photo by Phil Dowsing

Customer service is critical to long term success…everyone says so, which is why you have great customer service – right?

Think about it though…what company doesn’t think they don’t have good customer service? Go into any establishment and there’s at least one sign in every business promoting customer service, even if it is only a sign the says “Customer Service”. I am sure the owners of the businesses send out at memos, hold a meeting, or maybe even dedicated an entire section in their employee manual to “Customer Service”.  If you ask anyone if customer service is a priority – they’re going to tell you that it is.

Clearly Customer Service is important…but what is it really?

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Would you like to make more money?  How about having clients who absolutely rave about you and are willing to pay you a premium for what you do for them?

Then you should definitely consider Getting Naked for your business!

Of course I’m not talking literally…I’m saying you should start adopting the ideas from Patrick Lencioni’s latest book ‘Getting Naked’.  The premise of the book is using a different kind of approach with clients – being vulnerable and opening yourself up without any pretense or cover.  I think of it as being really authentic…all the time, with everyone, warts and all!

You may have heard of Lencioni previously – he’s the author of several extremely popular and insightful business books, including ‘The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team’ and ‘The 5 Temptations of a CEO’.  His books are written as business fables, which makes them fun to read, but the ideas are still very powerful.

So what does Getting Naked really mean?  Let’s take a look:

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  Pam from The Office

There’s an important aspect of marketing that often gets overlooked.  The tendency is to think about marketing as advertising or branding, but marketing is also all about the little things. 

Marketing is every interaction that you (and your employees) have with your customers and prospective customers.  Are they greeted with a friendly smile?  Do they hear a somewhat formal “How can I help you today?” or an informal “What do you need?”.  It’s those details, the little touches, that create what your business is all about, that create the ‘wow’ moments people will talk about.

Do you look at your marketing as all of the little things that make a difference (and add credibility and power to any advertising you do)?  Do you start thinking of the small touches your clients would appreciate that are unusual in your industry?.  Maybe it’s time to upgrade your marketing – start with a smile…and here are some other ideas that might get you started:

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In today’s competitive environment it’s more important than ever to have a competitive advantage – something that puts you above the general fray of your industry.

Maybe you have a unique technology advantage…a patented something or other that no one else has.

Maybe you were first in your space and really own the marketplace (95 of the top 100 companies use our service…).

Maybe you’re faster, better a different business model – there can be lots of ways to build a competitive advantage.

However if you’re stuck on what yours might be, you should look at your core values and your vision as a possible way to stand out and make yourself different from the crowd.

Do you have customers that buy from you because of what you stand for?  Great employees that do more than you expect because they believe in the bigger picture of where you’re taking the business?

I’ve written before about how to find your core values, but even more importantly you can actively use those core values as a differentiator…a competitive advantage.

(photo by Zach Dischner)

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Presentation.

Attention to detail.

Serving the customer.

I was at my daughter’s soccer game this morning and one of the other parents had recently purchased furniture for their daughter and although they liked the product, the overall experience was very bad.  What was promised in no later than 8 weeks delivery took over 10 weeks.  When they did deliver, they left out a mirror…it had been ordered and paid for, but didn’t get shipped and they made the family jump through hoops to finally get it done right!  On top of that, the store and the installers all acted like this was business as usual and didn’t offer a single apology!

But here’s the really sad and frustrating part… 

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