Cathy Stucker - The Idea Lady

Attract Customers and Make Yourself Famous

Building Client Relationships

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clientsWhat happens when you take 20 randomly selected people from your contact database, introduce them and ask them to help each other? According to Phil Morabito, CEO of Pierpont Communications, you create friendships and lasting client relationships.

Pierpont, one of the largest public relations and marketing firms in Texas, regularly brings clients and others together for a variety of events. Each is an opportunity to create connections among some of the 10,000 people in their contact database, and to strengthen Pierpont’s relationships with these people. [Read more…]

Free or Fee?

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money-treeHow much should you give away for free, and when should you charge? This question comes up for service providers when deciding what content to put on a Web site, presenting to a potential client, or even answering the phone.

The justification for giving away free information and services is that by demonstrating your expertise, clients will see how you can help them and will then be willing to pay you. However, every service provider has horror stories of potential clients who strung them along, getting all of the freebies they could, and never becoming paying customers.

It is up to each business to decide how much they want to give away, and when they will start to charge. Providing free information can certainly be an effective marketing method, but when is enough enough? [Read more…]

How Much Is Your Reputation Worth?

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for_the_money.jpgAre you ever tempted to do something “just for the money”? At some time in our lives, most of us do things that we would not do if we didn’t need the money. It might be staying in a job we do not particularly enjoy, or accepting a client with whom we would prefer not to work. However, there are things you should not do if you value your reputation.

There are people who will sell anything, and will say anything to sell something to you.  Although you may encounter them anywhere, the Internet seems to be a breeding ground for those who continually hype the latest and greatest way to separate you from your money. [Read more…]

Has Your Resume Outpaced Your Abilities?

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resume.jpgAt an industry conference, I heard a speaker who has a reputation as someone knowledgeable in his field. He even talked about the high fees he charges for speaking and consulting, such as $15,000 for a speech. But he couldn’t get through a sentence without at least one “um” or “uh,” he went off in new directions without warning,  and generally was hard to follow. Listening to him speak was painful, as I was never sure he would actually make it to the end of a sentence.

I found it hard to believe that he gets the fees he claimed, based on what I heard. He may charge those fees, but I don’t believe he gets them. What I mean by that is that I believe he has a fee schedule that says he gets $15,000 per speech, but he actually works for free, a reduced fee or a percentage of product sales. Having a fee schedule that says he is a $15,000 speaker sounds impressive, but if he does not deliver a $15,000 speech he loses credibility instead of gaining it.

This is an example of someone whose resume has outpaced his abilities. That is, his claims are greater than what he can produce.

There is nothing wrong with setting high expectations and promising great things. However, if you don’t deliver on those promises, you can do serious harm to your reputation and your future. This speaker damaged how I think of him with his poor performance, and I suspect I am not the only one who had that reaction.

Don’t misrepresent yourself, especially if your performance will not live up to your representations or your claims are easily disproved.

Opportunities in Complaints

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angry_customer.jpgWhen you receive a customer complaint, recognize it for the good news it is. I know, you want your customers to be happy. You may even take complaints personally and be upset or offended when a customer expresses dissatisfaction. However, if you recognize complaints as the opportunities they are, you can move your business forward.

Complaints can identify problems in your business. Customers who let you know about them are doing you a favor. It is only when you are aware of a problem that you can identify the cause and fix it. After all, wouldn’t you prefer they tell you about it instead of complaining about your company to all of their friends? That is not the kind of word of mouth you want.

Is the customer always right? No. Sometimes customers are demanding and unreasonable. Fortunately, those people are few and far between. Do what is reasonable to resolve the situations, then move on and don’t worry about losing these customers.

Most customers just want what they were promised. If you made a mistake, or they received a defective product, make it right. Do not underestimate the power of an apology. Simply saying, “I’m sorry this happened. Let me take care of this for you,” can go a long way toward improving your relationship with that customer. Then, repair the situation and learn from the complaint to avoid future problems.

Listen to the customer. Let him define the problem and tell you what he wants. It may be simple to fulfill expectations.

Never criticize a customer or minimize their concerns by saying things such as, “No one else seems to have a problem with this,” or, “Most customers like that feature.”

Perhaps the customer complaint (or a pattern of customer complaints) reveals a problem with the design of a product. Or many customers are receiving items broken in transit. That could mean a problem with the product itself, the packaging, or the delivery service.

Some complaints may be the fault of your marketing. The sales copy may set up unrealistic expectations, or sales staff may make promises that can not be kept, and customers are disappointed with the product or service they receive.

Other complaints may be the result of the customer not understanding what the product or service is supposed to do, or how to use it. Do you include understandable instructions your customer can use, including troubleshooting suggestions for when they encounter a problem?

Offer a solution that makes the customer whole. That might be repairing or replacing a product or re-doing a service. You might even want to give the customer something extra to make up for any inconvenience or loss they experienced as a result of the problem.

If there are obstacles to resolving customer complaints, such as arbitrary rules and policies, get rid of them. Give your staff the authority to resolve most routine problems as they see fit.

If you handle complaints properly, your unhappy customer can become a happy lifetime customer.