I remember being in organization where when somebody important shows up your trying to impress them with something fake sense of “really caring about the business”. They call it putting your best foot foward when it’s more like this fear of them seeing what its really like for the hundreds of hours between visits.

Anyway I began to think to myself “What would it take to really get these employees to honestly care about the business?” Let’s say as much as that guy in the suit that just showed up wants them to?

Give them a piece of what he has— ownership in the business, stock and profit sharing

Why is it that the employees that have the greatest ability to make your business really shine or could bury it into the ground(so often what happens) have no big long term incentive? Why in the world are you giving stock options to the guy that doesn’t make your business grow if anything he keeps it glued together? to summarize there in not incentive for the people that control your very livelihood (those that have the MOST contact with the customers) but alot of incentive to those that only deal with a few customers or sometime none at ALL.

That paradigm is completely wrong.

Give the power to OWN a piece the business to the people that CONTROL the biggest piece of the happiness of your customers. Yes your customer service people, clerks, cashiers, warehouse employees and don’t forget you sales people. Give them the incentive they deserve and should have to care as much when your not around as you THINK they do when you are there. Those people need to feel the trust that somebody is helping their future for alot longer than their next paycheck. The difference in profits, sales, customer satisfaction will skyrocket because you have given them something to be proud of and something to lose. One of the best feeling you can give an employee is to show them in as MANY ways as possible that EVERYTHING they do at work makes a difference in many more lives than they realize. Just wait until I get to my rant on how ALL corporate employees should be required to work at the lowest level position at least 4 days a years so they never forget WHO and WHAT are the most important values in your organization. That’s in another post another day

Lesson — put the most long term incentive to those you NEED to trust the most and you’ll have a much better company than you could ever realize.

Richard Branson–one of the most audacious thinkers and best entrepreneurs

I think this man is one of the best serial entrepreneurs ever and his words are straight , to the point and honest — Here are a few –

“Entrepreneur– somebody that does something in the public eyes at the time that is absolutely MAD”
“if you run one business well, you can run any business”
“it up to the entrepreneurs to get out there and to build new business”
“differentiate your business enough to win”
“don’t be embarassed by your failures as long as you’ve done everything possible to avoid it”

Why are we in this financial crisis in ONE WORD

Accountability

Nobody getting us in to these situations is standing up for what they did and nobody trying to get us out these situations is looking at the bigger picture of their short term actions.

The best way to get a cash flow going during the unstable economy

Change your focus now from income to flow. It is extremely rare for anybody to make money in this economy but to stay afloat you need cash flow. So offer a one shot deal where you sell a popular item at only 10% above cost. Do it for 48 hours this weekend. Call all your long term customers and tell them about it. Stress that it is a one shot deal because of the economy and the you would and will never offer it again. Select Comfort did this the past weekend with a 50% off sale. Now I used to work at a “Sleep Number Store” as they never gave anything close to 50% off but they did this weekend and knowing them they marketed this to all customers . All of them know how great a deal it is even though December is a weak month for them. Why?Nobody would buy a bed is December it not a gift purchase but this year with price under a grand instead of 2k I bet people did. I also know what the cost is and that is chopping out a huge amount of profit. However once you own this bed you can’t go back they have the lowest in the industry by a long shot. So long as people keep loving that bed they bed riding out of this impossible economy safely

U R L—-Ubiquity now –Revenue Later–

URL– early internet term had a hidden meaning during the dot com days that I feel is unbelievably relevant with the state of the economy to every small business now.

 

I was on the phone with a client of mine and we we talking about the fact the everybody is in complete budget lockdown right now. No company is will to spend any money they can’t recoup immediately that line –cash is KING is the only truth in business right now. He said I remember this speaker years ago when the internet was first taking hold and it was all about getting people to remember your URL or (website address) and people just beginning to see the possibilities of making money online. He had this great quote that literally became the foundation of the “dotcom” era — URL–Ubiquity now –Revenue Later.

The idea making a business that people not only remember its so strong they can’t forget it if they tried.  

 

As a pure statement it is great but it also allowed bad investments in that era cause nobody knew what the financial payback of what that ubiquity was worth caused alot of turmoil. However on the flip side you could  never forget the pets.com puppet that now staring in in car insurance commericals–now that ubiquity. Great companies use downturns to exploit mindshare and marketshare of their customers. It was the companies that didn’t go broke and those that  came in right afterwards that reap the greatest benefits of that ubiquity.

 

Now to the present day when the nobody is going to be making money now is a great time to build the uniqueness of your business so that when consumer confidence does come back you’ll be the first business of your kind to make money ask yourself “what do I really want this business to be remembered for ?” Use the bad economy to build brand share, customer service excellence, going above and beyond for the customer BEFORE they have to ask you too, or heck ask your customer what times works best for them to shop be there, or personally deliver the product when they would never expect you to. Build the Ubiquity is easy now because everybody is so focused on their fears that when you go above and beyond for them you are literally saying “I still have a lot of faith in you right now” EVERYBODY needs to hear that right now. When you say it with your deeds customers Hear you big time!

Making money during this financial crisis

Start by taking everything you  know about business and throw it out. you need to start letting you customer desires dictate your success. Now I’m going to be sharing quite a few insane ideas but they bring the customer BACK into your store. Yes you need insanity because the sanity of the current financial meltdown is keeping people from spending money and not shopping.

#1 — No more set business hours — use Flex traffic hours. What the heck is that Tom? I got this out of my own frustration of being in work at the same time I that they place i want to shop was open. So Monday night i ran over their to check the place out and the closer to 6pm the more customers came in. So he was trying to close when other people wanted to or could shop. now I worked if retail for several years I for the most part people aren’t standing at the gate at 10am. So why not open an hour later to close an hour later? Ask you customer what time works BEST for them to shop. Here is the insane payoff of shift that hour. I work at Clock Tower Place in Maynard Ma which houses thousands of employees with all the businesses here. It’s so big the Monster.com (yes the job site ) is headquartered there. Now if this guy advertised a 6pm-7pm special to employees of Clock Tower Place he would probably be turning the customers away and make his whole week in that hour. The problem is that people are just getting out of work when he is currently closing his shop. He needs that hour to allow people to see what he has to offer.

#2 Reach out and touch someone— You should be going through the database of all you customers and giving then a courtesy call no high pressure sales or marketing but a consideration call. Just present your and your company and ask them how they are doing let them use you to vent. One of the biggest problems with this crisis is that everyone feels that its only happening to them and those they care about. You reaching out show them that somebody outside their daily sphere of influence is willing to give to them whan everybody else seems to be taking. If you do the opposite of what is causing these people pain you will be bringing them pleasure. Now you might not see it that way because you are not solving their problems but people are just as frustrated because nobody is willing to just listen to what they are going through that your ear is really saving them the heart attack of feeling as though they are alone during this crisis. the goodwill that you build in these conversation will probably go further than any amount of marketing money you ever spend. Remember this ONE rule– your customers really don’t care how much you know but when they know how much you care about their well being they want to reciprocate by giving you business.

#3 Creating outlandish customer interaction opportunities — They best thing about this crisis is that people are REALLY searching for that which is going to help them and the completely unique  message. People are EXTREMELY confused about what ANY financial term means now and since your in business your paying for others greed , misrepresentations and lies so you need to position yourself completely outside the box so people have NO WAY OF COMPARING you to anybody else. Everybody is so ridden with fear right now it is easier for them to protect themselves from the possibility of making a mistake than to consider that you might be the one will to give them exactly what  they want or need. Maybe you can find out what your customer do and offer to trade instead of using cash. Tell them your will to lend based on their longevity as a customer you know that they will get you back when they are able to. give away free stuff if they introduce you to their best friend. Each business  is unique so create a crazy idea that is specific to your customers attention.

The Most amazing Customer Appreciation event EVER!!!

As I was driving home on Sunday night from my brothers I had the most incredible experience. I live right outside Boston in Concord Mass (Henry David Thoreau) and I stopped to take a walk through the town. It is one of the most beautiful places regardless but I love walking the streets at night much like Mr. Thoreau did to sort out my thoughts in complete peace and silence. Tonight when I got my car expecting silence I heard what I though was music in the distance. I thought I was hearing things I followed but it anyway a block and half away I hear this crisp voice that was covering music of the sixties. The closer I got the more I found that it wasn’t just one person was a whole gallery jammed to the hilt with several people. I look and see that this is a customer appreciation event. Here was an great singer literally jamming out with this stores customers. Now considering that they are closed on Sundays it was probably  an invitation only for the best customers. Now the crazy part everybody there was following right along, dancing, singing and hitting the tambourine. I snuck by and stood the next store over in absolute amazement at how much fun everybody was having. This wasn’t a customer appreciation event this was much more this was life celebration with friends that happen to be customers. I walked across the street completely blown away and I just enjoyed the moment. The next event will really bring home the magnitude of this.  

There were two young women walking past this gallery a  just like I was and they stopped in the doorway just to see what was going on they literally got pulled in. The people inside invited them to be a part of this party. They couldn’t  just sit back and watch they were completely jamming, singing, and dancing just like everybody else. Nobody that was part of this experience will forget Montague Gallery 10 Walden Street Concord Ma. They sell fine art sculptures go to www.montaguegallery.com The Do you think that everybody will taking about how it was on of the most unique events they have ever been to? Do you think that little event will drive more sales? Absolutely it will. Turning a customer appreciation event into a life celebration event that is PRICELESS in building customer loyalty I guarantee it.

Imagine customer loyalty like this

Did you know that every 4 out of 5 Apple customers that own one Apple computer will ONLY buy an apple as their next? As I wrote in about yesterdays post–It what you do after the customer owns your product that makes the most difference. Apple does EVERYTHING I mean EVERYTHING right after the sale. They love your problems so much  that the center focus in EVERY store is the genius bar. They have monitor devoted to the next appoint that everybody that is shopping sees. There is no other store that I have EVER been in that doesn’t do whatever it can to separate out its complaints FROM the people wanting to buy stuff. The reasoning is simple they don’t want to run the risk of ones persons negative emotions creating doubt in the mind of a shopper that wants to give them money. So talk about doing things from the customer point of view. Answer one question please!!! WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU EVER PUT ALL THE CHALLENGES AT THE CENTER OF EVERYBODYS ATTENTION — SO THAT IF YOU SCREWED UP OR DIDN’T GIVE A CUSTOMER WHAT THEY EXPECTED ABSOLUTELY EVERYBODY IN THE WHOLE STORE WOULD KNOW ABOUT IT? This move in any other business would be suicide.

 

So here is the real question– “How in the world do they  do it?” Those people that are at that genius bar are being treated better then everybody else in that store.

THIS IS EXACTLY HOW YOU BUILD MASSIVE CUSTOMER LOYALTY–FOCUS ON WHAT HAPPENS after THE CUSTOMER OWNS YOUR PRODUCTS. You can do these same exact methods to build your business. Just write me and I will show you how. 

Its like apple went to a Lamborghini dealership and modeled how to treat your customers after that. If you have ever been to the genius bar you know what I mean. It the place where people tend to hang out. If you ask me its not a genius bar because of the people behind it. NOPE (even though they are amazing) Rather it is the people in front of it. WHAT ARE YOU NUTS Tom? NOPE. By far the best and greatest tool they have to build loyalty they never use– customers issues. True Customer Loyalty is built on how you treat your FAILURES not your successes.

What do you do after the sale?

Many small business are completely focusing on everything that happens up until the product is in the customers hands then getting the next customer. There is a massive problem with looking at your future that way. The problem is that your CUSTOMERS are only focused on what happens AFTER the product is in their hands. There is so much opportunity for business growth just by changing your focus to the customers point of view its mind boggling. You are literally losing business by NOT changing your perspective. The greatest companies big or small know that paying attention to what your customer is paying attention to and not up until the customer are the ones that build  AMAZING customer loyalty. Doing everything possible to show your customers they matter AFTERWARDS will create a strong bond that your competition will never be able to break and will keep your customers buying again and again. Write me and give me a little background on your business and I’ll show your business exactly how you can build the business that your children’s children will be proud of.

How to MASTER customer appreciation!!!

Many small business owners have asked me for more ideas about how to apply customer appreciation to their business in the past year than anything else. The key isn’t in any specific idea but rather a mindset that need to be incorporated into everything you do. ask this one question” what would absolutely make my customers amazed if I did it?” Then stop at nothing to implement it right now. The key to this thought is that you stop thinking about what you want — your not the one giving your business the money it needs to stay successful. Start REALLY thinking from your customers point of view. Once you achieve true customer empathy, understanding, reasoning and compassionate your business will absolutely explode. If your still looking for a hint– here’s one

Five Guys Burgers — How to Absolutely ensure Customer Happiness

 In yet another great and revolutionary statement “5 Guys Burgers” does it again!!!!   This is the sign in the famous eatery.YOU DESERVE TO BE 100% SATISFIED– If not please inform the manager who will make things right.  I love that last part “WHO WILL MAKE THINGS RIGHT” there is no doubt to what their intent is when it comes to your satisfaction. All small business should adopt this very strong stand when it comes to the customers experience while they are guests in your establishment.