This weekend, my youngest son was invited to a skating party, and rather than suffer through ear-splitting pop music and a seizure-inducing light show, my husband and I decided to look for something else to do to kill time. You know you’re an old married couple when strolling around Home Depot qualifies as a date night. Luckily, we also found ourselves in proximity to a Panera Bread restaurant and my favorite black bean soup was being served that night.
When we walked into the restaurant, it was well after the dinner time rush and there were few patrons in the restaurant. I only briefly glanced at the bakery goodies, figuring someone would be at the counter to serve us in a jiffy. But this was not to be the case. There were at least a dozen workers going back and forth from the front of the store to the back of the store. Every now and then, someone would pause from their task to ask if someone had helped us yet. We would say, “no,” they would mumble something and scurry off, leaving us to wonder if we’re supposed to wait or just dish out our own soup.
Now, I am not denying that every person in that place was working their tushies off. Everyone was doing some very important job that was required to keep the business running. However, there was obviously a very important cog that was missing from their business machine. You can cook all the food and do all the dishes and stock all the bakery cases as much as you want….but without someone to serve the customer, everything else is pointless.
Whenever I come across either a really great or a really poor customer experience, I try to relate it to my own business and ask myself if there is something I can learn from the experience to make my own business better. Even though we’re a relatively mature business, we still find ourselves rapidly evolving to keep up with market trends and new product developments. This evolution allows us to still see a 20% or greater increase in sales each year, when other companies of a similar age might have leveled out with a very small annual sales increase. On the other hand, these changes also mean that certain parts of our business can become neglected.
For example, we have a tendency to want to focus our efforts on tradeshows where we make a profit, while other companies are willing to accept that a tradeshow is a place to meet new customers and introduce new products. There are plenty of companies that exhibit at tradeshows and don’t sell a single item at the show. When we avoid smaller shows and more expensive shows in an effort to minimize expenses, we fail to expose ourselves to new potential customers. In the past, we’ve exhibited at shows where one new customer was a big enough account to have made the entire expense of the show worthwhile. We’ve already started tackling this problem by signing up for some new shows for the upcoming year in areas of the country where we feel our customers have not had the opportunity to meet us face to face. And we are planning to offer workshops in our new building so people can learn in a smaller setting, without the expense of a convention.
Another area of our business that has been neglected is our website. While our current website is adequate, and way better than our previous website, there are still some functionality issues that have not been addressed and are potentially frustrating our customers. I know that I’ve left a website for no other reason than there was annoying music or a long-loading flash presentation. I can imagine that plenty of people have left our website without making a purchase because the shopping cart didn’t work well on their Mac computer or because we don’t have a search function. Not only is that a loss of an immediate sale, but that could very well be a permanent loss of a customer. They are going to look around for another company who meets their needs. And once a customer finds someone who meets their needs, they are very unlikely to switch back to your company. I have been researching new shopping cart software and hope to get some of those problems resolved within the next few months.
When was the last time you really analyzed your business shortcomings and did something about it? Is there a part of your business that you hate doing so it doesn’t get done? Have you considered hiring someone to do that job in your business? Do you find yourself in a rut and accepting the status quo rather than stepping out of your comfort zone to grow your business? Start looking at what your colleagues are offering their customers and ask yourself if you’re being competitive. Why would someone choose your company over another company? (And you should know that price is not always the determining factor when customers choose a company.) How much effort are you putting into advertising? Have you looked for every free and inexpensive place to advertise your company? Have you included an advertising budget in your business plan? Do you update your current customers when you have new products and services to offer? How does your website look? Is it easy to navigate? Does it show up in search engines? Sure having a great product to sell or being a fabulous artist is important to your business. But without all of these other areas of your business taken care of, your business cannot function effectively.
Just like in life, we let our diets slip when we get busy, and our household chores get neglected, leaving our house falling apart in places….our business can start looking just as shabby without us realizing it. It’s a gradual process and it happens to all of us. You have to step back and look at your business through the eyes of both a new customer and an old customer. Your product shouldn’t be just as good as it’s always been, it should be better than it’s ever been. Don’t be afraid to ask your current customers how they feel and if they would like you to address some part of your offerings. They’ll appreciate that you care and the changes that you make can attract new business.
I hope you are all as excited as I am about the weather warming up and the upcoming busy season.
Have a wonderfully prosperous month!
~Erika
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