How to build your business on social media in eight steps

By Alex Fenton, a lecturer in digital business at Salford Business School.

Social media can help your business to grow sales. Follow these eight steps to build your business's social media presence.

It may not cost anything to use Facebook and Twitter, but engaging with social media channels comes with a hidden cost. They should be given equal weight to traditional marketing tools and used as part of your wider marketing and business strategies to be most effective. 

Here are eight tips to help you refine your approach. 

(1) Strategise

Planning is everything. Understand your customers and future customers’ needs – how are they finding your business online and how might they find you in the future? Google Analytics allows businesses to create a clear picture of how customers are interacting with online platforms.

(2) Evaluate your competitors

How well are your competitors doing in the search results for Google, Yahoo and Bing? What social networks are they using and how many Twitter followers and Facebook fans do they have? When they post on these sites is there a lot of engagement from their users? Are their posts ‘liked’, ‘shared’ and commented on? Identify what is and isn’t working for competitors in your sector and learn from their successes and failures. 

(3) Consider your target audiences

Evaluate which social media platforms are being used regularly by your target audiences. Plugins and services provide an easy and free way to add social media sharing icons to your website. 

(4) Commit to a small number of networks

Don’t spread yourself too thin. Devote time to a small number of social networks which are relevant to your target audience and do these well. It’s better to grow a large, engaged community on a couple of channels, than be on every platform.

(5) Produce great content

What is likely to interest your audiences? A combination of photos, animation and video can often lead to more engagement than plain text only. Ask your followers questions to encourage them to interact with you. Your content should be engaging, informative, interesting and relevant to your company. 

(6) Pay attention to detail

Poor writing, low quality images and bad design will do more harm than good for your brand. Assume that your audience will spot your mistakes and judge you negatively for your lack of care. 

(7) Ask for feedback

Social is a quick and easy way to gain customer feedback. Positive comment should be acknowledged, and it’s important to ensure that negative comments can be quickly addressed by a member of staff with the authority to rectify the situation. Social media platforms need to be monitored at all times so that customer complaints can be dealt with swiftly and efficiently.

(8) Ensure you get a good return on your investment

Your social media strategy should form part of your overall marketing plan. Make sure you’re analysing engagement on your social media platforms in the same way that you track the outcome of other campaigns.

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What to consider when beginning to sell your products online

Starting to sell your products online is a fantastic way to instantly expand the reach of your SME and allow your business access to people, markets and countries it would be impossible to reach otherwise.

Precautions must be taken when businesses begin selling online

There are, however, certain requirements your site must comply with in order to legitimately sell goods or services online. This article will explore those key requirements to allow your SME the best opportunity of a successful entry to the online marketplace.

To begin selling your goods online, you must first create an internet merchant account (IMA). An IMA is an essential component of any business wanting to take advantage of an ecommerce web platform, with all businesses requiring an IMA before accepting any card or PayPal payments via the web.  

The main function of an IMA is to act as the intermediary between you and your customer.

This gives both you and your customer certain protections in the payment processes, as well as allowing you to incorporate many monetary sale costs – such as card processing fees, into one single payment. 

IMA’s can be obtained through two methods.  

• Your business banking provider, or another high street bank with an IMA option
• A payment service provider such as; PayPal, SagePay or RealEX

There is, however, certain criteria that must be met to obtain an IMA. This is done to ensure that you are in a position to provide the correct good or service for all payments made. 

When applying for your IMA therefore, be prepared to discuss the following areas.

• Business plan with description of product/services (for Established SME’s bringing accompanying sales and financial figures will help expedite the process)
• Supplier’s details, Sale and Delivery Process
• Website name and address
• Security details (are you operating on a secure server?) Inc. Online T&C’s

These specific areas need to be sufficiently covered as the IMA is effectively showing the bank/payment provider’s confidence in your ability to provide goods or services as promised. This confidence is then passed onto the customer when making purchases. 

Note: Most business bank accounts have additional IMA options. It’s therefore recommended to speak to your current provider initially.

With your ability to send/receive payments accredited through your IMA. Your next step is to think about your customers' data, specifically how you store and use it day to day. 

It goes without saying every customer expects their data to be handled in a confidential manner. Most business owners aren’t aware however, that this is also a legal requirement under the Data Protection Act 1998. 

The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) governs how we use and store individuals personal information obtained via purchases. The DPA gives individuals whose data has been stored the legal right to know what information is held about them, and usually consists of names, addresses and bank details. There is however, some information that is deemed too ‘sensitive’ and cannot be stored. This includes but is not limited too; race or ethnicity, political affiliation and union membership or religious beliefs. 

To comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 there are seven key data protection principles which must be adhered too. Business owners must ensure that any stored data is:

• Used fairly and lawfully
• Used for limited and specifically stated purposes
• Used in a way that is adequate, relevant and not excessive
• Accurate
• Kept for no longer than necessary
• Handles according to people’s data protection rights
• Kept safe and secure
• Not transferred beyond European Economic Area without adequate protection

Failure to comply with these principles can lead to a fine and potentially more, depending on how the data is used. Nevertheless, most online businesses shouldn’t need to worry about flouting the DPA too much as the majority of modern payment systems are designed to adhere to the act naturally. It is however, still crucial for you to regularly check your systems are storing and managing data in the correct manner. 

If you are worried about the Data Protection Act 1998, you can further boost your data securities by becoming PCI complaint. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI) is a non-legal requirement, nonetheless many online retailers ensure compliance with this as an extra security for their customers. PCI compliance is gained through completed a 12 step process, and can give your customers a great deal of confidence in your site.

Read here for more information on PCI compliance and the 12 stages required.

Lastly, but certainly not least important, is your insurance. Insurance is a requirement for all businesses and ensures you are adequately protected if your company is effected by any unforeseen circumstances. Sadly though, it can be a bit of a minefield deciding which protection is correct for your business however as a general rule, all online businesses will require some form of professional indemnity insurance.

Professional indemnity insurance is applicable to most online businesses as it covers such a wide range of niches that can be applied to almost all online companies, covering you for:

• Professional negligence
• Unintended breach of confidentially and copyright
• Loss of money or goods – this can include the transit process once a sale has been made
• Loss of documents or data

As you can see, professional indemnity allows most businesses to operate with confidence in their protection as such a large range of potentially dangerous scenarios are protected through your cover. 

As you can see, taking your SME online is not as simple as one would first believe. To trade online consumer confidence is key, and with competitors arising daily as new entrepreneurs try to climb the ladder it has never been more important to protect an air of professionalism from your business. Ensuring that your customers feel confident sending you payments is the first step towards that.

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Doubling of small business rate relief extended until 2017

The doubling of the small business rate relief in England will be extended until April 2017, the Chancellor George Osborne has announced.

Osborne revealed the extension in this afternoon's Autumn Statement and Spending Review.

About 405,000 of the smallest businesses will continue to receive 100% relief from business rates - doubled from the usual rate of 50% - with around a further 200,000 benefiting from tapering relief, notes to the move said.

Business owners can get the relief if they only use one property and their property's rateable value is less than £12,000. But under the extended doubling of this relief, they won't pay business rates on properties with a rateable value of £6,000 or less.

After April 2017, unless the scheme is extended again, the rate of relief will then gradually decrease from 100% to 0% for properties with a rateable value between £6,001 and £12,000.

The government is also undertaking a review of business rates. The review will report at Budget 2016.

Details in the Autumn Statement document said the UK's small and medium-sized enterprises now employ 15.6 million people, up from 13.7 million in 2010.

Over the last two years, the number of small businesses employing someone other than the owner has grown by 100,000.

As well as the measure announced today, business Start-Up Loans have already provided £180m of funding to 33,600 entrepreneurs, the Autumn Statement document said. The government will meet its commitment to 75,000 Start-Up Loans by the end of this 

Parliament, it added.

From April 2016, the Employment Allowance will rise to £3,000, benefiting over 1 million employers, and helping many businesses take on their first employee.

Small businesses will continue to receive support for apprentices, the document said. The apprenticeship levy will only be paid by employers with a paybill of more than £3m, meaning that less than 2% of UK employers will pay it.

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Interest rates will stay low for longer – but household debt is a worry, says BoE

Bank of England's chief economist notes that growth in personal loans is 'picking up at a rate of knots'.

Interest rates are likely to stay lower for longer – meaning that policymakers must stand ready to rein in excessive lending, the Governor of the Bank of England has said.

Mark Carney said interest rates were likely to remain low “for a considerable period of time”, even though the next move in rates was likely to be up, reports The Telegraph.

“The question in my mind is when is the appropriate time for interest rates to increase in this economy, consistent with the strength of the domestic economy,” he told the Treasury Select Committee (TSC).

The Governor, who chairs the FPC and the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which sets interest rates, said a rise in consumer credit was “clearly an issue”.

“More indebted households are more vulnerable – and while the level of household debt has fallen notably over the course of the last five years, it is still at very elevated levels and we don’t necessarily see it reducing further.

“In fact as we have just been discussing we can see an uptick largely due to dynamics in the housing market,” he said.

Andy Haldane, the Bank’s chief economist, said growth in consumer borrowing, particularly on personal loans, was “picking up at a rate of knots” as the interest rates on these loans continued to fall.

But Mr Haldane rejected an assertion by MP Mark Garnier that the housing market was “going gangbusters again” and said aggregate credit growth did not point to a “debt-fuelled boom”.

“That’s not the way that I would read the current numbers,” he said, highlighting that mortgage approvals were far from “racing away”.

The Financial Policy Committee publishes its twice yearly Financial Stability Report (FSR) next week, when it will reveal the results of its latest bank stress tests. The report will also shed further light on the risks posed by the buy-to-let market.

Chancellor George Osborne told the TSC in October that he was preparing to give Bank policymakers more powers to police the market.

Sir Jon Cunliffe, deputy Governor for financial stability, recently hinted that policymakers could raise the countercyclical buffer for banks, forcing them to to build up capital in good times in order to cover losses on loans during a downturn. Mr Carney said on Tuesday that such a move could help to rein in excessive lending and “ensure the sustainability of the credit cycle”.

In a two-hour TSC session on Tuesday, Kristin Forbes, an external member of the MPC, also stressed that the next move in interest rates was likely to be up.

“Given the state of the UK economy, a solid recovery, I still believe certainly the next move in interest rates will be up, we will not require loosening,” she said.

Ms Forbes noted that the labour market was becoming “quite tight” as she highlighted Bank data that showed annual wage growth was “above 5pc in sectors that account for a quarter of employment in the UK”.

The pound slipped against the dollar and euro on Tuesday following Mr Carney’s message that rates, which have stood at 0.5pc since March 2009, were likely to remain lower for longer.

“Even with limited and gradual rate increases it still will be a relatively low interest rate environment,” he said.

Ms Forbes said unit labour costs, which balance pay and productivity, were not currently rising at a pace that would prompt her to start voting to raise interest rates.

“The cost price pressure to date is not yet sufficient to be consistent with inflation heading back towards our 2pc target,” she said.

This suggests she is unlikely to join Ian McCafferty in voting for tighter policy in the near future. Mr McCafferty is one of the MPC’s noted “hawks”, preferring for the Bank rate to rise sooner, rather than later.

Separate data on Tuesday showed UK retailers saw a surprise slowdown in sales in November in evidence that consumers were delaying their spending sprees for Black Friday.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said 38pc of businesses it surveyed reported an increase in sales volumes in the year to November, compared with 31pc that reported a fall.

The resulting positive balance of 7pc was below October’s reading of 19pc and represented a nine month low. It was also significantly lower than the expected figure of 28pc.

Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the figures did not reflect “the underlying strength of retail sales”.

He said: “The survey was conducted in early November, and more consumers than last year may have postponed spending to Black Friday on November 27 … Trading over the key pre-Christmas trading period should be brisk, thanks to recent solid growth in real incomes and high consumer confidence.”

While sales volumes eased, the CBI’s survey of 117 retailers and wholesalers showed companies have been recruiting at their strongest rate for 17 years.

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6 Quick Steps To The Perfect Social Media Marketing Mix

Social media is increasingly important in companies' omni-channel strategies for the best possible customer experience. Here’s what you need to do to get it right from the get-go.

The appeal of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ has been widespread, with businesses worldwide quick to realise the opportunities of using such platforms on a day-to-day basis for brand awareness, sales leads, thought leadership and customer engagement.

However, social media fails are a daily occurrence, including inappropriate and insensitive messages, ill-advised hashtag campaigns and general customer relations disasters.

Here's how you can avoid all that and instead use social media to enhance the reputation of your brand.

1. Develop a social media strategy

With any marketing, there has to be a plan which includes a mission and vision statement, an overall strategy and a set of tactics to execute.

This is important for social media; you need to start with a blank sheet of paper and think about how you’re going to use the various different platforms, and for what purpose.

You should also think of available staff resources and responsibilities, how to integrate social with the different parts of your business, and how to ensure social media is tied to your company’s philosophy and branding.

You should start your strategy with an overview, the benefits, and how it should be managed internally by staff. Budget, potential avenues for monetisation, and security should also be tackled, given this is often an easy way in for hackers.

Once established, the strategy should be circulated amongst the relevant people and checked-in on regularly to ensure social media platforms are been used as expected.

2. Identify the right technology

There is an assortment of products available on the market for social media management but defining what you want to do is the first port of call – and this should be clearly outlined in your social media strategy.

If you’re an SME and using it for occasional updates on Twitter, you may prefer to start with a Twitter account before migrating to Hootsuite or another management tool.

Some of these are free, others are not, and their features can vary considerably so read carefully about their features before buying. You should also consider ease of use, as it’s likely the person or persons using it won’t always technology-savvy.

Whatever solution you do go for, make sure analytics is part of that package. Ultimately, you should aim to get to a level of maturity where you are checking the performance of your social posts on a daily basis.

3. Communicate – don’t just spam

As part of the aforementioned strategy, you need to carefully define what these channels will do, who they will be targeting, and who you communicate with and when.

It’s essential you don’t just spam your audience, irrespective if they’re customers or just followers.

Engage with customers, respond to complaints, interact with favourable impressions (by ‘liking’ or retweeting posts) and don’t be afraid of sharing photos, interacting with other brands.

Think of how you want your brand to be perceived online and in the ‘real world’. Social media is a two-way street and you must create a positive experience if you want people to engage with your brand.

4. Be open to new platforms

When creating your social media strategy, you should cast an eye on the future and the possibilities with other platforms. For example, you may have cracked Twitter and Facebook, but what are the possibilities with Instagram, Google+ and Tumblr?

We’ve already seen that there are differences in the use of the big social platforms, and this will likely apply to smaller ones. See how it used, and work out how it can fit in with you brand and social media usage.

That said; don’t feel you have to be everywhere. Figure out which social network has the most impact for your customers and focus on that platform. It's better to excel in one and establish a strong meaningful community than to be half-baked in several.

5. Take advantage of free resources

It sounds obvious, but you’re only going to get better at social media management by learning from the best and that means lots of listening, learning and reading.

On the latter, read as much as you can in the way of books and blogs, sign up for free online courses and don’t be afraid to ask ‘stupid’ questions of your contacts on LinkedIn or in person. Some of the platforms – like Hootsuite – offer free training when you sign up for a Pro package so ensure you take advantage of that.

6. Assign staff to social media management

Depending on the size of your organisation, you’re unlikely to be able to do social media management on your own so you might want to think about assigning it to someone. If you’re an SME, perhaps this could be a customer-facing job, or by your HR or PR if slightly larger.

You should encourage this person, and ideally they have a passion for social media and new technology, to further their skills and learn more.

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Opening up the world of self-employment to the younger generation

IPSE’s Education and Training Manager, Lydia Wakefield, blogs on her experience working with leading charity Young Enterprise.

We have seen a significant rise in the number of young people setting out as self-employed over the recent years.

In 2013, our research indicated that only one per cent of freelancers found out about this line of work from school. In terms of careers support, typically, schools and colleges have shown an emphasis towards progression to university, apprenticeships and direct entry into full-time employment.

Since joining IPSE I have worked with a number of schools and colleges, speaking with students at careers conventions and through presentations. I’ve been engaging with schools to introduce young people to the prospect of becoming self-employed, either when they finish school, while studying at university or further down the line in their career. 

It has been inspiring to speak with young people who already know that they want to become their own boss at an early stage, and those who are keen to explore the option further.

This week I was working with Young Enterprise on their ‘Stepping On’ programme at STEM Academy Tech City. Starting in the morning with team work, observation and personality type activities, the students showed great enthusiasm. In the afternoon eight groups of Year 12 students were tasked with developing a business concept; taking into consideration their products and services, operations, finances, marketing, events and logistics. 

All of the students were highly engaged, focused and competitive! At the end of the afternoon, each of the groups were asked to submit their business plans and pitch their business to the rest of their year group. As a judge of their efforts I was delighted to present awards for innovation, marketing, pitching, teamwork and best business.

It was impressive to see so many young people engaged with business concepts, identifying their personal business strengths, and excited by the prospect of setting up their own business. And all in the space of one afternoon.

This academic year I am looking forward to working closely with STEM Academy Tech City as one of their Business Advisors for Young Enterprise’s Company Programme. Founded in 1962, Young Enterprise are the UK’s leading charity empowering and engaging young people to develop their personal and business skill sets. 

As a charity they work with young people from primary school through to university on a range of different programmes and projects, all designed to address business and personal skills. Their programmes encourage young people to explore their enterprise skills, and provide the opportunity to learn about business through practice.

Company Programme, which I will be involved with, provides students throughout the UK and Europe with the opportunity to set up their own business. 

Students involved with the programme will need to identify their product or services, allocate positions within the company, raise capital to launch their company, and sell their product or services to the public – including at trade shows and markets. Each year company teams across the UK and Europe compete in Young Enterprise’s local, regional, national and European competition.

Practical programmes, such as those offered by Young Enterprise, help students to engage in opportunities that introduce the prospect of becoming self-employed as a viable option, as well as developing skills relevant to business environments. 

IPSE are working to support young people who are considering becoming self-employed when leaving school, and encouraging young people to develop their enterprising skills while in education. 

IPSE are working with organisations that support young people in developing work-ready skills and encourage self-employment as a career choice.

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Here is why firms should not blindly follow the Black Friday craze

Seventy per cent of consumers won’t buy anything on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, research shows.

Data suggests that 89 per cent of consumers wouldn’t think negatively of a business that doesn’t run a flash sale – and 67 per cent of UK consumers wouldn’t sign up for a brand’s loyalty scheme if it meant securing an extra discount on a Black Friday/Cyber Monday purchase.

What does this mean? Small businesses shouldn’t just blindly follow others in running a two-day flash sale.

With UK consumers predicted to spend in excess of £1bn on Black Friday – which falls on November 27 – it’s easy to see why retailers are keen to capitalise on this. Yet the reality is that running a pre-Christmas flash sale just because everybody else is could do your business more harm than good.

Indeed, our research shows that 70 per cent of UK consumers are not planning to make a purchase on either of these two days. We conducted research that asked more than 2,250 people what they thought of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday phenomena, and it’s clear that many could do without the hassle.

More than two-thirds of consumers who took part in the survey also confirmed that they wouldn’t sign up for a loyalty scheme just to get their hands on extra Black Friday/Cyber Monday discounts.

It goes to show that while loyalty schemes can be hugely successful for businesses, they shouldn’t necessarily use the Black Friday sales to swell membership numbers.

Last year, the media highlighted numerous examples of public disorder as shoppers fought over discounted goods. Police forces across the country have now warned store owners that they must have stringent security measures in place if they plan to run a similar sale in 2015.

In addition to this, the logistics of launching a one-off sale can be too much for many smaller retailers to handle. Royal Mail recently reported that almost half of SMEs admitted that they struggled to cope with a spike in website traffic during Black Friday 2014.

Although flash sales can prove to be profitable for a lot of businesses at this time of year, companies shouldn’t just run them for the sake of it.

It’s crucial that smaller businesses have a clear strategy in place before they commit to a Black Friday or Cyber Monday campaign.

Naturally, if your competitors are doing something, you’ll feel compelled to follow suit, but our research shows that these popular sales days aren’t the be all and end all for retailers.

If you attempt to run a big sale, but haven’t got the necessary infrastructure in place to deal with increased web traffic and a spike in deliveries/returns, you could end up doing your reputation more harm than good.

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How to interview candidates the right way

Last month, a story about one RAC manager posing a rather offensive question at interview made its way into the press. The reaction to the question, and the subsequent apology from RAC too, might not surprise you in the slightest. But what might surprise you is that employers are making mistakes, which can cost them thousands of pounds.

For example, a candidate in Manchester earlier this year won £15,500 in compensation after being turned down for a job. Why? Because she couldn't work on Saturdays, due to the Jewish day of rest, Shabbat. Her potential employer, although advertising for someone who could work on Saturdays, could have accommodated her needs but chose not to. Therefore, they were found to have indirectly discriminated against her on the grounds of her religion.

How not to recruit someone

The above example might sound like a fairly specific turn of events, but each step on its own could seem fairly innocuous. You can imagine the process now:

You write a job ad, simply confirming that you need staff to work five days per week between Monday and Saturday, but that should be fine, surely? Two candidates come to interview, one can't work Saturdays for religious reasons and one can – simple choice, right? The rejected candidate contacts you to review the decision, but you tell her that you really need someone who can work Saturdays – fair enough? But what you've failed to realise here is that you've now indirectly discriminated.

The key point here was that the company didn’t consider how it could accommodate this. It didn’t have a clear justifiable reason why all staff had to work on Saturdays – instead they used a rota system meaning people worked five days across the week, not necessarily Saturdays which could have been covered by others. Now you can see just how easy it is to handle recruitment badly. 

How to write a job advert

Don't be vague. Ensure that you are very specific about the hours required, skills you would need, any qualifications, and give details about the role the successful candidate will be filling. 

The last point is less about compliance, and more to help you keep employees for longer. 

After all, a candidate that arrives and ends up doing something completely unexpected may not feel comfortable in their new role, and could then leave soon after. Hiring new people is expensive, so make it count.

How to interview successfully

Keep to a formal structure

To ensure you don’t get accused of discrimination, it’s best to follow (as far as possible) the same interview format with all candidates;

(1) Thank the candidate for attending;
(2) Ask them what they know about your company ;
(3) Ask them to talk about themselves;
(4) Move into scenarios in which they might find themselves in your business, so as to explore their suitability;
(5) Confirm what the candidate’s salary expectation is and when they can start;
(6) See if they have any questions for you;
(7) Conclude the meeting, and thank them for coming – letting them know when they might expect to be contacted; and
(8) Make any additional notes you may need whilst it's still fresh.

Don't keep them waiting

You wouldn't like it if your candidates are late, so don't keep them waiting around either. They're reviewing whether they want to work for you as well, remember!

Try to interview in an open space

Interviewing from behind a table is rarely the best tactic. It can make the candidate feel small and uncomfortable; whereas keeping them relaxed will help you to get the best out of them.

Never ask questions that could be discriminatory

Questions like "are you married?", or "do you have a family, or are you planning one?" might be acceptable among close friends and extended family, but in an interview should never be uttered. They can get you into serious hot water, as any decision that you make following a question like this could be seen as discriminatory. It might sound obvious, but you'd be surprised how often these questions are asked!

The best thing to do is wait for employees to raise this information first, otherwise anything related to their personal life should be kept to a minimum. Other than perhaps polite conversation about their hobbies! 

This should give you the start you need to recruit people the right way, as well as some lessons on why you need to take this part of employment seriously. Just because they are not your employee yet, doesn’t mean you don’t have any responsibilities towards them. And even beyond employment law, remember that in some cases the candidate could end up being a potential customer in the future – it’s worth bearing in mind…

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Build a 5-Star Service Business with a 1-Star Budget

By MICHAEL HEPPELL. Brilliant customer service is all about the little details. These don't have to cost the Earth, so they are a perfect way for start-ups and small businesses to differentiate from bigger - faceless - rivals.

Think for a moment about your best ever customer service experience. Consider that time when you were so wowed that you wanted tell the world. Now ask yourself - how much did it cost?

I’ve asked that question hundreds of times to thousands of people in live audiences around the world. The answer is normally measured in pennies, a few pounds at most but usually nothing. It’s true - the very best customer service can be provided on a one star budget.  And it’s simple – but not easy. If it were easy everyone would be doing it.  Let’s see if I can give you a few tips that may make the turning your customers into loyal raving fans a little easier.

Use names – there is no sweeter sound than the sound of somebody using your own name.

The person who thinks you can over-use someone’s name is normally the one who is useless at remembering names in the first place, so just doesn’t bother. This Wee Wow is one of the simplest ways to put a deposit into your customer’s emotional bank account.

Solve the unexpressed problem

Fixing a problem your customer has is great. Fixing a problem they didn’t even know they had is brilliant! A couple of years ago we stayed at The Rubens Hotel next door to Buckingham Palace. Before we arrived they asked us to fill in a ‘pre stay’ form. My wife is lactose intolerant so I mentioned it on the form and didn’t think much of it.

We’re used to telling waiters about the condition, explaining what she can and can’t eat then keeping our fingers crossed that the kitchen won’t add a ‘splash of cream’ just for luck.

When we checked in we noticed that the room service menu had a small note attached. It was from the chef explaining that he’d marked up everything on the menu that was dairy-free and made a note of the dishes they would be happy to modify. We were going to eat out that evening but we stayed in.

Always say please and thank you – Along with ‘Doing what you say you will do’ and ‘Being on time’, it’s one of the top three referability habits. It’s amazing how many people think they do this and then don’t even acknowledge a waiter when a cup of coffee is delivered.

Send cards – The average person receives 3-4 birthday cards and around 12 Christmas cards. They don’t receive any ‘Thank you for our meeting’ cards or ‘We really appreciate your loyalty’ cards. You could be different.

Take notes – Even if you have a perfect photographic memory (which you don’t), take notes. It demonstrates respect and when you say, ‘Let me write that down’ it shows your customer that you’re listening and you think what they have to say is important.

Hand write something – anything!  Is there anything less sincere than typing ‘Yours sincerely’? Yours sincerely should be handwritten along with ‘Dear xxxx’ and any P.S’s. Because we live in the world of email, there’s a real novelty in receiving anything hand-written through the post.

Speed it up – Doing anything just a little faster creates a Wee Wow for your customer; yet service providers are notorious for over-promising and under-delivering. The excuse of ‘the email failed to send’ or ‘I didn’t have a chance to call you back’ is ridiculous. Now flip that and send it early, make the call, do the unexpected.

And here’s a shocker…

Talk to your customers – This is the ultimate win/win. Your customers feel valued and they tell you what they want – what they really, really want.

Denny Flanagan is a Captain with United Airlines. He’s a senior pilot so he could clock on, do his pre-flight safety drill then sit up front and fly the plane (or get his co-pilot to do it). But he doesn’t! He gets to work early and he’s keen to do the pre-flight safety check as soon as possible so he can go to the gate and meet his passengers.

And I’m not saying he stands at the end of the air bridge; Captain Denny goes into the terminal and spends time with his passengers - while they are waiting to board.

Captain Denny told me, ‘Michael, you can find out more by spending twenty minutes with your passengers than by any online survey.’

The best customer service really does cost very little financially but having a desire to serve and the emotional intelligence to think about the lifetime value of a customer is worth a fortune.

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