SimpleBiz360 Podcast

Turn the noise off, leave the electronics home, find a place to think… and continuous improvement ideas will pop up everywhere. You just need to quiet the noise, search your mind, reflect on possible improvements, and then write them down. It can be therapeutic and refreshing at the same time. Our minds are amazing creations, and we really see what they can produce when we search and listen. How about you? Do you ever search your mind in total quiet, and with a pen and paper nearby! Try it. The results will astonish you!Support the show

Football quarterbacks often call audibles because they read the playing field and see something that could damage their play calling. We are no different in business. Sometimes we need to call an audible in order to reshape our approach to something we see when we read the room. Do you read the room routinely? Do you sometimes reshape your approach after reading the room?Support the show

The short answer is customer feelings. The day has come and gone, where product and services stand on their own merits. In today's economy, businesses must be keenly aware of how they are making their customers feel. If you're not managing this mindset, it's time to giddy up, and address the 800 pound elephant in the room.Support the show

Time is money. Time is short. Time is a precious commodity to a business. What are you doing to reduce the time and toil customers have to spend doing business with you? Maybe it's time to look for ways to save your customers more of their precious time?Support the show

Mature companies often find themselves saddled with internal squabbling about issues that are actually quite insignificant. If this is happening to your company, you are inadvertently taking your eye off the customer ball. Maybe it's time to revisit your roots, and fall back in love with focusing on some of the major issues that can create good customer experiences.Support the show

Black holes are unanswered  communication. As time ticks by, the inquiring party becomes increasingly agitated because their inquiry has gone unacknowledged, and unanswered. Many deals have been lost, and many customers have defected because they were sent to a cyberspace blackhole by a vendor. It is time to Wakey-Wakey! Just answer your dang communication! Do a 180 degree turnaround today!Support the show

Margin erosion is a sneaky business killer that can unnecessarily send a company to the boneyard. Becoming a doctor of details is essential to protecting the precious pennies of profitability. If you are not willing to get into your company weeds, than brace yourself for a painful impact sooner than later? What say you? Are you putting your operational weeding gloves on to make sure you are retaining the profitability listed on your costing sheet?Support the show

After 35 years of tracking bad customer experiences, the lack of these two actions are the bedrock of buyer dissatisfaction. Period. End of Story. You want a more profitable bottom line? Do you want to stay in business for the long haul? Do you want customers to come back for more? Deliver on these two actions and most of your problems will be solved.Support the show

The best return happens when companies aim their improvements at customers. Buyers have a keen awareness of which companies prioritize customer satisfaction over company profitability. The best companies know that happy customers will lead to healthy bottom lines. Where are your improvements aimed at?Support the show

The common thread of championship athletic teams is humility. At a certain point, once the collective team becomes humble, the real improvement and growth starts. Without that humility, the teams will never achieve the ultimate goal of a championship. It's no different in business. If we want to succeed, and grow as businesses, the collective personnel must become humble enough to pursue improvement. Are you humble enough?Support the show

Sadly, customer perception molds customer reality. This reality may not be true, but to the customer, it is their reality. If companies want to create better customer experiences, it behooves the company to understand the various realities customers are seeing, feeling and receiving. If you have never jumped into the customer shoes to experience your product/service, now might be the perfect time to do so. While your at it, get behind their keyboard, wear their glasses, and sit in their chair. You will quickly learn that customers see our companies differently than we imagine.Support the show

Companies can lose BIG money when they deliver a product that looks, and feels inferior to the original sample. This happens all too often. Why? Companies want to pad profitability by using cheaper raw materials for the order fulfillment production. Is your company doing this? If so, maybe it's time for an integrity-driven approach to filling customer orders? BTW…the example in this video created a $696,000 loss for the manufacturer!!!Support the show

Many of us split our work week between our homes and company offices. Trade professionals transition from job to job in the same day. Each of us has common tools of our trade to work quickly and efficiently. However, many of us come to a work location without the necessary tools to perform our duties. Is this fair to our employers? Is it fair to customers? What about our associates and team members? Is it time to repack your backpack or car to make sure you have what you need to do your job?Support the show

We invite you to follow us for two minutes per week. With a small weekly investment of 120 seconds, you will come away with two business questions designed to stimulate your thoughts about how to improve customer satisfaction. Follow. Like. Share.Support the show

I could pay for a weekend at a ski resort If I had a dollar for every time a business associate printed an attachment, but ignored the email it came with! The accompanying emails often contain special instructions, requests, conditions, or previous agreements that act as addendums to the attachment. Are you training your associates to pay attention to both components of correspondence they receive?Support the show

Many buyers prefer to order products and services independent of interacting with customer service personnel. Does your order entry process service “do it yourself” purchasing?Support the show

Can your customers effectively order product from your catalog? Or, do your customers have to go on a hunt and peck internet search to gather the information they need to place an order, just because your catalog is not informative enough? If you are making customers go through more investigating to order, then it is time for the marketing department to wakey-wakey!Support the show

Perception is a two-sided coin, but only one side truly matters! Does customer perception matter to your company? Some executives are blinded by self-pats on their backs while delivering mediocre service. Are your eyes opened to the cruddy service your customers are getting from you? Time to wakey-wakey!Support the show

Giving something extra is another way of expressing customer appreciation. L'agniappe is a Cajun expression that labels a mindset of giving something extra. To the Cajun culture, it is a conscious mindset that encourages usage. The trick is to provide this “extra” something without the recipient asking for it. What about you? How well do you deploy L'agniappe?Support the show

The reality is that 80% of handwritten notes will get thrown away. The remaining 20% will quietly love them, save them, cherish them , or reciprocate by responding back. This applies to customers, spouses, kids, grandkids and friends. I would much rather put a smile on the 20% audience who appreciates receiving a heartfelt message. What about you? We invite you to go a little “old school” by exploring the magic of handwritten notes.Support the show

Expressing appreciation is a dying principal in modern business. There is no way around this. Saying THANK YOU to customers is all but dead. An expression of appreciation on a paper, or text receipt is not making any customer feel warm and fuzzy. When are you going to pick up the phone, write a handwritten note, or send some chocolates to a customer?Support the show

Why? Why? Why? In my 35 years of doing business, whenever there are problems, customers always want to know why. However, so many vendors get a failing grade when it comes to answering this simple question. If you want to make customers really happy, start telling them why there are issues with their orders…don't just tell them there are issues. The main question on their mind is why. When will you start providing answers to the most prevalent question in business?Support the show

Customers defect after they have endured enough doses of la-di-da service. Time is the currency of the Experience Economy. When customers sense the violation of their time, they usually say goodbye to that vendor. It is simply their way to punish bad service. Where is your company in this cause and effect equation? Is it time to revise your service mindset?Support the show

What would customers say if you asked them what they thought of your customer service? Would they describe it as a lackadaisical approach to servicing orders, or a professional, well oiled machine? Talk to your customers. Be your customer. Find out what they think, and then throw away the Ladida approach and exchange it for a buttoned up approach. What say you?Support the show

Business is looking and feeling too casual these days. We operate at WARP speed, cutting corners, multitasking constantly. Then, amidst all this chaos, we partially answer questions with cryptic, text abbreviations. Our associates, or customers often ask us 2,3 or 4 questions at once, and then we go on to answer in unintelligible, short-hand quips that have tons of grey area, and, we only answer one of the multiple questions. This leads to misinterpretation, mistakes ensue, customers defect, and hard-earned profitability is swept away by the mistakes. Is this you? Is this your company? Let's all wake up and start writing business correspondence in complete sentences. Stop the insanity! Today!  Support the show

What if we became Chief Encouraging Officers at the office? Most of us spend more time working than we do with our own families. As a result, the workplace often takes on the role of our second family. Knowing this, why don't more leaders adopt a mindset of knowing employees by name, and knowing a little about their families? Maybe your employees are going through something, and encouragement could help their situation. We invite our audience to start knowing more about their employees. Try being a Chief Encouraging Officer!  Support the show

Intercompany divisions, often pursue goals, and objective specific to their operational structure. However, lost in the shuffle, is tying all the divisions together, so that everyone works in a harmonized effort to satisfy the customer. Are your internal divisions pursuing divisional success over total customer satisfaction? It's a fair question that many companies need to answer. How about your company?Support the show

The first 30 seconds we meet potential customers is all we have to make a good first impression. When we succeed, we launch the transaction process with the wind at our back. When we don't succeed, we dig an unnecessary hole that can often be hard to climb out of. What is happening in your company with those first 30 seconds of customer interaction?Support the show

We often hit the business “Danger Zone” when we blindly copy and paste attractive-sounding business procedures, instead of critically thinking critically about our own business. Where are you in this click and drag world? Do you manage by shallow convenience, or by deep thought?Support the show

The answers to improved profitability often hide deep below the way things look on the surface. Are you a detail-surfer, snorkeler or scuba diver? Maybe it's time to do a deep dive to become more profitable.Support the show

When it comes to faulty behavior, societal trends often suggest we adopt a blame-shifting mindset over a self-ownership model. However, in business it is quite the opposite because the orders usually stop flowing when a customer is dissatisfied. In business we have to buck the societal leanings, eat some humble pie, and then accept the fact that we need to improve to get the orders flowing again. This takes a mindset of humility. Are you will to eat some humble pie in order to serve your customer better?Support the show

How to keep customers is not a topic often discussed in business board rooms. We spend a lot of board room time talking about getting new customers. However, we need to spend as much time discovering more ways to increase customer satisfaction so we can retain the buyers we have. What about your company? Is it time for a new mindset?Support the show

Customers can easily tell when they are unwanted. As businesses, we like to think we put the welcome mat out for everybody. However, sometimes we send the wrong message to our inquiring customers. Is it time for your company to audit what you are projecting to customers?Support the show

The concept of being an expert leaves little room for improvement. Do we really want put our products and services on a self-proclaimed pedestal, or do we want to come across with an air of humility? Support the show

Are you actually listing a phone number? Are you actually answering calls, recording voice mails, listening to these voice messages, and then acting on them? If you are not managing the phone properly, you are running the risk of creating unhappy current, and potential customers. Maybe it's time to start treating your phone with the respect customers are looking for!Support the show

At the end of our careers, very few of us will be able look back and say that we accomplished what we set out to do. Why? The reason is because so many of us don't know where we are going, and instead, we opt to travel any road that takes us forward. What if you were to create, write down, a then look at your career goals often? Two things would probably happen. Number one, you would achieve many of your goals. Number two, you would feel satisfied by living out a successful career. When the sun sets on our careers, it is not for other people to measure our success. It is up to each of us individually. Goals help us satisfy our own career aspirations Have fun setting your goals!Support the show

When interviewing with companies, please remember that many previous interviewees have spewed endless lies and embellishments about their workplace capabilities. So how can you separate yourself from these other liars? Easy! Bring the receipts. Prove your capabilities during your interview. Many people claim things they cannot prove. Don't be one of those false claim artists. Prove your capabilities.Support the show

One of the best insurance policies for a successful career, is to develop a mindset of continuous improvement. With this mindset, your career can become more lucrative. Without it, you run the risk of hitting a dead end. Is it time to take out a new career insurance policy?Support the show

The answer should be 36 new business tools. Settle for nothing less. Imagine doing this for 5 years? Do it, and watch your career take off!Support the show

This is a great look in the mirror type of an exercise. Some of us do business with the utmost passion, and often times our excitability can be mistaken as anger. Double check the way you talk and interact with associates, customers and executives. Are you projecting, genuine passion, or does your excitability project as anger?Support the show

If you want a contagious business quality to help grow your business, then try your hand at displaying genuine enthusiasm. Customers crave authenticity, transparency, and truth from suppliers, and they can sense one they run into a phony. So when they run into someone who is genuinely enthusiastic, it goes a long way to creating a healthier business relationship.Support the show

Customers want easy to understand product explanations. Brevity and clarity should be the horses pulling our product carts. Does this sound like your company? If not, we encourage you to find ways to become brief, clear, and understandable (BCU) to customers.Support the show

New managers, new leaders, new employers, and potential job opportunities all want to know what we have done in our careers. However, so many executives have been burned by people who say they did something, but never prove it, nor can they prove it. If you want to set yourself up for success, and get the best career opportunities, then start saving your business accomplishments in hard copy format. This way, they will never disappear, and you can always prove that you've done what you claim you have done. Start today!Support the show

This is all too common with face-to-face interactions. If you choose to consistently invade the personal space of a buyer, then be prepared for the possibility of losing that customer. Very few people like to feel crowded, or boxed into a corner. Above all, no one likes to smell the hot breath of someone standing too close to us while they are speaking!  Support the show

When displeasing repetitive patterns continue without any change, aggravation grows, and customers disappear. Eventually the rubber band of customer grace breaks, and they are lost for good. It is essential for companies to determine their displeasing stress points. Promise keeping is an action that speaks to customers. Repetitive, and empty promise making becomes meaningless noise. We urge you to fix things before customers say enough is enough.Support the show

Many products require subcontractors to play a vital role producing what has been designed. If the final product quality is compromised, we have to alert these partners, and ask for them to modify their production in order to achieve success. Is there a disconnect in product production, or is the REAL disconnect hidden in the lack of clear expectations we gave our production partners?Support the show

Lost customers are the death of most young businesses. Finding out why customers are defecting is essential to long-term sustainability. How do you find out? Talk to your customers, and spend time thinking about things as if you were the customer. Sweeping the reason or reasons under the rug will surely send the business to the boneyard. As business owners, we MUST figure this out, and then we must change to customer-pleasing products and services.Support the show

“SPINIPULATORS” combine spinning plus manipulating to wreak internal, and external havoc. These truth-distorters vomit false narratives designed to elevate themselves at the expense of other teammates. We can knock them off their perch with facts. Document timelines, conversations, and emails. If you persistently follow these three suggestions, you will eventually defeat most of these crafty narcissists.Support the show

Most customers are smarter than we give them credit for. Perpetual excuse- making vendors put themselves at high risk for a short business life. Many buyers can easily detect vendor BS, and the quick penalty is a lost customer. Sadly, often times these unhappy buyers will share their frustrations with many other people. If you are a vendor/supplier, maybe it's time to focus on results? Maybe it's time to stop making excuses?Support the show

Calculating all the variables that go into a establishing a standard cost is anarduous process. Like it or not, this is where we have to put on our lab coats, and become a doctor of details. Bypassing certain cost components can be deadly to a small company. Are you being a doctor of details?Support the show

I started a business in 1990 and it suffered from a fundamental mistake. We built our financial projections based on $69 a transaction. However, had I done my research, I would have discovered that the area market rate was $45. The company lasted for 15 years, but it limped along with moderate returns on investment. What about your company? Have you done your competitive pricing research?Support the show