Little Things That Make a Big Difference in Your Business Success

Little Things That Make a Big Difference in Your Business Success

by | Mar 3, 2020 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Sound ADvice, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

Big Returns on Little Things

In today’s business economy you need referrals and repeat business more than ever! Nothing impacts the way your customers feel about your business more than the way you and your people treat them.

Ensuring that your people create a positive customer experience every time is no easy matter, and often it’s the “little things” that delight or annoy your customers.

 Google the name Bruce Barton, and you’ll find he was an author, congressman, and founder of Betty Crocker, and he is credited with saying, “Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think there are no little things.”

It’s oftentimes the little things that proved the biggest rewards!

People, not businesses, nor products, create the customer experience, and it’s that experience that will dictate your referral and repeat rates.

Little Thing #10 from our 10 Little Things for Big Paybacks is, Everything Rolls Downhill. The way you treat your staff is the way they will treat their jobs and your customers! Respecting your staff also reduces absenteeism and internal theft rates. To create a culture where your employees are more apt to do the little things makes the job fun. Celebrate successes, have staff-only events and offer employee pricing to them and their families.

Our company recently partnered with our outside consultant on a program to Up Our Culture.  What do you and your company do to create a positive environment for both your team and your customers?

If you need some ideas take a look at this list of 10 Little Things For Big Paybacks, click here.

And if you would like more Sound ADvice for your business like this, fill out the form below.

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Prepare For Success

Prepare For Success

by | Dec 30, 2019 | Sound ADvice

Onboarding 

Getting Them Off to a GREAT Start

Today, hiring good people is a challenge in itself; keeping them is a whole different ball game.  

When it comes to hiring and adding new people to your business, it’s imperative that they get off to not only a good start, but a GREAT start.

In the human resources world, bringing on a new employee is referred to as “onboarding”.  A definition of onboarding is, “the action or process of integrating a new employee into an organization”.

A new employee should never show up to work on their first day and sit around for an hour trying to make themselves useful because the manager didn’t have a plan or wasn’t prepared.

Not only is a strong onboarding process key to the employee’s and the business’s success, but it can also determine how long that employee stays with the company.

An article by Process Street, an onboarding company, quoted a survey that stated “Employees who participate in a structured onboarding program are 69% more likely to stay with an organization for 3 years” and “15% of employees said the lack of an effective onboarding program aided in their decision to quit”.

Don’t confuse onboarding with orientation.  Orientation is a one-time event.  Onboarding is a series of formal, well-planned events that start the day they are hired and can last from one month up to a full year.

Everything from having their workstation ready and business cards printed on their first day to pre-planned weekly and monthly reviews is part of making sure employees feel welcomed, know what’s expected of them, and how they are doing every step of the way.

A good onboarding system only needs to be created one time, then it can be used over and over with only minor tweaks going forward.  

To see the 9 Tips for Successful Onboarding, click here, or, you can find many examples and suggestions by simply googling “onboarding”. 

What you just read is part of my Sound ADvice weekly marketing and business tips email newsletter.  You can join the hundreds of other subscribers that receive it free in their inboxes Wednesday mornings by filling in your information in the box below.  Our next issue will be sent after the holidays. 

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Your Team Dynamics

Your Team Dynamics

by | Dec 23, 2019 | Sound ADvice

It Takes All Types 

 Managing Different Personalities

Most businesses, regardless of the business category or type of work, have a plethora of different personalities.  Keeping them all happy can be a challenge.

There are four basic personality traits: Type A, B, C & D, or more scientifically known as sanguine, choleric, melancholic, and phlegmatic.

It takes all types!

A manager’s responsibility is to keep the team focused, motivated, improving, continuing to do the right things, producing, and, keeping the team in line!  You are part motivator, trainer, psychologist, referee, friend, confidant, evaluator, and prison guard!

So, how do you handle employees with different personalities?  The short answer is, handle them all differently!  They are all different people and how you try to motivate Mary will not necessarily work well with Mark and vice-versa.  With this said, there are areas where you need to be very consistent.  In the areas where you do allow some latitude, make sure both sides understand why this latitude is extended. Maintaining their trust is extremely important. 

Always keep in mind that regardless of the type of business you are in, your team will be made up of different people, with different personalities and they will come in different shapes, colors, and sizes. But, they all will have one thing in common and that is… they are human, and as managers, it’s our job to lead by example and treat them with respect. Give them the attention to help them be as successful as they possibly can be. Never ask them to do something you are not willing to do yourself.   Respect is earned!  I wish you the very best in earning it!

Remember, it takes all types! 

If you would like to see the “7 Personality Traits of Top Salespeople” that was published in the Harvard Business Journal, click here.  We believe that these same traits will provide a good base for any position within any company.

This weeks ScLoHo Media and Marketing Update was from a weekly newsletter I send nearly every Wednesday.  We are taking a couple weeks off during the holidays but if you want to start receiving them in your inbox in 2020, fill out the form below.

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The Power Of Appreciation

The Power Of Appreciation

by | Nov 11, 2019 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo Sales Tips, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

Show Them You Appreciate Them!

The New Technology World we live in has certainly made some things easier, but in return, it has taken away a lot of the old fashioned customer service and appreciation. 

There was a time when you made a purchase and you might have received a handwritten thank you note, or from time to time small tokens of appreciation for simply being a loyal customer.

While these little marketing gestures may have faded, they certainly haven’t gone away.

Amit Kumar, a University of Texas professor who studies well-being, says that most of us underestimate the impact of sending an actual note rather than a text or email.

When Doug Conant became the CEO of Campbell’s Soup, the company was struggling and morale was at an all-time low.  He did a lot of things to turn the company around, but one of the most powerful was he wrote over 30,000 thank you notes in his 10-year journey.

According to a survey by TopResume, two-thirds of employers say receiving a thank you note from a job applicant following an interview impacted their hiring decision.

The continued advancement of technology makes the “human touch” that much more appreciated!  The impact of a handwritten note is greater than ever!

It also goes beyond just your customers.  The same appreciation can be shown to your staff, your suppliers, and vendors.

The cost to acquire a new customer is high.  The cost to keep them can be as little as a handwritten thank you note, or a simple token of appreciation!

Show them – you appreciate them!

Here in the United States we are on the cusp of the end of year holiday season starting with Thanksgiving this month followed by all the December holidays including Christmas and then we ring in a new year.  Do you or does your company give gifts to your clients?  Do you give bonuses to your staff?

While tradition may dictate that you do these things this time of year, I urge you to set up a system of appreciation that is outside the Holiday timeframe too.

Click here to view 14 Appreciation Marketing Tactics to make an emotional connection with your customers, staff, and suppliers.

You can also get a free subscription to my Sound ADvice marketing and business tips email newsletter by filling in the form below.   As always feel free to ask me anything by sending me a note to Scott@WOWO.com

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Do You Provide Meaningful Touches?

Do You Provide Meaningful Touches?

by | Aug 21, 2019 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

Maintaining a good relationship with your customers is critical to your lasting success.

Roy H. Williams in his article on Advertising Oversimplified covered this:

  1. Most customers are repeat customers or referral customers. Mass media is the most efficient way to maintain top-of-mind awareness among these groups. In addition, it will bring you new, first-time customers.

  2. Your plan to stay in touch with your customers through social media and email blasts is based on the assumption that your customer is willing to open, read, listen to, or watch what you have to say. Is this actually happening? And if not, why not? (HINT: The Subject Line gets people to open it. The content, itself, gets people to share it.)

I get direct mail pieces from a couple realtors and other business people I know and I also get some emails but most of them get deleted or tossed without being read.

I even have a weekly marketing email you can subscribe to free using the form below for Sound ADvice.  

As business people we are told that we need to be doing something to maintain that connection, but is what you are doing the right thing for your individual customers?

Even if you are doing the right number of “touches” with your email or direct mail…

Are they meaningful to the people on the receiving end?

I’m not suggesting you drop everything you are currently doing unless you see no value in it at all.

I am suggesting that you also add a personal touch, the kind that is not “mass media”.

Every once in a while, I will contact some of my advertising partners with a note, a phone call or an article that would be of interest to them.

When I did this with a Financial Planner friend of mine, she asked me how I found the article I sent her because it’s from a publication written specifically for people in her field, not the general public.  I told her my research secrets and she got a greater understanding of how I am looking out for her interests, not just selling her advertising.

Like I said, I don’t recommend stopping all your mass media advertising and only focusing on personalized one-at-a-time marketing; that proved disastrous for an old friend of mine who thought word of mouth alone would be the way to go.  He had to shut his doors after he tried that experiment and his business had a 25 year history.

Do both.

Mass media reaches both your current and future customers.  Personalized messaging can be used to retain that relationship.

Want help? Contact me: Scott@WOWO.com

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