Beyond Customer Service: Growing Your Business in Today’s Market

By Dr. Cynthia A. McGovern

It wasn’t all that long ago that waiting for the cable guy was an all-day commitment. Remember? They’d be there “sometime between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.”

Or you’d sit on your phone, staring at your PC’s “blue screen of death,” waiting on hold as the 26^th person in line, for two minutes of tech support from a grumpy IT person.

Well, that’s not how the world works anymore. Successful businesses have enhanced the customer experience with new technology, whittling down those eight-hour windows and replacing time spent on hold with live chats or call-back options.

Similarly, your clients are no longer satisfied to sit around and wait for transactions and communication about those transactions that used to take days or even weeks. Their expectations have changed, and if you haven’t changed with them, you’d better.

It all starts with knowing their needs. Keeping abreast of what your customers want and expect is an ongoing and full-time occupation. If you had a good understanding of it last year, all that means is that you’re running behind---it’s time to catch up!

You need to do more than just sell to your customers---you need to create a relationship with them, and understand not just how to “fill the order” or “do the work,” but to satisfy the needs that drive the orders and work.

How do you find that out? Well, there are dozens of communication tools at your disposal, far more than even just a couple of years ago, and there’ll be more yet by the end of the decade.

Are you and your team familiar with these tools? Do you know how your customers communicate? How they would prefer to communicate?   

Do you have a professional social media presence? And strategy? Hint: it’s more than posting recipes on Facebook.

And even more importantly---do you have someone monitoring what everyone else out there is saying about you?

It’s easy to get overwhelmed. But with a measured, methodical and strategic approach to gaining new business, and maintaining (and increasing!) current accounts, you can position yourself for the continued growth you need to remain successful and profitable.

Because the bar gets higher every day---and you’d better be able to reach it!

 

Dr. Cynthia A. McGovern is the First Lady of Sales at Orange Leaf Consulting. McGovern will speak more in depth about this topic during a session titled “Beyond Customer Service; Growing Your Business in Today’s Market” at ALTA ONE in October. Click here to register for ALTA ONE.