Tag Archives: customer loyalty

How Do You Gather Customer Feedback?

Posted on by
Reply

Ironic isn’t it? We live and work in a digital age, and the discourse about the power of social media to communicate with potential buyers and current customers in more effective ways reached deafening proportions in 2009. Yet a current poll running over on LinkedIn shows that 46% of the respondents thus far still think that the most effective way to gather customer feedback is in direct, face-to-face meetings. Hum… me thinks there is a disconnect.

Your customers and potential customers are sharing a wealth of information and insight about what they want - online. In 3 easy steps, here’s how you can begin to capitalize on the wealth of opportunity staring you in the face.

  1. Determine where your current customer (or prospect) is likely to “participate” online. Don’t assume they are using Facebook or Twitter or any other social technology people tell you is the hot thing. Put your thinking cap on. Consider the demographics of your audience. What do you know about them now that can help you identify where they travel in the online space. EXAMPLE: Your customer is the VP of Sales in technology and telecommunications companies. What does he/she care about? What challenges are top of mind? In what forums or groups are they talking about what they need or wish vendors provided?
  2. Listen to what is being said. Now that you know where your customers live…listen to what they are talking about. What questions are they asking? How are they gathering feedback about products and services on the market? Don’t show up in a group and start pitching your wares. Take the time to listen.
  3. Engage them in dialog. Ask relevant questions and don’t argue the answers. Defending your turf  only looks and sounds self serving. Your goal is to set your agenda aside. How else can you really understand what is important to your most valuable asset - your customer? Use what you learn to innovate your products and services and build stronger loyalty with your customer base.

It’s hard to know what that 46% was thinking when they answered the question posed in the poll, but it seems certain they may be missing the entire point and opportunity that social media represents.

Salesconx Fails to Connect

Posted on by
1

So I just partially listened to about the most boring presentation EVER from Evan over at Salesconx. If the meat came after the self-serving preening then I missed it. The call wasn’t boring because Evan isn’t talented or because he cannot communicate his message well, but boring because it was nothing more than a pitch – a feature dump - offering pretty much no value to me. The buyer. Ah, the wasted potential.

Maybe Evan didn’t realize that the webinar came off sounding like the cheezy sales pitch that it was. Thing is that Evan is the real deal. I love the concept of his business model. It’s a referral driven marketplace that has big potential. I enjoyed his interview with Fast Company Magazine and think you might too.

But back to that darn webinar…

Driving Sales Revenue Using a Virtual Team was the topic that caught my eye. I signed up. I carved out 45 minutes of now non-billable time to listen in. The session didn’t live up to its name. A little creativity could have gone a long way.

I’m a small business owner. Educate me on industry best practices. Show me how using a virtual team actually drives the intended results. Give me some pointers on the questions I ask during the RFP process with a virtual sales company. Tell me how the right virtual team skyrockets my sales. Share a nugget with me that I can put into action now. Then you become my hero forever.

Capture my interest. Show me value. Then you have earned the right to talk about yourself.

Who Do You Serve?

Posted on by
1

James Arthur Ray, author of Harmonic Wealth is someone I have admired since first hearing him speak in The Secret. His subsequent interviews on Oprah were inspiring, and I have benefited greatly from Ray’s philosophy about living a life of wealth. His business is built on the theme of teaching you “the secret of attracting the life you want.” At this moment, I’m not sure that James Arthur Ray is happy about the circumstance he’s attracted into his life.

On October 8, 2009 Ray’s empire started to crumble when two people died during a sweat lodge ceremony held in Sedona, Arizona. Another ceremony participant died a week later and close to twenty other people were injured. What was meant to be a personal cleansing experience turned into a death trap for some and an emotional, life changing experience never to be forgotten by the others there that day.

Put aside for a minute the fact that there have been a number of complaints registered against Ray’s organization by people injured during his programs. Perhaps if someone had taken the collapse of a male participant in a 2005 sweat lodge activity seriously, the tragedy four years later could have been avoided.

I have to wonder if Ray’s rapid rise in the world of motivational “guru”dom began to cloud his judgment. It seems quite possible that he has not been listening to the concerns of his community. No safety personnel on sight during an exercise that clearly had the potential to become a disastrous problem is unthinkable. In the crush to up the competitive ante in the world of personal development products, did Ray’s organization go too far with the Spiritual Warrior vision quest retreat? It would seem so. From the looks of things, Ray’s business is shutting down. At least temporarily.

The tragic deaths of people who expected nothing more than to improve their lives during that Sedona weekend with Ray are a reminder of the harsh consequences of what can happen when a company has forgotten who they serve.