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Your EnterQuest Bulletin - Issue 245
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| Thought for the week: "Customers don't expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong." Donald Porter |
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In this week's issue:
Turn customer feedback into positive action
The term 'customer feedback' is a bit of a dirty phrase for some small business owners. It generally has negative connotations - the customer isn't happy with the service they've received or the product they've bought and they want to tell you. To the inexperienced small business owner this 'feedback' is often a blot on their copybooks - how dare somebody criticise you for your hard work and good intentions? Life just isn't fair is it?
Well, it's time to pull yourself together and take the feedback on the chin. But bear in mind that around 95% of customers won't complain about the bad service they receive or the inferior product they buy, they'll take their business somewhere else.
So if you think about it, feedback is generally quite a rare occurrence for the average small business owner, and one that should be welcomed with open arms.
This is because customer feedback - positive or negative - enables you to improve your business and retain your customers. If the feedback is positive, it gives you the impetus to build upon what you're already doing right. If the feedback is negative, it presents you with a golden opportunity to put things right, because complaining customers help you find weaknesses in your business that you need to fix.
On the other side of the coin, hundreds of businesses and organisations - and this is particularly true of the public sector - actively seek customer feedback by enabling customers to interact with them in various ways. There's any amount of feedback forms in customer service centres and public access buildings and feedback options on web pages. Some businesses go one step further and use customer satisfaction surveys to gain feedback.
But not all firms use feedback effectively. According to Rob Keve of the Retail Bulletin, 95% of businesses collect feedback, and just 30% act upon it or use it. So here are some pointers on using the information customers give you and using it effectively to improve your business.
First, on which area of your business should you ask for feedback?
Answer? All of it, but of paramount importance is whether your products or services live up to customer expectations. Did it provide value for money? Did it meet quality expectations? How good was the after-sales service? How easy or difficult was the order process? Did you deliver on time? Getting feedback on issues such as these can help you raise the bar in terms of meeting customer expectations. Finally, ask whether they'd be happy to use your business again and recommend it to others.
The process for getting feedback is not difficult. For websites, comment boxes are a common method. For premises, complaints/feedback forms are more the norm. But if you want to design your own survey, there's any amount of survey websites and tools you can use to help you. See SurveyMonkey as an example.
But what should you do with the results? Well, that's up to you. You could be like the majority of businesses that procrastinate over their customer feedback and never get around to changing anything, or you could:
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Use the results to plan new products or services and improve on existing ones.
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Use them within your business plans to help hit sales, financial and marketing targets.
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Gather more feedback over time and use each set you gather to spot trends.
Of course, unhappy customers may give you negative responses, but if you take action and use their feedback positively, they'll be presented with another opportunity to do business with you. And that could lead to a long and happy relationship. Altogether now ... the customer is always right ...
Get more sales from your online store
If you want to realise the full potential of your online store, you should always be seeking to maximise sales and turn as many website visitors into buyers as you can. Here are some dos and don'ts to help you increase visitor conversion rates.
Do:
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Include pictures. Have pictures of the products you sell - some of your customers may not speak your language, but they will know what they want to buy. If they see a picture of what they want, you've overcome the language barrier.
Don't:
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Ask visitors to log in or supply any details before they can look at your catalogue. Most shoppers will leave your site rather than fill in a form before they are ready.
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Provide a straight discount. Offer the customer more for their money.
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To receive regular tips, articles and how-to guides like these to help you run your business more effectively you can subscribe to BETTER business magazine.
To receive a free copy of BETTER business magazine simply send us your name and address to enterquest@cobwebinfo.com, putting 'EQ magazine offer' in the subject box. |
Each week we provide you with summaries of some popular or emerging business ideas in the UK and elsewhere around the world.
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Eco starter kits. There are a number of businesses providing customers with eco starter kits to help them make changes to their lifestyles. For example, Green-kits, based in the US, offers basic and luxury packages for the kitchen, for cleaning and for baby. Greensender's packages contain organic cotton shopping bags and energy-efficient light bulbs.
Regularly improving your vocabulary is not just about learning a new word and its meaning. It will improve your general knowledge and make you feel and act smarter in all sorts of personal and business situations.
Do you know the meaning of the word 'implacable'?
a) not belonging to any particular locality
b) impossible to change or please
c) inconceivable
d) uncharitable; inhospitable
Answer at the end of the Bulletin.
The following topical business issues have been recently reported in the media. Did your radar pick them up?
1) New research by Bank of Scotland Business Banking has revealed small business owners expect a rise in the costs of running their business this year. How many predict that overall costs will increase?
a) less than 30%
b) less than 50%
c) more than 60%
d) more than 80%
2) Research by payment services firm Bacs Payment Schemes has depressingly revealed that small firms are owed a staggering £18.6 billion in late payments, with Greater London suffering the most. But which region suffers the least?
a) South East England
b) North West England
c) Scotland
d) Midlands and East Anglia
3) According to a new survey by KPMG, businesses are increasingly looking to Web 2.0 technologies to engage with consumers and help staff work more effectively. But what factor is preventing more than half of businesses surveyed from taking full advantage of Web 2.0?
a) data protection and security issues
b) the fact that it's consumer driven
c) fear of loss of productivity
d) implementation costs
Answers at the end of the Bulletin.
Get a grip on your finances
January is often the month of worryingly depleted bank accounts and broken New Years' resolutions, after promising yourself that you WILL keep an eye on your accounts this year. If you're struggling already, check out Martin Lewis' MoneySavingExpert website. It's full of tips, tools and calculators to help you keep track of your finances. There's also the opportunity to sign up to a free money saving tips e-mail.
Language help from Google
Google's Language Tools page can help you translate phrases from English to a selection of popular languages from around the globe, including German, French, Chinese and Russian and vice versa. Type the phrase you want to search for in your own language to find web pages in another language. Google then presents you with results in both languages.
New search engine to rival Google?
There's talk of a new search engine that could be powerful enough to rival the ubiquitous Google. Wikia, from the creators of Wikipedia, was launched on 7 January (Monday). People searching topics will be able to rank search results using open source software to help improve the filtering of search results. But Google lovers have claimed that this allows humans to unfairly manipulate the search process and that computer-generated results are much fairer. Watch this space ...
Content tool from Yahoo!
Yahoo! has come up with a content manipulation tool that can help you create, publish, mashup, tag and filter content from around the web. The Yahoo! Pipes tool enables you to tailor the content you select to different users' needs and for a range of audiences.
This book helps you to understand the science behind persuasion and why people say yes. By reading it you will learn six principles to help you persuade people more effectively in all sorts of situations and how to protect yourself against being drawn in by others who are skilled in persuading. Check out:
Just one word answer
The answer is b).
Implacable means impossible to change or please.
The implacable business owner could not be won over by the sales rep's tactics. |
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Good luck
The EnterQuest Team
This information is meant as a starting point only. Whilst all reasonable efforts have been made, the publisher makes no warranties that the information is accurate and up-to-date and will not be responsible for any errors or omissions in the information nor any consequences of any errors or omissions. Professional advice should be sought where appropriate. |
