Today business is a very competitive game. Business owners must contend with a million different issues that can affect their business. Rising costs in the supply chain, increasing labour costs and growing prices of rent and utilities can all put a dent in profits. In order for a business to survive and thrive, business owners know that they must continuously keep their customers happy so they come back again and again. In order to do this, business owners must keep themselves informed about how their business is viewed by customers.
Advertise Your Business
Advertising is a very powerful way to attract more people to your business. One of the biggest challenges that both new and existing businesses face is getting people to come to their business. Advertising makes potential clients aware of your business and is an effective way to make them become patrons of your business. All you need to do is look in your mailbox or local newspaper to confirm that direct and print marketing is not dead. Direct and print advertising allow you to target the people who are most likely to visit your establishment. It is logical to say that if someone does not know about your business, there is no way that they will ever visit. When you are not building a strong customer base, your business is not growing.
Talk to Your Customers
After advertising your business and bringing new customers into your establishment, be sure that talk to them. People love to talk and are happy to engage with you and your employees. Talk to them about their experience at your store. Depending on the nature of your business, you might ask them if they found everything they were looking for. If you own a restaurant, ask them how their meal was and if their service was satisfactory. While you are talking with them, be sure to ask for feedback about their experience and what, if anything, can be improved. Customers are generally happy to give feedback, especially if a manager or the business owner is asking for it. If someone has negative feedback, do not get offended or let your ego defend your position. A Business, like much in life, is a learning experience. If you take their suggestions and recommendations under consideration, their feedback goes a long way in enhancing customer experience improvement.
Monitor Feedback on Social Media Websites
In some cases, you might not always be able to talk to every single person that does business with you. Sometimes you have to help your employees during a busy time. Other times you might have to conduct business behind the scenes like manage inventory or finish paperwork. When you are unable to interact with customers directly and ask them for feedback, you are out of touch with their experience. This is bound to happen because no one can be at several places at once. Monitoring social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, Yelp and other sites that allow customers to share their experience online gives you a good idea of what people are saying about your business. You will likely find a mixed bag of both positive and negative reviews. When you want to improve your business, do not take negative reviews as a “strike” against your business. Instead, you should be diplomatic and listen to the reviewer criticisms. If they have legitimate complaints, use their feedback to address the issues directly in your business operations. It is a smart idea to operate and maintain your own Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels. These sites allow you to interact directly with your customers and potential customers. Facebook is a great marketing tool to have in your toolbox. You, or your social media manager, can upload photos from your business, post special offers live time and speak directly to people that have, or are considering patronising your business. In a lot of cases, your customers will even “tag” themselves letting other people in their social circle know where they are at and share pictures on their own timeline. This type of social sharing is the new “word of mouth” advertising that many businesses crave. This helps strangers familiarise themselves with your business. When customers feel like they know you, they are more likely to do business with you. Since boosting your business with higher levels of customer satisfaction is your goal, social media is a flourishing environment to gauge how well of a job you are doing. When you have customer feedback to work with, you are able to adjust your approach and improve your business tactics.
Offer Incentives for Loyal Customers
One of the best things about loyal customers is that they return to your business. Return customers help bring in new customers that are not familiar with your business. Incentives are a relatively easy way to encourage customers to come back when they are in need of your products or services. In a sense, these incentives do not have to cost you anything, because the fact that customers are coming back to buy from you covers the cost of giving away something for free or offering a reduced price, say on every 10th visit. Sometimes incentives for brand new customers even work. For example, a tanning salon might offer one free tanning session to new people who have never been a customer to try their services. A free tanning session essentially costs the operator nothing, but can be used to sell an expensive tanning package. One visit to a tanning bed will not give the potential client a deep, dark tan. In order for the person to achieve a healthy, tan glow they will have to sign up and pay to use the tanning bed again. Additionally, after signing up for a tanning package, they will likely decide to buy some tanning lotion to use, as well. Suddenly the original “free” tan has turned into a new client with upsells. Do not be afraid to offer incentives as a way to build a strong return customer base.
