ReportWire

Tag: Customer Engagement

  • The Best Loyalty Programs Grow Customer Businesses, Not Just Retain Them | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Too many loyalty programs operate like rusty hand-cranked machines that require immense effort for a single turn. They rest on the premise of short-term retention, a model that stalls the moment a competitor offers a slightly better deal. The future of loyalty is a frictionless flywheel that gains momentum with every joint success. Stop incentivizing purchases and start enabling program members’ success.

    When each new project a member secures is fueled by unique data, and each product innovation immediately translates into a new capability, a powerful cycle comes to life. This symbiotic relationship between a brand’s growth and the member’s pipeline transforms loyalty from a defensive cost center into an unstoppable offensive strategy.

    Related: How to Turn Your ‘Marketable Passion’ Into Income After Retirement

    Diagnosing the pain points in a loyalty program

    The first missed opportunity appears when a loyalty program begins with a rebate table rather than a team member conversation. A recent survey found that engagement among US loyalty members has dropped 10% since 2022, and loyalty has fallen twice as much, indicating that short-term incentives lose charm quickly when competitors match the offer.

    Complex rules then create administrative overhead: layers of thresholds, expiry dates and blackout periods turn what should be encouraging into burdensome work. Champions who sign up to gain momentum often discover that the rewards demand more time than they deliver value.

    Another gap emerges when programs focus solely on tracking spending. Hours invested in training, referrals or brand advocacy stay invisible, so contractors receive no acknowledgment for actions that raise their value.

    Uniform benefit packs widen the gap further because a regional remodeler aiming for local credibility and a national distributor expanding into new states need different kinds of help. Each shortcoming stems from the same underlying issue: the program safeguards current revenue instead of expanding future opportunity.

    Building an engine for mutual growth

    Progress starts with a shift in perspective: replace “How do we keep customers from leaving?” with “How do we help participants secure their next win faster and at a better margin?”. Conversations with contractors, retailers and distributors consistently reveal three accelerators: early access to product improvements, dependable lead flow and credentials that earn trust. Benefits aligned with these goals transform a points account into a business toolbox.

    For example, when a contractor can show a homeowner an exclusive product that saves labor, purchase decisions speed up and profitability rises on both sides. Data transparency must flow both ways. Dashboards give members real-time insight into tier progress and upcoming rewards while giving brands immediate feedback about which features drive incremental revenue.

    Second, benefits are personalized: a rural roofer sees different opportunities than an urban remodeling firm, so the program adjusts instead of broadcasting one generic coupon. Third, purpose sits alongside price. When a program offers community service grants or sustainability certification, members receive a story they can pass to clients, adding reputation equity that compounds over time.

    Related: How Transparency In Business Leads to Customer Growth and Loyalty

    Revealing the impact of collaboration

    The impact of a growth-focused program shows up first in financial data. Share of wallet rises among enrolled members, new product launches gain faster traction and churn recedes because leaving would erase visible support. Pipelines expand when a loyalty badge elevates credibility and leads arrive warmed by national marketing.

    Over 37% of consumers spend more money with brands they subscribe to or belong to membership programs. For example, my company’s TAMKO Edge® loyalty program not only offers cash back rewards but also digital business tools, exclusive events and training. When points fund advanced workshops, regional ad credits or software that streamlines estimates, members invest in their personal growth, rather than merely offset costs.

    Referral momentum reinforces the outcome. Team members who experience measurable gains invite peers, confident that additional network strength raises the tide for everyone. Listening sessions shift from rule confusion to conversations about shared innovation, indicating the relationship has moved from transactional to strategic.

    Resilience during market swings provides final confirmation: members who rely on shared dashboards adapt quickly to supply fluctuations because joint planning aligns inventory with forecast demand. The brand benefits from steadier demand curves and reduced emergency discounting, an advantage no one-off rebate can match.

    Tailoring programs to consumer pain points

    Before investing in a redesign, teams can run a quick audit: match every perk to a real obstacle members face. Perks without that link waste focus and budget. Contractors, for example, often need support beyond their craft, like sales training, business guidance or lead generation.

    Loyalty programs that offer these resources directly address pain points while tiered structures keep members engaged and motivated to grow. Prioritizing rewards that expand capacity, like marketing credits or extended warranties, over one-off treats builds long-term, mutually beneficial relationships. Early checks reveal gaps while costs to adjust are still low.

    Sustaining momentum once it starts

    Partnership thrives on scheduled dialogue. Setting aside time each quarter allows members to outline new hurdles while program teams share upcoming capabilities. During review sessions, owners confirm whether members choose rewards that extend reach, like advertising placements, skill certifications and longer service windows, rather than vouchers that offset routine expenses. Ongoing dialogue turns intention into concrete action by aligning future perks with real-time feedback.

    Programs that cling to rebates compete in a shrinking arena defined by price, while initiatives that equip customers to secure bigger, faster wins compete in a wider field where every success multiplies. Align every reward, insight and meeting with that reality.

    When mutual growth drives each decision, both ledgers rise together, turning loyalty into a long-term partnership that endures shifts in market, technology and customer expectations.

    Too many loyalty programs operate like rusty hand-cranked machines that require immense effort for a single turn. They rest on the premise of short-term retention, a model that stalls the moment a competitor offers a slightly better deal. The future of loyalty is a frictionless flywheel that gains momentum with every joint success. Stop incentivizing purchases and start enabling program members’ success.

    When each new project a member secures is fueled by unique data, and each product innovation immediately translates into a new capability, a powerful cycle comes to life. This symbiotic relationship between a brand’s growth and the member’s pipeline transforms loyalty from a defensive cost center into an unstoppable offensive strategy.

    Related: How to Turn Your ‘Marketable Passion’ Into Income After Retirement

    The rest of this article is locked.

    Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.

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    Fallon Anawalt

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  • Why Every Entrepreneur Needs Raving Fans (and 3 Steps to Build Them) | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    What if the real reason you feel stuck in business isn’t your offer, your ads or your strategy — but the fact that you don’t yet have a community of raving fans?

    I know this firsthand. I built a multi-million-dollar company that has been recognized twice on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies in America. And if I am honest, one of the biggest reasons we scaled wasn’t just our offers. It was the loyal community we built along the way.

    Because here’s the truth: a raving fan community does not just give you customers. It gives you defenders, promoters and ambassadors. It transforms buyers into believers. It is the difference between someone buying once and someone shouting your name, lining up at your events and bringing their friends with them.

    This is why Beyoncé can sell out stadiums back-to-back. This is why Sarah Jakes Roberts fills arenas every year with Woman Evolve. And it is why our company continues to grow — because we have intentionally built a movement of experts we call ‘Cashletes.’

    The good news? You do not need millions of followers or billions of dollars to build this. You only need to understand what I call The Community Amplifier Method™.

    This method is built on three roles every great community must have:

    1. Transparent Leaders. People follow leaders they can trust. That trust comes from honesty, not perfection.
    2. Brand Evangelists. Super-fans who spread your message and recruit others into your movement.
    3. Brand Bodyguards. Loyal defenders who stand up for you when critics or challenges appear.

    Related: Why Emotional Branding Is Out and Functional Loyalty Is In.

    Pillar 1: Transparent leadership

    When I left my $300K law firm job in 2018, I thought success would come instantly. The reality was very different. In the first few months of business, I made less than $800 total. I remember questioning and regretting my decision.

    Yet those hard months became my most powerful story. People do not connect with the perfect version of you. They connect with the real you. The you that struggled, doubted and almost gave up but didn’t.

    Sarah Jakes Roberts embodies this. She does not just share her wins. She shares the fact that she was a teen mom, that she felt unqualified and that she wrestled with insecurity. Her openness makes her community feel seen. Even Beyoncé has pulled back the curtain — through documentaries and candid moments, she lets the BeyHive see her real life, and her transparency deepens loyalty.

    Here are some tips to implement transparent leadership:

    • Share your origin story, including the early struggles.
    • Choose 2–3 “professional personal” areas of your life you are comfortable showing.
    • Tell stories of moments when you almost quit. People connect with honesty, not perfection.

    Transparency creates trust. Trust creates community.

    Pillar 2: Brand evangelist

    Once you lead with authenticity, you will attract more than customers. You will attract evangelists — people who buy into your mission so deeply they cannot help but share it.

    I will never forget the first time I attended a truly transformative event. The experience shifted me so deeply that by the following year, I invited over a dozen clients to join me. I even purchased extra tickets just to give away. No one asked me to. No one paid me to. I did it simply because the experience was that powerful.

    That is the power of evangelists. They are your free marketing army. They recruit with passion, and their word carries weight because it is trusted.

    Here are some tips to implement brand evangelists:

    • Deliver value so good people feel compelled to share it.
    • Give your community a name or identity they can proudly carry.
    • Publicly recognize and reward your loudest supporters.

    Serve people so well that they cannot help but talk about you.

    Pillar 3: Brand bodyguard

    The final pillar of The Community Amplifier Method™ is bodyguards. These are the fans who protect your brand when challenges or critics appear.

    The BeyHive is legendary for this. The moment anyone criticizes Beyoncé, her fans swarm. Their loyalty is unmatched.

    I have experienced this in my own business. After one of my events, critics tried to drag me online. Before I could respond, members of my community stepped in. They corrected the misinformation and defended me without me asking. They did it because they believed in me and in the brand.

    Here are some tips to implement brand bodyguards:

    • Define community values and invite members to live them out.
    • Deliver so consistently that members feel invested in protecting what you built.
    • Thank and acknowledge those who defend your brand. Gratitude reinforces loyalty.

    You cannot force devotion. You earn it.

    Related: 4 Steps to Building a Community of Raving Fans

    How to build your own raving fans community

    1. Share Your Story and Plant the Flag. Introduce who you are, why you are building this community and why it matters. Transparency attracts your first believers.
    2. Create a Space and Spark Conversations. Use a group platform where members connect with each other, not just with you. Your role is to spark the culture until it grows on its own.
    3. Bring People Together. Host live experiences, online or in person. Shared experiences create shared memories, and shared memories create loyalty.

    Here is the bottom line.

    You do not need millions of followers to build a raving fan base. All it takes is a small group of people who believe deeply in your story, your mission and your brand. From there, momentum multiplies.

    Every movement begins with just a handful of people who lean in, listen and believe. What starts small can grow into a community that spreads your message further than you could alone.

    You can do this!

    The sooner you start applying The Community Amplifier Method™, the sooner your business stops being a struggle and starts becoming a movement.

    What if the real reason you feel stuck in business isn’t your offer, your ads or your strategy — but the fact that you don’t yet have a community of raving fans?

    I know this firsthand. I built a multi-million-dollar company that has been recognized twice on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies in America. And if I am honest, one of the biggest reasons we scaled wasn’t just our offers. It was the loyal community we built along the way.

    Because here’s the truth: a raving fan community does not just give you customers. It gives you defenders, promoters and ambassadors. It transforms buyers into believers. It is the difference between someone buying once and someone shouting your name, lining up at your events and bringing their friends with them.

    The rest of this article is locked.

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    Ashley Kirkwood

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  • How to Overcome These 7 Hidden Purchase Barriers | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    You have had a promising conversation with your customer. They nodded, said they liked your offer, maybe even said, “Yes, sounds good.” But then there was no follow-up, no payment from that customer and you see zero sales.

    If this has happened more than a few times, you’re not alone. According to a HubSpot study, 60% of customers say “yes” or show interest during a sales process but end up ghosting before the transaction is completed, at least four times before they buy. So what gives?

    In business, the gap between “yes” and “checkout” is where most opportunities quietly die. It’s not just a sales problem. It’s a clarity problem, a trust problem and sometimes just bad timing. Let’s break down some most common reasons people agree with your pitch but still walk away and what you can do to close the loop.

    Related: Cart Abandonment Is Costing You Customers — Here’s How to Stop It

    1. They didn’t want to be rude

    Sometimes your customer may say yes just to end the conversation and avoid conflict. In sales, politeness can be your biggest illusion. The prospect may have no real intention to buy, but they nod, smile and may say, “I’ll think about it,” or “Send me the link.” We often take that as a green light. But it is not.

    What to do:

    Instead of asking, “Are you interested?” you can ask something slightly more specific, such as “What concerns do you still have?” or “Is this something you’re ready for now, or down the line?”

    Let them tell you the truth before you waste time chasing a dead lead.

    2. They don’t trust something — yet

    Trust is rarely built in a single conversation or one landing page. A customer might be sold on the product but unsure about your brand, your return policy or whether you’ll deliver what you promised. Even if they like what they hear, hesitation can creep in the moment they feel even slightly uncertain, especially in crowded markets.

    What to do:

    Make your trust signals visible and easy to verify. Add real testimonials (not vague ones), a money-back guarantee or some transparency around how long shipping or onboarding takes.

    3. The decision wasn’t fully theirs

    Customers will sometimes say yes because they want to buy, but they are not the final decision-maker. This is more common in B2B, but it happens in everyday transactions too (think of someone needing to check with their spouse or manager).

    It’s not that they didn’t like your offer. They just weren’t authorized to pull the trigger.

    What to do:

    Ask directly, “Is there anyone else who needs to sign off on this?” earlier in the conversation. If the answer is yes, give them shareable materials, FAQs or a few quick demos that they can easily forward.

    Related: Beyond the First Sale — How to Keep Your Customers Coming Back for More

    4. They mentally said “not now”

    Timing is a silent killer in sales. You pitch something that makes sense, and the customer is also mentally on board, but their priorities can shift. They may say yes, but they mean, “Yes … eventually.” And that “eventually” can slip off their radar unless you follow up with the right nudge.

    What to do:

    Instead of just asking, “Are you ready to buy now?” give them a reason to act sooner. A limited-time benefit, a booking link with available slots or even a checklist to prep for onboarding can shift their mindset from eventually to let’s do it now.

    Don’t push them, but you can try to shorten the gap between their interest and action.

    5. The process was just slightly too complicated

    It only takes a little bit of friction to lose a sale. One more form field, an unclear shipping note or maybe they have to complete too many steps to checkout. When people say yes, they’re thinking emotionally. But when they try to buy, logic will come. And if your checkout flow or subscription process makes them pause even for a second, they might not come back.

    What to do:

    Audit your purchase or sign-up process. Look for small steps that feel unnecessary or confusing. If you run an online store or take orders digitally, use tools that allow clear, intuitive checkout (with mobile in mind).

    Even service businesses( whether selling bouquets or booking consultations) benefit from POS tools that can streamline customer flow without needing custom development.

    6. The value didn’t match the price — in their mind

    They might agree with you in theory, but when it came down to payment, they didn’t feel like it was worth it for them. That doesn’t mean your offer was overpriced, just that the value wasn’t clearly communicated in a way that resonated. People don’t buy features, they buy outcomes. So, if those outcomes are not obvious to them, your pricing will always feel high, even if it’s not.

    What to do:

    Focus less on what the product is and more on what it does for that specific customer. Use examples or quick before-and-after stories that will show transformation. Let them picture themselves with the result. Also, consider offering flexible pricing (even if it’s temporary) to meet them where they are.

    Related: Forget Selling. Here’s How to Spark Relationships Your Customers Won’t Walk Away From

    7. They got distracted — and didn’t come back

    Modern customers are distracted. They’re scrolling during meetings, browsing tabs between errands and half-reading product pages while standing in line at the grocery store. Even with the best intentions to buy, their attention is fragile. One notification or interruption, and your offer can fade into the noise. They may have been 90% there and then forgot entirely.

    What to do:

    Don’t assume a lost sale means disinterest. You can use light, timed follow-ups like abandoned cart emails, reminder messages or even a friendly “Hey, still interested?” nudge.

    Also, make re-entry easy. If they do return, don’t force them to start over. Keep their cart, save their last viewed items and reduce the steps they need to take to finish what they started.

    There’s still a lot that can derail a buying decision between agreement and action. The trick is to build systems, messaging and good follow-up strategies that carry people over that final stretch. Good luck!

    You have had a promising conversation with your customer. They nodded, said they liked your offer, maybe even said, “Yes, sounds good.” But then there was no follow-up, no payment from that customer and you see zero sales.

    If this has happened more than a few times, you’re not alone. According to a HubSpot study, 60% of customers say “yes” or show interest during a sales process but end up ghosting before the transaction is completed, at least four times before they buy. So what gives?

    In business, the gap between “yes” and “checkout” is where most opportunities quietly die. It’s not just a sales problem. It’s a clarity problem, a trust problem and sometimes just bad timing. Let’s break down some most common reasons people agree with your pitch but still walk away and what you can do to close the loop.

    The rest of this article is locked.

    Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.

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    Murali Nethi

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  • AI Won’t Wait for Your Strategy — Why Should Your Leadership? | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    AI is rewriting the playbook for businesses, and it’s reshaping market winners and losers in real time. The next several years may well decide which companies survive and which get squeezed based on who can keep up with the pace of change.

    When cloud computing transformed the tech world, it took a decade to reach mass adoption. Gen AI achieved the same scale in just a year, and Agentic AI, poised to become mainstream next year, is setting a new benchmark, already boasting a 50% adoption rate among tech execs. With AGI (superhuman AI) on the horizon, the rate of change will be almost incomprehensible, transforming life as we know it.

    In North America, 66% of organizations using AI agents report measurable productivity gains, 73% view their strategy as a competitive edge, and nearly half worry they’re already lagging behind their competitors.

    Despite anxious headlines (and even some dire warnings), I’m energized by the possibilities — and I share that optimism with my team, focusing on the transformative opportunities AI unlocks.

    Related: Artificial General Intelligence: The Next Frontier In Technology

    But optimism alone doesn’t cut it. The pace of change is so quick that the only way to build business resilience is to match it with speed and precision. I’ve always believed in short timelines and fast results, but now they’re non‑negotiable.

    The question for leaders is how to build organizations that can move as quickly and as intelligently as the world around them. Here’s how to get there:

    As a leader, you’ve likely got a plan in place for the next three to five years. But with the velocity of change, it’s tough to see what’s around the corner. That doesn’t mean you can’t set your business up for success, no matter how the landscape evolves. You just need to build the right foundation:

    A strong and unwavering vision and mission

    No matter how fast AI evolves, your company’s mission should remain steady. A clear, simple and consistent purpose keeps teams rowing together. For us, it’s about transforming access to the digital world. We do this by delivering content that is compliant and performing — both for humans and AI.

    What will evolve is how we execute on that vision. Today, we’re transforming our platform capabilities with agentic AI; tomorrow, emerging technologies may lead us to new strategies. But the mission itself? That provides focus and steadiness through change.

    Collaboration that moves as fast as AI

    I’ve seen organizations where leaders are incentivized to compete against one another, yet research has shown that internal competition can actually stifle innovation. A better approach? Empower cross-functional teams to collaborate on strategic thinking at all levels.

    Problems don’t care which department ‘owns’ them, and neither should your organization. I don’t hesitate to bring everyone involved in a project into the same room, regardless of title or position. Flattening hierarchies and breaking down silos accelerates decision-making, fosters shared accountability and unlocks the kind of speed and creativity AI demands.

    Related: Is AI Truly Driving Your Growth — or Wasting Your Time?

    A relentless commitment to AI alignment

    Keeping pace with today’s market realities requires more than urgency; it demands alignment on why we must keep embracing AI’s evolution. That understanding can’t be assumed. During a recent company-wide meeting on agentic AI, someone asked if we had invented the technology. It was a powerful reminder that we aren’t all starting from the same place.

    While I’ve never been one to mince words, alignment only happens when people truly comprehend what’s happening and what’s at stake. In recent months, I’ve made it a priority to connect directly with our entire global team, along with sharing regular updates through a recurring internal newsletter.

    The goal? Ensure everyone feels informed, empowered and included in the journey ahead.

    Pulling your team toward AI versus pushing them

    Resistance to change is often endemic, particularly in larger organizations. But forcing change is not the answer, either. While I actively encourage everyone to explore AI, I believe people need to pull themselves toward the opportunity.

    This requires fostering a culture where continuous learning and experimentation are encouraged — and where failure is seen as a necessary part of growth. Ultimately, it’s about helping people understand that the more you pull yourself toward change, the more successful you’ll be. The more you push away, the more it’s going to hurt.

    AI-paced decision-making (quarterly business reviews won’t cut it)

    AI compresses timelines. To move quickly, you need to dramatically increase your cadence. It may sound excessive for a busy CEO, but I meet weekly with our product teams and monthly with leadership to fine-tune execution. That way, we can quickly test assumptions, learn from real-time feedback and adjust course.

    Of course, evolving your culture to one of fast execution doesn’t mean barrelling ahead recklessly – it’s about establishing a steady rhythm of learning, iterating and improving at a pace that matches the world around you.

    That shift has already started paying off. I’ve seen early results in productivity: our team is more agile than ever, moving from idea to execution in a fraction of the time.

    Related: A Founder’s Guide to Building a Real AI Strategy

    But this isn’t just about speed. In our case – and likely for many other organizations – agentic AI is expanding the kinds of problems we can solve and the customers we can serve. So much so that we’re betting on a massive expansion of our total addressable market within the next three years.

    The real lesson of leading at the speed of AI is not about simply surviving the next wave of disruption; it’s about positioning your organization to shape it. At the end of the day, leaders must envision where the world is going, bring that future into their organizations and inspire their teams to take the leap alongside them.

    This is no time to wait and watch.

    Today it’s agentic; tomorrow it will be AGI. Either way, if you don’t adapt, you can be sure others will.

    AI is rewriting the playbook for businesses, and it’s reshaping market winners and losers in real time. The next several years may well decide which companies survive and which get squeezed based on who can keep up with the pace of change.

    When cloud computing transformed the tech world, it took a decade to reach mass adoption. Gen AI achieved the same scale in just a year, and Agentic AI, poised to become mainstream next year, is setting a new benchmark, already boasting a 50% adoption rate among tech execs. With AGI (superhuman AI) on the horizon, the rate of change will be almost incomprehensible, transforming life as we know it.

    In North America, 66% of organizations using AI agents report measurable productivity gains, 73% view their strategy as a competitive edge, and nearly half worry they’re already lagging behind their competitors.

    The rest of this article is locked.

    Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.

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    Nayaki Nayyar

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  • Closer or Colder? How AI Shapes Your Customer Relationships | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    I’m not going to lie, the latest generation of AI, especially large language models and agentic AI, is nothing short of impressive. At Human Cloud, we used tools like Claude and Windsurf to accomplish in 5 minutes what had previously taken us 5 years.

    On the surface, it’s a story of overnight magic. But dig deeper and you’ll find that the real magic wasn’t the AI itself; it was the five years of groundwork that came before. We spent that time using spreadsheets, Canva graphics, CRM automations and hacky off-the-shelf tools to create the right sales and delivery motion, and validate our customers’ needs.

    Only then did the AI become a true accelerator, as we used Claude, Windsurf and AWS to create the Human Cloud Platform in less than 5 minutes.

    This brings up a crucial point. AI can easily be a distraction, prioritizing hype and buzz over real revenue and profitability. Why? Because the fundamental principle of business remains unchanged: every breakthrough starts with a deep understanding of what your customers need.

    Before you invest another dollar in AI, ask yourself one question: Is this technology making us closer to our customers, or pulling us further away?

    Here are five steps to ensure AI helps you get closer.

    1. Manually implement before automating

    “Do things that don’t scale” is a famous startup moniker brought up by Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, in his essay in 2013. As a 4x founder myself, this ethos has always run true.

    In the case of AI, in every scenario, ask yourself if there is a manual alternative. If there is, try that first, then automate based on customer demand.

    Related: LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman: To Scale, Do Things That Don’t Scale

    2: Capture enough manual feedback

    Step 1 is only half the story. The other half is ensuring you have enough of the right type of feedback to automate what really works. My strongest recommendation is to capture feedback that’s closest to customers actually paying, engaging and sharing.

    I learned this the hard way in a former startup. We spent 3 months listening and iterating on prototypes based on feedback. We were maniacal in the level of detail we captured, from the user experience to the design. Then we launched, and less than 5% of these users actually paid. Instead, we shouldn’t have listened to what they said, but instead prioritized what they did.

    If you want a book to help you capture the right type of feedback, check out The Mom Test.

    Related: How the ‘Mom Test’ Can Help You Cut Through B.S. and Find Important Answers

    3: Make AI accessible for everyone, not just AI experts

    Rather than investing in an AI team or hiring AI experts, give everyone an opportunity to apply AI across their team and their work.

    Preston Mossman, Senior Director of AI Consulting for Galaxy Square, told me, “learning to use AI is a muscle you have to build. A lot of people self-select out because they can’t use AI today to help them, but the first step is to accelerate their comfort and understanding in a way that feels valuable to them.”

    When asking Preston about ways companies have helped their leaders get comfortable with it, he brought up investing in AI-related tools for interested individuals.

    In his words, “if your mechanic told you about a $50 wrench that could get your job done just as well for half the cost, you would buy it for them or find a new mechanic (with the $50 wrench).”

    Leaders not using AI in 5 years will be like leaders not using a computer today.

    Related: Why Your AI Strategy Will Fail Without the Right Talent in Place

    4: Hire independent experts first

    Telling someone to use AI with no support is like telling someone to jump out of a plane without a parachute.

    Obviously, hiring AI experts as full-time employees would be expensive and out of reach for most of us. Likewise, AI trainings take time, might be expensive, and rarely has direct applicability from training to application.

    But a shortcut is hiring individuals who already use AI, as 65% of independent experts were already using AI as far back as 2024, and 95% of independent experts stated that AI makes them more competitive.

    This brings up step 4: to hire flexible talent first, with flexible talent defined as independent, freelance, and fractional experts.

    The data is clear that flexible talent upskills faster than full-time employees and is ahead of the curve in AI adoption and effectiveness. It’s not just AI, Deloitte research shows that the independent workforce upskills faster than their full-time peers.

    There are also four massive benefits of flexible talent compared to full-time. You can control cost. You have a quicker time to effectiveness. You learn by seeing their expertise. And the most important benefit is that this is the future workforce.

    To get started, look for a flexible talent platform that is specialized in your region, industry, and the application you need AI for. There are over 800 of these specialized solutions.

    Related: Solopreneurship and Freelancing Is Here to Stay — Are You Ready?

    5: Scale like the cloud

    We take for granted how transformational cloud computing has been for us entrepreneurs. Without getting too geeky, what it really did was enable us to scale in line with customer demand rather than taking big bets because of large fixed costs.

    Apply this same mindset to AI.

    Do you think your AI idea is the next big breakthrough that will transform your company, your industry, and the world? That’s great. Now go through steps 1-4 before you bet the farm.

    I’m not going to lie, the latest generation of AI, especially large language models and agentic AI, is nothing short of impressive. At Human Cloud, we used tools like Claude and Windsurf to accomplish in 5 minutes what had previously taken us 5 years.

    On the surface, it’s a story of overnight magic. But dig deeper and you’ll find that the real magic wasn’t the AI itself; it was the five years of groundwork that came before. We spent that time using spreadsheets, Canva graphics, CRM automations and hacky off-the-shelf tools to create the right sales and delivery motion, and validate our customers’ needs.

    Only then did the AI become a true accelerator, as we used Claude, Windsurf and AWS to create the Human Cloud Platform in less than 5 minutes.

    The rest of this article is locked.

    Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.

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    Matthew Mottola

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  • Your Ads Won’t Matter if Customers Hate the Experience | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    When business leaders consider brand building, they often think of traditional promotion, like print and digital advertising, or maybe a well-placed radio commercial to attract their target audience. They spend massive amounts of ad dollars to build brand awareness. But for most private businesses, brand building isn’t about throwing more money at advertising. It’s about creating an organization that engages, delivers on promise, and perhaps most of all, provides exceptional customer experience.

    According to a recent PwC Future of Customer Experience Survey, 65% of customers say a positive experience with a brand is more influential to them than great advertising. This is not to say there isn’t a place for advertising. But an engaging customer experience can be profoundly more impactful.

    Brands that crushed it with little advertising

    There are notably some massively successful brands that simply don’t advertise. In the B2B sector, have you ever seen an ad for McKinsey Consulting? Or consider Trader Joe’s, a grocery store chain with more than 600 locations and an incredibly loyal customer base. They don’t spend a dime on traditional advertising. Or think back to TGI Fridays in its heyday. Customers flocked to the casual dining hotspots, attracted by charming décor, a crowd-pleasing menu and its signature flair bartending that almost defined the era. While revenue was in the billions, TGI Friday’s focused on experience, not ad dollars, to create loyalty and buzz around the brand.

    Zappos is another excellent example of a brand that was built mostly on customer experience rather than big ad budgets. While the online shoe seller does advertise, the company is most recognized for delivering high-impact customer service.

    Former Zappos CEO, the late Tony Hsieh, was a trailblazer in the customer loyalty space and famously said, “Customer service shouldn’t just be a department, it should be the entire company.” Under Hsieh, Zappos implemented legendary practices like its 365-day return policy, unscripted customer service reps with no call time limits and surprise free overnight shipping upgrades. Imagine expecting the delivery of your new boots in a week, only for them to be waiting on your doorstep the very next day.

    Hsieh also wisely once said, “People may not remember exactly what you did or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel.”

    Are you more likely to trust an ad in a magazine or the company that just delivered your package a week early?

    Related: How to Earn Customer Trust and Boost Sales Without Big Ad Budgets

    Misalignment can kill a brand

    What happens when a brand underwhelms, angers or alienates the very customers it intended to serve? Misalignment between brand messaging and customer experience turns once-loyal customers into disillusioned doubters who eventually turn to the competition to better suit their needs.

    Branding misalignment can take many forms. A hotel that advertises luxury accommodations has stained carpets and low water pressure in the shower. A software company that promises seamless integration has customers waiting hours for help desk support.

    A restaurant that advertises itself as a culinary delight serves up wilted salads by moody waiters. A supplier delivers low-grade stainless-steel parts that were promised to be titanium.

    When your marketing and advertising make promises that your operations are unable to satisfy, the business loses credibility, customers and ultimately money.

    The power of word-of-mouth marketing

    Most of us don’t make buying decisions in a vacuum. We search the internet, scour reviews and compare competing goods, services and suppliers. But the most significant green flags for purchasers are recommendations from people we know and respect. According to a 2012 Nielsen Global Trust in Advertising Report, 92% of consumers find more value in recommendations from people they know than any form of advertising. When a brand delivers an experience worth talking about, happy customers become their word-of-mouth marketing and are more persuasive than a two-dimensional ad could ever be.

    When was the last time you recommended a business or brand to a friend or colleague? While your endorsement may have been partly due to price, chances are there was something more to the experience that made the brand worth sharing. Your advocacy wasn’t due to a shiny ad, but rather how your customer experience made you feel respected, cared for and valued.

    Now those are impressions worth sharing.

    Related: Harness the Power of the 5 Senses to Make Your Brand Better

    Happy customers are your most powerful marketers

    By giving your customer a positively memorable experience, you transform that person into a brand ambassador willing to shout their support from the rooftops, and without ever dipping into your advertising budget. Word-of-mouth marketing scales organically when you consistently exceed customer expectations. So, give them something to talk about and see how that brand ambassadorship multiplies by dozens, hundreds or even thousands of raving fans eager to champion your business.

    Keep in mind that negative experiences are just as likely, if not more so, to spread like wildfire and scorch the brand you worked so hard to build. You have surely witnessed devastating brand damage from a single viral video posted to social media by an unhappy patron. Even more reason to ensure your customer experience goes above and beyond. Always.

    When business leaders consider brand building, they often think of traditional promotion, like print and digital advertising, or maybe a well-placed radio commercial to attract their target audience. They spend massive amounts of ad dollars to build brand awareness. But for most private businesses, brand building isn’t about throwing more money at advertising. It’s about creating an organization that engages, delivers on promise, and perhaps most of all, provides exceptional customer experience.

    According to a recent PwC Future of Customer Experience Survey, 65% of customers say a positive experience with a brand is more influential to them than great advertising. This is not to say there isn’t a place for advertising. But an engaging customer experience can be profoundly more impactful.

    Brands that crushed it with little advertising

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    Jason Zickerman

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  • How to Transform Your Real Estate Business With a Customer-Centric Approach | Entrepreneur

    How to Transform Your Real Estate Business With a Customer-Centric Approach | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Success in real estate, and many other industries, is often determined by one key factor: customer service. While AI, technology and data analytics have become increasingly important, the human component remains the driving force behind long-term business success. Adopting a customer-centric approach is essential for cultivating lasting client relationships, while staying competitive.

    The power of exceptional customer service

    At the core of any successful real estate business is a commitment to exceptional customer service. Beyond just answering calls promptly or organizing smooth viewings, it’s about truly understanding clients’ deeper motivations and needs. Great agents don’t just complete transactions; they build trust. In an industry where emotions and finances are often deeply intertwined, clients want to feel understood, respected and prioritized.

    Exceptional customer service means consistently anticipating clients’ needs and acting in their best interests. When clients feel cared for and valued, they’re more likely to return for future transactions. They also become advocates who recommend your services to others. This is particularly important in an era when word-of-mouth referrals and personal recommendations carry significant weight. Studies have shown that personal referrals can be a key driver of business growth in real estate and other service industries.

    Related: Customer Centricity: What It Is, Why It Matters and How to Improve Yours

    Building long-term relationships, not just transactions

    One of the biggest mistakes real estate professionals can make is to treat each transaction as an isolated event. While closing deals quickly may seem efficient, it can lead to missed opportunities for growth and relationship-building. A customer-centric mindset means seeing each client interaction as an opportunity to establish long-term trust and rapport.

    This mindset shift transforms the relationship from a one-time transaction into a lasting partnership. For example, clients who are treated with care and attention are more likely to seek your services again when they’re ready for their next property investment. Furthermore, understanding a client’s long-term goals helps agents provide better, more tailored advice, leading to greater client satisfaction and loyalty.

    In real estate, like in any customer-focused business, building relationships means going the extra mile — whether it’s providing market insights long after a transaction has closed or offering ongoing support with property management. Clients who feel supported beyond the sale will return and refer new clients, expanding your network and creating new opportunities for success.

    Attention to detail makes all the difference

    The importance of attention to detail cannot be overstated. In real estate, small details, like remembering a client’s specific design preferences or scheduling viewings at times that suit their needs, can make all the difference. Successful agents know that every client interaction is an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to delivering value and ensuring a seamless experience.

    In many cases, it’s the attention to detail that transforms a stressful process, like buying a home, into a positive and rewarding experience. This level of care helps differentiate customer-focused agents from their competitors and creates an emotional connection with clients, further deepening the relationship.

    The business case for a service-oriented mindset

    A customer-centric approach is a proven strategy for business growth. Research by PwC shows that 73% of consumers say customer experience is a critical factor in their purchasing decisions. This is especially true in the real estate industry, where both financial and emotional investments are significant. By prioritizing client experience, businesses differentiate themselves in the marketplace and position themselves for long-term success.

    Putting people first leads to better outcomes for everyone. By delivering exceptional service, businesses can cultivate relationships that yield repeat business, generate valuable referrals and enhance their reputation. A strong focus on customer service ultimately leads to higher client satisfaction, which directly impacts revenue growth and brand loyalty.

    Related: Good Customer Service is a Disappearing Art — Here’s How You Can Be Different

    Automation and data are becoming increasingly prevalent, yet human connection remains irreplaceable. The real estate industry, in particular, is built on relationships and trust. By focusing on exceptional customer service and prioritizing the needs of clients, professionals can build lasting partnerships that go beyond the scope of a single transaction.

    Adopting a customer-centric approach in real estate, and in any industry, means recognizing that success isn’t just about the numbers; it’s about the people behind the transactions. When clients feel cared for and valued, they will return, refer others and contribute to the long-term growth and sustainability of your business.

    By emphasizing a client-first approach, real estate and other industry professionals can create thriving businesses that deliver value and build lasting relationships, all while standing out in a competitive and tech-driven market.

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    Ugo Arinzeh

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  • Filipino consumers demand brand transparency in AI use — Twilio study

    Filipino consumers demand brand transparency in AI use — Twilio study

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    Businesses are successfully using artificial intelligence (AI) to power more personalized, intelligent interactions with their customers, but face challenges around transparency and lack of customer data, according to new research from Twilio. The customer engagement platform that drives real-time, personalized experiences for today’s leading brands, recently released its fifth annual State of Customer Engagement Report. The global report, covering 18 countries, including the Philippines, surveyed more than 4,750 B2C executives and 6,300 consumers. It explored how brands are implementing AI to build better relationships with their customers, where AI is yielding the most return on investment for brands, and what engagement trends are most important to consumers. 

    The report underpinned the growing importance of disclosing how brands use customer data to deliver AI-powered experiences. It also raised a warning about the risks of underestimating consumers’ expectations for transparency.

    77% of Filipino consumers want clear information on how their data is used in AI, but only 53% of brands are fulfilling this critical expectation. In addition, brands in the Philippines are less likely to inform customers when they’re interacting with AI (41%) and disclose with whom customer data is shared (30%).

    “Customers today expect personalized experiences and want to understand how businesses use their data to shape those experiences,” said Kathryn Murphy, SVP Product at Twilio. “It’s imperative for brands to be clear about how they use AI, ensuring that they balance how they deploy it with equally robust measures to protect customer privacy. Transparency is not optional — it’s a critical component of building and maintaining customer trust and loyalty.” 

    Filipinos rank highest in valuing transparent communications as the most effective way to maintain trust

    As businesses embrace AI to drive personalized customer engagement, they gather every customer’s click, share, follow, like, and purchase to understand their preferences and needs. More than ever, businesses must keep their customers’ data safe to maintain their trust. This year’s report found that more than any other market, three out of four Filipino consumers regard transparent communication, such as clear and concise terms and conditions, return policies, and privacy policies, as paramount for brands to earn their trust.

    Consumers aren’t the only ones worried about data privacy. 41% of businesses surveyed report that their most pressing challenge is protecting customer data, with a further 53% citing compliance and data privacy concerns as the biggest obstacles to understanding their customers. Addressing these challenges to enhance the customer experience, 60% of brands in the Philippines say they are leveraging AI for risk and fraud management, a critical strategy for a hotspot for online scams like the Philippines. “When a company safeguards information and invests in AI-powered fraud detection and customer data protection tools, it enhances its customer experience and fosters mutual trust,” Murphy further noted.

    AI bridges the disconnect between brands and customers, but activating data and having the right tools remain a challenge

    While data is crucial for personalized customer experiences, brands in the Philippines are among the least likely to agree that they have the data needed to understand (51%) and develop comprehensive profiles of their customers (52%).

    The report found AI is helping businesses close this gap and improve their customer engagement. In particular, seven in 10 companies already leverage AI to predict customer behavior, 69% to understand customer needs and pain points, and 68% to personalize content and marketing. As a result, these forward-thinking brands are realizing many benefits, including better data-driven decision-making (48% of companies), higher customer satisfaction scores (47%), and increased cross-selling and upselling opportunities (44%). 

    Even as more businesses in the Philippines are embracing AI and have invested in tools like CRM or customer relationship management (70%) and CDP or customer data platform (54%), a mere 54% report having the right tools to understand their customers. On the upside, reliance on third-party cookies decreased from 87% in 2022 to 57% in 2023. 

    AI-driven personalization boosts the bottom line but Filipino brands underestimate its impact

    When companies embrace AI-powered personalization, consumers reward them by spending an average of 54% more with them compared to brands that do not. Focusing on the Philippines, 57% of consumers are willing to spend more money for a customized experience and half say they’ve made a repeat purchase from a brand based on the level of personalization they received.

    Personalization isn’t just preferred by Filipino consumers – it’s expected – and the majority of consumers (78%) are likely to quit a brand that fails to deliver personalized interactions. While 40% of Filipino consumers care about personalization, only 8% of brands treat it as a priority, personalizing engagement just 47% of the time.

    The full 2024 State of Customer Engagement Report is available here.

    Report Methodology

    Twilio’s State of Customer Engagement Report is based on a survey of more than 4,750 B2C executives in key sectors and a parallel survey of over 6,300 consumers in 18 different countries. It also incorporates data from Twilio’s Customer Engagement Platform. 

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  • This One Thing Is the Secret to Higher Email Open Rates | Entrepreneur

    This One Thing Is the Secret to Higher Email Open Rates | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    By next year, people around the world will send and receive 376 billion emails every day. Inboxes are jam-packed, so capturing your customers’ attention is only getting harder. Want to stand out and get more clicks? Stop obsessing about your subject lines. Instead, focus on email relevance and quality.

    A ZeroBounce report suggests that 47% of people open a brand email not because of the subject line but because they always get relevant messages from that brand. Subject lines come second in enticing someone to open an email, the report shows, based on a survey of American and European email users.

    So, how can you make your emails better, deliver constant value and boost your metrics? Here are eight habits to adopt today.

    1. Make sure people recognize you

    Since email open rates often hinge on trust in the sender, you must be instantly recognizable in people’s inboxes. Make sure your “From” name is consistent across all the different types of marketing emails you send. For instance, if your sales team contacts prospects, their “From” name should reflect your brand, such as “Paul from Entrepreneur” instead of “Paul Jones.”

    Related: 11 Common Email Marketing Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)

    2. Show up for your audience

    The value your emails deliver carries the most weight, but it will only make an impact if you send those emails regularly. To determine your sending schedule, be realistic: How many emails can you commit to? If all you can send is one newsletter a month, that’s fine — as long as you show up in the inbox like clockwork.

    3. Segment your email list

    Sending the same email to all your subscribers is unlikely to drive engagement. Your customers are in various stages in their journey with your business. Some may be new sign-ups yet to make a purchase, while others are regular customers. Use filters to create separate groups and reach out with emails that make sense to each segment.

    4. Personalize each message

    Segmenting your email list is the first step to email personalization. But if you want to build further trust in your brand, make every subscriber feel as if you wrote that email just for them. Address their pain points and provide easy ways to alleviate them. Offer fresh ideas and content that caters directly to their needs. This approach fosters a deeper, instant connection.

    5. Listen to your audience

    Want to improve your email content overnight and increase engagement? Dive into your customer support tickets, social media channels and industry forums to find out exactly what people are discussing. If you host webinars, save all the questions people ask in the chat. Gather all this info in a document, and you’ll have a steady stream of relevant topics in your emails.

    Related: 5 Things You Can Do to Improve Your Email Marketing

    6. Keep your emails short

    28% of the email users ZeroBounce surveyed said the length of an email doesn’t matter as long as that email is tailored to them. Once again, we see how important segmentation and personalization are. However, 66% stated they prefer short emails, so if you can make your emails both relevant and short, you’ll get higher open rates. Bonus: you’ll probably spend less time on your email marketing.

    7. Infuse warmth into your tone

    Before you send your next email, take a moment to read it out loud. Ask yourself, does it sound like a conversation you’d have with your customers in person? Corporate jargon can be a communication barrier. Consider toning it down and infusing your emails with more warmth and personality. In the age of AI, sounding more human helps you stand out.

    8. Make unsubscribing easy

    Allowing subscribers to leave your email list easily isn’t just sensible; it’s also a critical email deliverability rule. Recent sending requirements from Google and Yahoo emphasize that people should be able to unsubscribe from emails with just one click. Consult with your email marketing platform and test your unsubscribe process. If you don’t follow this rule, you may see a spike in spam complaints, which can relegate your emails to the spam folder.

    Bonus tips: ensure your emails arrive in the inbox

    Adopting the good habits above will give you a boost in clicks, but imagine putting all this effort into your emails only for them to land in spam. To help them go to the inbox, remember to:

    • Remove invalid contacts and avoid bounces – your bounce rate should never exceed 2%.
    • Authenticate your emails to comply with Google and Yahoo‘s requirements.
    • To prevent spam complaints, avoid emailing people who haven’t given you permission.

    Finally, sending emails from a reliable platform is critical to your email deliverability. Choose a trustworthy company and get expert advice if you suspect your emails aren’t landing in the inbox.

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    Liviu Tanase

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  • 3 Effective Ways to Connect With Your Customers | Entrepreneur

    3 Effective Ways to Connect With Your Customers | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    In today’s market, the bond between founders and customers is more than a transaction; it’s the cornerstone of sustainable growth and brand loyalty. Modern consumers want authenticity more than ever. They find it difficult to connect with faceless entities and want to follow people rather than businesses.

    This shift towards personal connection in marketing stems from a saturated market where consumers are bombarded with choices and advertisements daily. Personal stories and authentic interactions cut through the noise in this crowded space, creating a memorable impression. Consumers crave realness and transparency at a time when these qualities are scarce in the world of business.

    So, how do you go about deepening your connection with your target audience? Here are three strategies that can turn your customer interactions into a powerful engine for sales growth.

    1. Personalize your approach with behind-the-scenes storytelling

    It’s one thing to sell a product. It’s another to tell a story and share fascinating details that resonate.

    Imagine a founder sharing their journey, the highs and lows, through a series of behind-the-scenes content. This narrative isn’t about humanizing the brand; it’s about creating a shared experience. When customers see the sweat and tears behind a product, they’re not just buying an item; they’re investing in a piece of your process and founder’s story.

    So, how do you start?

    Weekly emails or social media posts that peel back the curtain on your process make customers feel like they’re part of your journey. To do this effectively, begin by mapping out key milestones in your company’s history or product development process. For each milestone, identify a story or challenge you faced and how you overcame it. These stories form the basis of your content.

    Next, use visuals like photos, videos, or even simple sketches to bring these stories to life. Visual content not only increases engagement but also helps to humanize your brand further.

    In your communication, be transparent about the obstacles you’ve encountered and how you’ve addressed them. This transparency fosters trust and relatability. Moreover, invite your audience to contribute their thoughts or similar experiences through comments or direct messages, turning your storytelling into a two-way conversation.

    Publicly tell people the “why” behind your products, services, and company by integrating customer testimonials or user-generated content that aligns with your narrative. This validates your claims and amplifies your community’s voice, making your brand’s story part of their own stories.

    Like successful pitch decks showcase the story behind your brand, so should your content marketing and advertisements. Bringing the “real” to your business breeds authenticity, and that authentic connection will drive your business’s growth. Remember, the goal is to broadcast and engage in meaningful conversations that build long-term relationships.

    Related: 8 Effective Ways to Connect With Your Customers

    2. Leverage technology for personal connections

    AI tools are booming, so personal connection using automation seems like an oxymoron. Yet, technology can be the very tool that brings you closer to your ICP.

    Consider implementing AI chatbots that do more than answer queries. Work with tools, consultants, and language model professionals to custom-tailor AI to chat with your customers.

    Implement these chatbots on your company website and train them to initiate conversations based on customer behavior. Offer personalized recommendations or even simply check in with website visitors. Sometimes, a simple “How are things going?” goes a long way, and this part of your customer experience can be automated.

    This approach won’t replace human interaction, of course, but it will enhance it by making your brand present and proactive in your customer’s lives.

    The key? Ensure these AI communications feel personal and specific, not just like another automated message in their inbox or as a popup. This takes a bit more effort to implement, but the investment is worth it for the long-term growth of your brand and business.

    Related: 6 Ways Connections Create a Sense of Belonging Anywhere With Any Workplace

    3. Create exclusive communities

    Imagine a space where your customers can gather to discuss your product and share their stories, challenges and triumphs.

    There’s a particular company on the rise called Skool, which enables businesses and personal brands alike to do just this. Other great platform choices, such as Circle, Mighty Networks or Kajabi, enable seamless community building. These platforms allow you to make posts and help your customers, but they also give users the flexibility to post and communicate with each other.

    An exclusive community for customer discussion could take many other forms as well: a Facebook group, a Slack channel or a dedicated forum on your website.

    The goal for your community is to foster a sense of belonging and mutual support, turning your customer base into a tight-knit community. Offer insider access, sneak peeks, and the opportunity for feedback. The more valued and listened that customers feel, the more likely they are to advocate for your brand organically.

    Over the long term, these communities become a word-of-mouth marketing machine.

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    Thomas Strider

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  • How Customer Success Can Supercharge Your Revenue | Entrepreneur

    How Customer Success Can Supercharge Your Revenue | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Today’s business environment is tough — as such, customer success has become a crucial aspect of generating revenue. It’s no longer enough to simply acquire new customers; retaining and expanding existing customers is equally important for sustainable growth.

    In this article, we’ll explore how customer success can drive revenue and provide strategies for maximizing its impact on your bottom line.

    Related: The How-To: Delivering Great Customer Service

    Understanding customer success

    Before we dive into how customer success can propel revenue forward, let’s first define what it is. Customer success is the process of ensuring that your customers achieve their desired outcomes while using your product or service.

    It involves proactively engaging with customers, understanding their needs and providing them with the resources and support they need to be successful, which in turn increases customer loyalty.

    The importance of retention revenue

    One of the key ways that customer success management can stimulate growth is through customer retention. Retention revenue refers to the revenue generated from existing customers who continue to use your product or service. We all know that net new customer acquisition costs more, yet so many companies insist on following this playbook. However, today’s investors are paying closer attention to retention rates and churn rates than ever before.

    According to research by Bain & Company, increasing customer retention rates by just 5% can increase profits by 25% to 95%. This is because loyal customers are more likely to make repeat purchases and are also more likely to refer others to your business.

    By focusing on customer success and ensuring that your customers are achieving their desired outcomes, you can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, leading to higher retention rates and, ultimately, more revenue. There is no more compelling reason to introduce a solid customer success strategy.

    The power of expansion revenue

    Another growth strategy is through expansion revenue. This refers to the additional revenue generated from existing customer relationships through upselling, cross-selling and renewals.

    By proactively engaging with customers and understanding their needs, you can identify opportunities for upselling and cross-selling. This not only increases revenue but also strengthens the relationship with your customers by providing them with additional value, so bake this into your customer onboarding processes.

    The key here is ensuring your customer success team is a part of the revenue team, aligning it with sales (and also marketing) and making it responsible for part of the financial targets. Not only does this spread your revenue risk, but you’re also putting the customer experience front and center. No one wants to be chased by a salesperson they haven’t spoken to in a year for a renewal — a sale is far more likely to convert if driven by a trusted advisor who’s built a relationship with the account. According to Forrester research, trust is the most important brand attribute for buyers — so lean into it.

    Related: 3 Pillars of Client Retention Every Brand Needs to Implement

    Strategies for driving revenue through customer success

    Proactive engagement and personalization

    Proactively engaging with customers and providing personalized support is crucial for growth via customer success. By regularly checking in with your customers and understanding how their business needs may be shifting (aka really knowing them), you can identify opportunities for that all-important upselling and cross-selling. The best companies, however, will plan this as part of the customer lifecycle and lifetime value. It can be usage-driven for SAAS companies and service-driven for business services; wherever an opportunity is available, you should have a natural progression plan.

    Additionally, personalized support can help customers achieve their desired outcomes, leading to higher satisfaction and retention rates. This can be achieved through personalized onboarding, regular check-ins and tailored resources and support.

    So much of content marketing is focused on bringing new customers on board, that existing ones often get overlooked. That playbook is dead. It costs more and doesn’t have great ROI — it’s time to flip the script. This is why customer success and marketing teams must work together to build more long-term client relationships and achieve negative churn.

    Utilizing customer data

    Data and the resulting insights are another powerful tool. By analyzing customer data, you can identify patterns and trends that can help you better understand your customers’ needs and behaviors. For example, by tracking customer usage data, you can identify which features are most popular and which are underutilized. This can help you tailor your upselling and cross-selling efforts to offer customers the features they need and are most likely to purchase. It will help you identify what features, additional products or services to develop based on the most desired outcomes of your customers.

    It can also help with churn. We recently implemented a Net Promoter Score process for a client who’d never done one before. When low scores came in from several customers, it was a wake-up call for the team, who had thought everything was ticking along just fine. This allowed them to react, drill into the issues and save the accounts.

    With metrics and insights in place, you become proactive instead of reactive by keeping a regular pulse on your customers. Note: You should implement a 360-view of them across one CRM to facilitate this and achieve the best results.

    Collaboration between customer success and sales teams

    As highlighted above, collaboration between customer success and sales teams is crucial for driving revenue growth and a seamless customer experience. For example, the former can provide sales teams with insights into customer must-haves and behaviors, helping them tailor their pitches.

    According to Gartner, 43% of vendor-related regret happens at the handoff between sales and implementation. Why? Many teams still work in silos, and as such, there tends to be a gap in communication and handover — allowing for buyer remorse and worry about big-ticket investment. By working cross-functionally, you can nip this in the bud and ensure a smooth transition.

    Leveraging technology

    Technology can play a significant role here as well. For example, a customer success platform can track usage data and trigger automated emails or notifications when a customer reaches a certain usage threshold, indicating an opportunity for upselling. You can also build automated workflows within your CRM, ensuring those valuable check-ins and customer satisfaction surveys aren’t missed — achieving a level of personalization at scale.

    Related: How to Measure Your Customers’ Happiness Score (and Why That Matters)

    Times are tougher than ever, and buyers are in the driving seat. Therefore, customer success is even more crucial for nailing those sales targets. You can win bigger and maximize this team’s impact on your bottom line if you, 1) tear down those team silos and start working together and 2) be proactive instead of reactive by using technology, data insights and good old-fashioned relationship building.

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    Paul Sullivan

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  • How to Use Customer Feedback to Unlock Growth and Loyalty | Entrepreneur

    How to Use Customer Feedback to Unlock Growth and Loyalty | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    It’s time to retire the “faster horses” quote, particularly if you want to stay competitive in 2024. The quote in question has been attributed to automobile mogul Henry Ford and goes something like this: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” In essence, it’s a brush-off to customer sentiment and desire. It’s also completely off-mark in an era where buyers are getting exactly what they want from brands — and moving on if they don’t.

    According to research from McKinsey and Company, consumers want a collaborative exchange with brands. Nearly three-quarters are asking for personalization in their interactions with companies. They’re also being selective with their splurges, making it essential for businesses to listen to their needs and respond accordingly. Brands that remain in tune with shoppers will win their loyalty. Brands that don’t? Well, they’ll be as outdated as the Model T.

    In other words, marketers and customer service professionals have to put a premium on the importance of customer feedback. Customer feedback is one of the most valuable sources of information that any organization can glean. When you have real-time feedback from your buyers, you have the inside track to pivot rapidly. You can spot new sales opportunity ideas, chances for product or service improvement, better ways to keep in touch with purchasers and so much more.

    Your feedback won’t always be rosy, of course. That’s to be expected. Negative feedback and unhappy customers are a source of wonderful data, though. They’ll tell you right away what isn’t working and what may be hurting your relationship with them. As long as you act on the feedback they give, you may be able to restore the bond between your brand and a displeased buyer.

    How can you start implementing a customer feedback management program that will allow you to quickly identify customer-based problems and possibilities? Try putting a few steps in place to gather, parse and act upon different types of customer feedback.

    Related: How to Really Hear and Use Customer Feedback

    1. Set up feedback mechanisms throughout the customer journey

    If you don’t already have a systematic customer feedback process, you owe it to your team to pull one together. You can use a variety of vehicles to elicit feedback, from point-of-purchase polls to review requests. Remember that feedback can be organic, too, as in the case of social mentions on Facebook or X. Together, the feedback you receive needs to be funneled into your company so you can begin to evaluate it.

    Your goal shouldn’t just be to take in data, though. You need to reflect upon it and react appropriately. Gartner points out that 80% of growth-focused businesses use their customer experience information proactively. Therefore, you can assume that by taking the appropriate steps to learn about what your customers want (and delivering on those desires), you’re positioning your organization to get bigger. And better.

    Make sure you understand the actual problem and avoid simply gut-reacting to feedback. When a customer says they want a faster horse, take a step back and think about the real problem, which in this case is that they want to get from point A to point B faster. In one Alida survey, a whopping 75% of consumers said they didn’t think businesses used their feedback. Accordingly, be clear when you’re doing something in response to what your customers have told you. That way, they’ll realize that you’re not letting their input collect dust.

    2. Overlay quantitative data with qualitative data

    Chances are strong that you’ll use an AI-fueled system to collect and analyze customer feedback data. AI can be highly useful in finding the most common patterns around specific products and services within your customer service feedback. It can deliver fast customer retention metrics, too. That said, you can’t solely rely on AI to tell you all the opportunities that lie ahead.

    What’s the problem with allowing AI to guide your customer feedback reactions? It isn’t always able to “read between the lines.” Even predictive AI systems can’t tell you the “why?” That’s where qualitative data comes into play. Qualitative data teases out the nuances in quantitative data. It reveals the hidden “pain points” that might not be immediately apparent in the quantitative data. You can then use both types of data to plan out your strategy.

    Not sure which kind of qualitative data mechanism would give you the most comprehensive understanding of customer experiences, preferences and perceptions across your brand, products and services? Statista shows that 44% of organizations opt for in-person focus groups. Online focus groups nabbed 39%, coming in second. Sometimes, just getting people talking can answer how to make customers more likely to return, refer and review your brand.

    Related: This Is Why You Should Never Ignore Customer Feedback

    3. Aim for continuous improvement

    Just a generation ago, businesses’ customer feedback channels were far more limited than they are today. From social media to branded apps, you now have expanded ways to gather data about your buyers. Your job, therefore, is to keep your eye on trends in the customer feedback ecosystem. Those trends will help you remain on the leading edge when it comes to amassing a wealth of feedback.

    Case in point, personalization is a growing trend in the customer feedback world. As mentioned, McKinsey research has shown a desire across the buying population for personalized brand engagements. Today, software can allow customers to receive polls, surveys, etc., that are specifically designed around their purchasing journey. For example, Amazon leverages customer feedback to personalize recommendations and enhance the shopping experience by suggesting products that align closely with user preferences and past purchases.

    If you’re not continuously improving with your customer feedback, you won’t be able to give the best possible customer experience. Take a look at how you’re collecting and using feedback currently. Are there gaps you could close, such as the lead time for feedback to be perused and contemplated by your team? Addressing those gaps can move your customer feedback system forward and put your company in a leadership position.

    Consumers are savvier than ever and have plenty of choices. In Ford’s day, they were limited in their options, allowing him to avoid the need to collect feedback. Rather than take an antiquated approach to your customers, treat them as a gold mine for the information that will take your brand from zero to 100 in no time.

    Related: Transforming Customer Feedback Into Actionable Business Outcomes: The How-To

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    Tiffany Edwards

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  • Why & When Customer Lifecycle Automation is Critical in Your Business | Entrepreneur

    Why & When Customer Lifecycle Automation is Critical in Your Business | Entrepreneur

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    Your business needs more customers, but you’ve encountered a roadblock. You can’t spend more money on advertising unless you get more customers, but getting more customers requires more marketing dollars — and the cycle continues. This is where lifecycle automation can help.

    First, let’s get some clarity on what this means. While automation is using technology to perform tasks or processes without human intervention, lifecycle automation refers to automating and optimizing customer interactions at every stage of their journey throughout an entire product or service’s lifecycle (e.g., from acquisition and onboarding to engagement and retention). Lifecycle automation encompasses a broader range of activities and stages compared to general automation and is designed to enrich the customer experience and maximize business outcomes.

    Sounds pretty powerful, right? It is — and yet it’s also one of the tools most consistently underused by small businesses. Here’s why it’s important and when you can get the most from it.

    Related: How to Navigate to the Next Phase of Your Business — 3 Tips as You Scale

    Why does customer lifecycle automation matter?

    If you’re not yet convinced that customer experience has a clear business impact, maybe this will do the trick. Research has found that companies that invest in improving their customer experience have seen, on average, a 42% improvement in customer retention, a 33% improvement in customer satisfaction and a 32% increase in cross-selling and up-selling.

    Those are some compelling statistics, giving you all the reasons you need to prioritize customer experience. Lifecycle automation fits into this by ensuring every customer gets a personalized, excellent customer experience in a predictable, trackable way.

    For example, your team won’t forget to follow up if you automate sending notes reminding prospects to schedule an appointment. Or, after a purchase, you can automate sending an invoice to your customer and set up automatic reminders to pay it. After you’ve delivered a project or service, you can also automate review requests or recommendations for another purchase.

    When applied well, lifecycle automation can increase sales without increasing advertising costs and free your team to focus on more important tasks.

    Lifecycle automation has three phases: Collect Leads, Convert Clients and Create Fans.

    Related: 6 Ways to Exceed Your Customer’s Expectations Just With Good Manners

    1. Collecting leads

    In the collect leads phase, you’ll aim to get the attention of your ideal audience and capture their contact information so you have permission to follow up with them. This includes targeting people (by criteria like interests, behaviors, demographics or location), attracting them with great content (e.g., videos, ebooks, infographics or blog posts) and capturing their information (through a web form, often in exchange for a free consultation or premium content).

    For example, one independent pharmacy we have worked with grew revenue by 20%, despite facing big competitors, by engaging patients through automation. Their Collect Leads stage strategy involved setting up an iPad in the lobby to gather walk-in information, which was delivered to their CRM via a landing page with a form. This made it possible to follow up with people who didn’t become customers immediately.

    Related: 5 Ways Businesses Can Get Traffic and Generate Leads

    2. Converting clients

    In the convert clients phase, you’ll make your product or service the obvious choice when the leads you’ve attracted are ready to buy. You can start by engaging them through an automated campaign, offering an irresistible deal, closing the sale and using automation to communicate next steps.

    The pharmacy mentioned above succeeded in this phase by implementing an automated welcome campaign. They also segmented their list to nurture relationships through emails personalized to customers’ medical conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular issues.

    Related: 6-Step Plan to Convert Leads Into Sales

    3. Creating fans

    Finally, there’s the create fans phase, often overlooked by small businesses. You can turn this phase into a goldmine by delivering on your customer commitments, providing additional value that delights customers and encouraging referrals by creating incentives for customers and partners.

    Before implementing lifecycle automation, the independent pharmacy referenced above had around 15 to 20 Google reviews. Now, they have close to 500 reviews due to consistent follow-up, and the highly personalized service automation allows them to deliver to their community.

    When you set up lifecycle automation, you’ll never lose a lead, and each customer will get the right messaging to move forward in their customer journey no matter what stage they’re in.

    When you need lifecycle automation most

    It’s never too early to set up lifecycle automation, but it works best when you’re starting to see revenue growth in your business. You’ll see the most impact if you already have a sizable contact list and a reliable way to ensure it keeps growing (e.g., a solid lead generation strategy).

    As you can imagine, lifecycle automation becomes crucial when you have more customers than you feel you can serve and respond to individually. When your business starts losing potential customers because you’re not getting back to them fast enough or creating an accidental bottleneck that’s holding your team back from moving sales forward, lifecycle automation is a must, not a maybe.

    Lifecycle automation allows you to invest time that would be spent on one-off communications to customers in things you most enjoy doing — serving customers, developing new services, or spending time with friends and family. For entrepreneurs who want to grow their businesses while also making the most of their time, customer lifecycle automation is the way.

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    Clate Mask

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  • 10 Expert Principles For Designing Better CSAT Surveys | Entrepreneur

    10 Expert Principles For Designing Better CSAT Surveys | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As a customer service consultant and customer service transformation expert, I’ve felt like cringing a few times (or more than a few!) when my client companies send out customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys that are less accurate and customer-friendly than I’d want them to be.

    This is risky for any business, so I work with them immediately to make the needed improvements.

    Sending out poorly designed surveys can try the nerves of even your most loyal customers, mislead you with spurious results and waste the time of everyone involved — those who send it out and those who receive it. When designed and deployed correctly, however, surveys can reveal essential insights into how customers view their experience with your company and allow customers to vent!I encourage you to spend a few minutes with me learning the do’s and don’ts of designing and deploying customer surveys.

    Related: How to Measure Your Customers’ Happiness Score (and Why That Matters)

    1. Every survey question should be clearly worded and easy to answer

    It shouldn’t require your customer to do math or think too much about the inner workings of your company. Avoid anything like, “Compare this interaction with interactions you’ve had at similar departments at other fintech companies in our broadly competitive cohort.” Also, don’t ask questions you don’t care about and already know you’re not going to act on. (This seems obvious, but it happens all the time.)

    2. Don’t ask your customers to grade you on a scale of 1–10

    When you request their opinions on a scale of 1-10 (or 0-10), you’re confounding your customers at best. Why? You’re essentially asking your customers to determine the difference between a “six” and an “eight” or a similar nuanced gradation when choosing how to rank you. Provide your customer with no more than approximately five choices. (Why do I say approximately five? Well, I’d go with five, but I confess that there is an argument to be made for making it four or six: If you choose an even number like this, you take away an easy midpoint response, thus perhaps getting more reasoned answers.)

    Related: 4 Ways to Use Customer Feedback for Business Innovation

    3. The order in which you ask your questions matters

    The order matters because a prior question brings up images in a customer’s mind that will influence their answer to the next one. So, be sure to ask for your customer’s overall impression first. You don’t want to influence how a customer answers this central question by asking more nitpicky questions before you get to the most important, broad one.

    Asking several individual questions before asking for an overall rating will tend to color that overall rating, perhaps quite significantly. For example, if the question the customer encounters just before the big one asks about the cleanliness of your restrooms, which was just so-so, this will likely reduce your overall rating since you’ve left their mind in the toilets.

    Conversely, if they’ve just been asked about the availability of parking and parking was abundant, this is likely to artificially increase your overall rating since they are thinking about something positive (how easy it was to park).

    4. Include at least one open-ended question

    Doing this is valuable both to harvest customer insights and to let customers know you value and are curious about their thoughts and insights. For example, “Please share any thoughts you may have; we promise to read all of these!”

    The CEO of a major corporation told me that he transformed his entire level of customer service success by reading every one of these so-called “verbatims.” In these, he found a “staggering” level of nuance about his current operations and even some promising suggestions for innovations for the future.

    Related: You Need Consumer Insights To Ensure The Success Of Your Business. Here Are Five Ways To Find Them.

    5. Word choice matters

    I’m a fan of emotive rating options on surveys, such as “fantastic!” (for your top score), “meh” (for somewhere in the middle) and even “Are you sure you can handle the truth?!” (for your lowest). Only consider this approach if it conforms with your brand style! It wouldn’t be appropriate for a traditional jeweler or a business in a life-and-death industry like healthcare or mortuary services.

    6. Pay attention to the number of top ratings (5 on a scale of 5) that you receive

    While it’s nice to know how, on average, customers perceive you, It’s arguably more important to know the number of customers who give you a top (5 on a scale of 5) rating. This may be more important than your average score because the number of people who rate you as tops are the best representation of the number of truly loyal customers you have — or, at least, the number of customers well on their way to true loyalty. Of course, most important here is the trend: are you getting more loyalists than in the past, or is customer enthusiasm flagging?

    Related: Yes, the Rich Are Different — Here Are 5 Customer Service Secrets I Learned While Working With Wealthy Clients

    7. Don’t ask nosy questions

    Nosy questions include questions on income, sex or how old they are. First, you can never assume respondents will trust your privacy practices. Second, unless you’re a casino operator, cannabis dispenser or operate another type of business limited by law to serving adults, you don’t have a reason to ask for a complete birthdate. If you are trying to set yourself up to send out birthday cards or offers later, please at least stop asking for the year of birth. A complete birthdate is probably none of your business and makes identity theft all too easy in the event of a breach.

    8. Skim through your surveys right away, looking for any complaints or ultra-low scores

    Then respond personally and immediately to these upset customers. Don’t make them wait without a response, stewing in their own frustration, until such time as you’ve batched all your surveys for review.

    9. Put thought and attention into any preamble that accompanies your survey

    Your introductory note or cover letter, just like the survey itself, should be friendly, gracious and brand-appropriate. This way, whether or not the recipient chooses to respond, they’ll be left with a positive impression.

    10. Please don’t hound your customers if they don’t respond to your survey request(s)

    I would make one follow-up reminder the limit — or even zero. Once you’ve surveyed a particular customer, suppress future surveys of that same customer for at least 30 days.

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    Micah Solomon

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  • 5 Steps for Consistent Lean Operations | Entrepreneur

    5 Steps for Consistent Lean Operations | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Lean principles have proved incredibly effective for future-proofing organizations from wasting resources. Though the philosophy originated in manufacturing, its adaptability has made it essential for any modern business leader looking to eliminate resource waste, improve quality, reduce variations in customer service and increase productivity.

    Lean management principles can be applied to many essential parts of a company, including production, supply chain management, customer service and administrative processes — all to meet customer expectations while improving productivity consistently.

    Over 70% of lean implementations fail — so what are the critical differentiating factors for those who can succeed? If executed correctly, lean management improves both customer service and employee satisfaction while reducing overall costs via productivity gain continually.

    It’s easy for leaders to talk about optimizing processes, but a successful lean systematic approach requires a deep understanding of key customers’ critical needs and a well-integrated yet simple execution plan. Most importantly, it requires an energized community of employees dedicated to continuous improvement with unwavering support from the CEO and the executive team.

    These five steps are paramount for business leaders hoping to implement lean principles to deliver consistent results meaningfully.

    Related: How to Apply Lean Principles to Your Startup’s Productivity and Time Management

    1. Understand your key customers

    At the end of the day, business is about people. With all the pressure to innovate in today’s world, it can be all too easy to lose sight of what a company’s true customers actually want and need. Lean principles are centered around the “North Star” of any business: the pain points and opportunities within a company’s target audience.

    To eliminate excess and non-value-added activities, one must first identify those that best serve the customer’s needs and listen directly to customers to understand better how these desires are (or are not) being met. This concept is at the heart of the Lean pull system and just-in-time manufacturing, which urge companies to carry out work only when there is a demand for it rather than creating products based on forecasts.

    2. Diversify perspectives

    Lean principles seek to overcome four core challenges: drag (the resistance from sluggish markets or enterprise-wide misalignment of strategies); inertia (resistance to change, including functional siloes); friction (products or services not in sync with customer expectations); and waste (resulting from outdated KPIs, failure to evolve and disengaged leadership).

    Bringing key customer needs into a company can help align company practices, culture and products/services to combat these challenges quickly and effectively. Fresh eyes, especially those with a cross-functional team approach, are crucial for mapping out and augmenting processes within the company that deliver the right products and solutions to customers and can directly combat the static mindset of companies that may otherwise be resistant to necessary change.

    Related: 5 Reasons Not to Follow the Lean Startup Process for Your Next Idea

    3. Establish metrics for progress and success

    Knowing how to measure both progress and success helps businesses implement the lean philosophy as a long-term company strategy rather than just a project. These metrics/KPIs may take various forms — including visual tools or techniques that make information and work progress more visible, as transparency helps cross-functional teams monitor and manage work more effectively and in real-time.

    Moreover, all ideals related to progress and success must be fortified by direct engagement and leadership from the C-suite. Leaders must live the mindset expected of their employees; this can be done through a regular cadence of meetings where this commitment to constant adaptation and sustainable growth can be demonstrated and nurtured. High-potential employees are thoughtfully placed in Lean assignments throughout the company. Likewise, training on continuous improvement must be made regularly for all managers and employees, with rewards and compensation tied to the delivery of lean results.

    4. Organize collaborative, cross-functional teams to streamline processes

    If done right, lean management allows companies to achieve more with less instead of doing more with less. Establishing a smoother, uninterrupted flow of work or materials via the value stream will minimize delays, waste and bottlenecks. To achieve this level of synchronization, siloes must be broken down to make way for a holistic evaluation of all internal operations.

    With engaged participation from various functions, the sequence of activities and processes required to deliver the right product or service to the customer can be assessed and solidified. This holistic perspective is crucial for optimizing value streams, sharing best practices, regular checks and adjustments and future-forward planning. Collaboration across functions also allows for a holistic understanding of company obstacles, methodologies and goals so that employees across the business are aligned on a united, go-forward strategy.

    Related: 5 Ways Lean Teams Can Work Smarter and Get More Done

    5. Foster a culture of continuous improvement and respect

    Continuous improvement is not a fad; it is an ongoing and integral element of operations, depending entirely on the business’s human element. While various technologies are helping to modernize, restructure and simplify processes, we must not take for granted the human touch that is embedded into the nature of all work. Lean principles emphasize respecting and valuing individual employee contributions and engagement and building a culture of continuous improvement through human interaction.

    By encouraging employees to be involved in decision-making, training and support, leaders lay the foundation for a community of people who are personally connected to the customers and their teams and are personally invested in the company’s future.

    Likewise, by fostering a culture of teamwork, empowerment and accountability, leaders can recognize and harness underutilized employee skills for greater success — all of which have been proven to improve retention rates.

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    Jack Truong

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  • Are Your Testimonials Helping Or Hurting? 4 Common Mistakes To Avoid | Entrepreneur

    Are Your Testimonials Helping Or Hurting? 4 Common Mistakes To Avoid | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Positive testimonials are arguably the most powerful marketing tool any business can equip. It’s no secret word of mouth can drive business growth, even if no other marketing systems are in place.

    However, the absence of great testimonials or prominent negative reviews can be detrimental. A lack of social proof or a single negative review can result in as many as 51.4% of potential prospects searching for a competitor instead of going with your offering. So your company must show off some endorsements.

    Many companies attempt to prove themselves in unethical ways to counter the consequences of having few testimonials. Startups in a rush to start earning profits are the biggest offenders. But I’m here to tell you that it’s never worth it.

    Misuse or unethical use of testimonials creeps onto product pages, websites and review platforms daily. And while short-term profits may rise, it could potentially kill your business over time as potential customers catch on.

    There are several ways testimonials can get misused and ruin brand trust. Here are 4 of the most common.

    Related: How to Get and Use Testimonials, Referrals and Reviews

    1. Irrelevant testimonials

    Testimonials must accurately represent your target audience — if your potential customers find them irrelevant, they will remain unconvinced you can solve their problem.

    An example: If you’re a growth marketing agency selling SEO campaigns for tech companies, decision-makers want to see the results you’ve delivered for those in the tech and innovation space. You don’t want to slap logos of gardening and manufacturing companies on the front page of your website.

    This disconnect in testimonials and target audience confuses buyers more than it helps.

    2. Outdated testimonials

    Take the time to revisit your most prominently portrayed testimonials. Are they recent? Do the results and processes displayed still work today? Many industries evolve quickly, and decision-makers want to know if your company has evolved with those shifts.

    Related: 5 Strategies for Getting the Most Out of a Customer Testimonial

    3. Fake testimonials

    I was once on the verge of buying a $2,000 program from a prominent digital creator promising up-to-date techniques on social media writing. I was intrigued by a new, different approach.

    While doing my research, I clicked over to the founder’s Twitter (X) account. It turns out one of his most recent tweets was a picture of him and his roommate. The interesting bit? I immediately recognized the roommate because the large testimonial on the landing page of this program was the same man.

    It turns out I was right to complete my due diligence because a conveniently located friend faked the entire testimonial — $ 2,000 saved. And the ongoing consequence for that course creator? I’ll never revisit a single product that person reveals again because any trust is gone.

    4. Anonymous testimonials

    Adjacent to fake testimonials are anonymous testimonials.

    Anonymous testimonials can’t be proven, tracked or verified in any meaningful way. So you may as well leave them off your website entirely. Any business can write nice words and say “Katie” said this about their service. But with no picture, no link to the work, and no company to research, these testimonials may as well be deleted.

    How to use testimonials effectively

    Every testimonial you decide to incorporate needs to pull the psychological levers of your potential buyers. Don’t copy and paste quotes that match your headlines. Instead, as you start gathering testimonials, focus on these three pillars to maximize their effectiveness.

    1. Have authentic testimonials

    Not only should you do the obvious and ask permission to display testimonials, but they need to be written in your current (or past) clients’ words.

    Testimonials are best believed if they come in natural language. There’s a desire to edit words, change phrases, and get the “perfect” testimonial. Often times clients are willing for you to make adjustments. But I’m here to tell you — don’t do it.

    Editing testimonials does more harm than good. It’s crucial to resist the temptation to make edits so the testimonials you display are genuinely one-of-a-kind.

    Related: Make Customer Testimonials Meaningful

    2. Highlight specific outcomes

    Just because I don’t recommend editing testimonials doesn’t mean you shouldn’t request those giving them to speak on specific outcomes. When requesting a testimonial, instead of asking someone to say “nice words,” ask what they have accomplished since working with your business.

    How many more leads are you getting each month? How much has MRR increased? How much time is your tech team saving each week? How much weight did you lose, and how fast? These are all examples of great questions to ask former clients.

    The bottom line: ask them to quantify the before and after of working with your company. This leads to specificity, believability and trust from future buyers.

    3. Display prominently

    Most of all, don’t underestimate the value of testimonials. People love safety in numbers and buy when they feel secure with your product.

    The more testimonials you can display, the better. Put them on your website, product pages, social media, and marketing materials whenever possible.

    Over and over again, remind people of the quality of your work and service. This way, when it’s time for them to buy, they’re thinking of you and your company, not your competitors.

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    Thomas Strider

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  • The Key to Building Unshakeable Customer Relationships | Entrepreneur

    The Key to Building Unshakeable Customer Relationships | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Hey entrepreneurs! You’re doing everything by the book. You’ve got your CRM software, email newsletters and 24/7 customer support, and yet, you’re not seeing that extraordinary spike in customer loyalty. Ever wondered why?

    Let me tell you: Your customers have evolved. They’re not just seeking a transaction; they’re seeking an experience — the kind of experience that transforms them from mere window shoppers to lifetime brand advocates. It’s time to move beyond basic customer service and learn to capitalize on micro-moment magic.

    Related: 3 Best Practices for Build Lasting Customer Relationships

    Defining micro-moments in the customer experience spectrum

    Micro-moments are those fleeting yet powerful instances where your customers engage with your brand spontaneously. It could be when they swipe through your Instagram story, spot your product on a friend’s feed or step into your retail location “just to browse.”

    But here’s the kicker: These seemingly trivial moments often hold the key to impactful customer relationships. During these micro-moments, you can swing the decision pendulum in your favor. Don’t let them pass you by.

    The alchemy of impactful micro-moments

    1. Leverage emotional triggers

    You’ve got split-seconds to make an impression. Use emotional cues to hit that sweet spot. The customer should feel something — the thrill of a flash sale or the comfort of knowing your product is eco-friendly and sustainably made. When you tap into the emotional resonance, you instantly make the micro-moment memorable.

    2. Dynamic personalization is your wand

    Personalization isn’t a novel concept, but let’s crank it up a notch. Dynamic personalization goes beyond just knowing the customer’s first name. It means offering product recommendations based on browsing history, nudging them with location-based offers or even altering your website layout in real-time according to user behavior. When customers feel like the universe (or your brand) is talking directly to them, magic happens.

    3. Encourage social validation

    Now, this is where the rubber meets the road. During the micro-moments, your potential customers are likely checking reviews, asking friends or even looking at how many followers you have. Make sure you have compelling social proof in place. The power of a peer recommendation is gold — leverage it.

    4. Be predictively proactive

    How about surprising your customers before they even know what they need? With machine learning algorithms, you can analyze behavior patterns and be ready to offer solutions even before the customer identifies the problem. Talk about being a psychic!

    5. Navigating the pitfalls — what not to do

    While the scope for making a lasting impression during micro-moments is astronomical, there are also pitfalls you must avoid like the plague. Overwhelming your customer with too many options, invasive marketing and slow page load times can break the spell faster than you can say “customer churn.”

    6. The ROI of investing in micro-moments

    Let’s get real — investing time and resources to orchestrate perfect micro-moments is not just a flight of fancy but a business imperative. The ROI is real, and it’s massive. Customers who have been wooed successfully through micro-moments are far more likely to become repeat customers and enthusiastic brand advocates. These people will spread the word, create user-generated content and boost your brand’s credibility.

    Related: 7 Amazing Ways to Build Long-Term Relationships With Your Customers

    The future of micro-moments: The unexplored frontier

    Don’t think for a second that the micro-moment wave has peaked. As technology advances, so do opportunities for crafting even more meaningful and immersive micro-moments. Think augmented reality, think virtual reality, think Internet of Things. The possibilities are endless, and the future looks brighter than ever for businesses willing to walk this thrilling path. Here is what you need to know.

    1. Data-driven decision-making

    You’re a visionary, but let’s bring some science to that art of yours. You can’t capitalize on micro-moments without relying on some hardcore data. Big Data and analytics tools can be your guiding star in this labyrinth of customer touchpoints. With proper analytics, you can identify when these micro-moments are most likely to occur and prepare to deliver a curated experience. Imagine knowing precisely when your customer usually browses your website or at what point in the video they’re likely to click through. Knowledge isn’t just power; it’s profit.

    2. Uninterrupted user experience

    While you’re busy orchestrating these exquisite micro-moments, don’t forget the broader setting: the overall user experience (UX). Your website or app should be so fluid and intuitive that it paves the way for these micro-moments to shine. Even minor glitches or delays can disrupt the magic. For example, if your app crashes during a “swipe up to buy” moment, you have lost a sale and a chunk of customer trust that’s tough to regain. Your UX is the stage, the lighting and the background score to your magical show — make sure it’s flawless.

    3. A seamless omnichannel strategy

    We’re living in a digital omniverse. Your customer might start their journey on Instagram, move to your website to browse and finally purchase on your mobile app. This isn’t just multi-channel, my friends; this is omnichannel — a continuous, consistent experience across all platforms. In this interconnected world, your micro-moments must transcend individual platforms and weave into a seamless narrative. For instance, a coupon code discovered during an Instagram scrolling session should be easily applicable on your main website or app. If you create this omnichannel symphony, brace yourself for standing ovations and encores.

    4. Customer-centricity is your North Star

    As we navigate the increasingly complex maze of customer engagement, remember that your true north is customer-centricity. Everything you do, every micro-moment you create, should come from a place of genuine customer empathy. This isn’t just a business tactic; it’s a philosophy. It’s about recognizing that behind every click, swipe or tap is a human being with specific needs, desires and emotions. Master the art of mirroring these sentiments in those fleeting moments, and you won’t just win customers — you’ll win hearts.

    Related: 5 Actionable Ways to Improve Your Customer Experience

    Wrapping up: Your playbook for seizing micro-moments

    By now, I hope you’re buzzing with ideas and itching to put this knowledge into action. Remember, in the grand scheme of your customer relationship ecosystem, micro-moments are the unsung heroes. Overlook them, and you’re leaving money and loyalty on the table.

    It’s time to shatter the glass ceiling of traditional customer relationship management and seize these moments of pure, unadulterated customer engagement. Because, my fellow entrepreneurs, in the digital age, the true currency is not just money; it’s engagement, relationships and trust.

    So, are you ready to master the art of the micro-moment? Your success story is just one “moment” away.

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    Chris Kille

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  • What Entrepreneurs Can Learn About Customer Communication From Japanese Martial Arts | Entrepreneur

    What Entrepreneurs Can Learn About Customer Communication From Japanese Martial Arts | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Direct marketing is a promotional method that delivers information about your company, product or service directly to your target audience, bypassing traditional advertising intermediaries. Essentially, it’s about direct communication with consumers, which is vital for your business’s success.

    Shuhari, a concept from Japanese martial arts, describes the stages of learning leading to mastery and emphasizes continuous evolution. Just as a martial artist evolves in technique and understanding, so too must a business in its approach to communication. The aim is holistic growth in skills, understanding and strategy.

    The Shuhari concept breaks down the journey to mastery into three distinct stages. Applying this concept to your customer communication might prove highly advantageous.

    Related: 3 Lessons Martial Arts Teaches You About Starting a Company

    1. The Shu stage — adherence to best practices

    In this phase, you adhere strictly to established best practices. You don’t question or challenge; instead, you follow the advice of opinion leaders and experts. There’s no need to understand precisely why a particular practice might boost your open rate (OR) or any other metric; your role is simply to implement these practices. This approach is akin to the principle of 2+2=4: you don’t delve into the ‘why’; you simply accept it as a given.

    By following tried-and-tested methods, you can quickly establish a reliable communication model for your business, thereby generating consistent revenue. However, transitioning to phase two becomes challenging when your entire team is preoccupied with sustaining the current model. To advance, streamlining, optimizing or even automating processes is essential. This approach not only makes processes more efficient but also frees up time for innovation and experimentation.

    Throughout the first stage, collecting and analyzing data is of paramount importance to guide future campaigns. Just as feedback from a master or sensei is invaluable in martial arts, in direct customer communication, feedback from customers is critical. It assists businesses in determining what resonates and what doesn’t, thereby enabling them to make informed decisions.

    Many brands plateau at this stage; however, merely maintaining the status quo isn’t the path to forging enduring, trust-based relationships with customers.

    You only transition to this stage if you are ready to experiment, then adapt or even drastically change your customer communication strategy.

    Related: How to Turn Strangers into Loyal Customers With User Onboarding

    2. The Ha stage — experimentation and transformation

    In this phase, after mastering foundational skills, you’re poised to challenge traditional methods and established norms and explore new possibilities that align with your unique style. I can say this is where authentic marketing truly begins.

    You’ll begin to question why specific practices resonate with your customer communication and try new ones. By analyzing the outcomes of past campaigns, you can identify what didn’t work in your brand’s favor. Sometimes, you may discover that widely accepted best practices are not effective for your specific needs, or even worse, they may adversely impact your outcomes.

    Experimentation is the hallmark of this phase. It’s vital to rigorously assess every new approach and idea. Ensure you test one concept at a time. Understand that each trial can either enhance or diminish your metrics, ultimately impacting your revenue. Nevertheless, comprehending the reasoning behind each result will furnish deeper insights into your audience.

    3. The Ri stage — innovation

    At this stage, you come to recognize ideas or strategies that have perhaps never been explored before.

    Building on past experiences and insights, you can forecast which strategies will resonate most. This is the moment for innovation and pioneering tactics that may be unprecedented.

    Now, you’re not merely adhering to rules — you’re establishing them, setting the stage for groundbreaking advances for your company.

    Related: Want to Gain Customers’ Trust? Try These 4 Communications Tips.

    The importance of continuous learning

    Both in martial arts and business, the journey doesn’t end upon reaching mastery. True mastery lies in the recognition that learning is continuous. In martial arts, even black belts continue to refine their skills and techniques. Similarly, in the realm of customer communication, market dynamics and customer preferences shift over time. As such, businesses must maintain a learner’s mindset, always seeking to refine their approach, adapt to new trends and remain responsive to their audience’s needs. Embracing this principle of perpetual learning ensures longevity and relevance in an ever-evolving marketplace.

    Wrapping up

    According to the ShuHaRi concept, each stage has its unique characteristics that we must recognize:

    • Stage one — You create your own TO-DO list and adhere strictly to the rules. The more best practices you adopt, the better. At this point, you generate a stable revenue. However, it’s not yet marketing. You only proceed to stage two if you’re ready to experiment and change your entire customer communication strategy eventually.

    Please remember that before transitioning to stage two, it’s essential to optimize, eliminate or automate all routine processes to free up time.

    • Stage two — This stage, in fact, is exhausting, time-consuming, and does not generate stable revenue. However, this is when you get an understanding of what’s effective and what’s not because you begin experimenting with innovations and analyze all outcomes. Each trial can either enhance or detract from your results, affecting your income. This is the commencement of genuine marketing.
    • Stage three — You shape customer communication in your distinctive style. This is the stage that takes your brand to breakthroughs; this is where substantial revenue is realized.

    And finally…

    At the ‘Shu’ stage, businesses establish a set of communication standards. Over time, however, customer communication evolves and influences the business. This transformation is the ultimate goal, as it drives business enhancement and efficiency.

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    Dmitry Kudrenko

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  • Is the Customer Always Right? How to Understand Customer-Centric Thinking to Drive Engagement | Entrepreneur

    Is the Customer Always Right? How to Understand Customer-Centric Thinking to Drive Engagement | Entrepreneur

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    Imagine a world where mattresses aren’t just about sleep but are associated with beauty, stress relief and overall well-being, where millions of data points can predict when the “next big thing” is right around the corner. This is the world today, driven by ever-evolving consumer preferences, where companies strive to stay ahead by honing their customer-centric strategies.

    Achieving business success means going beyond what customers say they want and digging into why they want it. This often reveals a gap between their words and actions. Businesses tend to make products based on guesses about what customers want, both from what they say and what’s assumed. However, customers might struggle to express their needs clearly, and what they claim to prefer might not match what they’re ready to spend on. Closing this gap between talk and action is the key to genuine customer-centricity.

    For years, Treacy & Company by Cherry Bekaert has been exploring consumer centricity through work with our clients. Our recent interactions with innovators have inspired us to share our latest thinking. In this article, we will delve into the importance of uncovering deeper customer meaning and AI’s role in helping to accelerate this customer discovery process.

    Related: 10 Ways to Keep Making Your Clients Happier and Happier

    The gap in customer-centricity

    Amid the intricate landscape of consumer dynamics, a crucial gap often emerges between what customers vocalize and what they truly prioritize. Companies frequently design products based on their assumptions or direct customer feedback, which overlooks a vital reality. Customers’ explicit desires may only sometimes reflect their true preferences or willingness to purchase a product.

    Take the instance of sustainability; even though customers might stress their preference for eco-friendly options when faced with the prospect of paying more for such alternatives, a majority opt for convenience and affordability. This gap between words and actions is a pivotal point for companies to refine their customer-centric approach. It’s where they can reshape strategies to truly meet customers’ deeper motivations and bridge the divide between what’s said and what’s done.

    Unveiling the deeper meaning

    Human discussions and trends often carry a hidden depth beyond the surface. We are much more than our surface-level desires or expressed preferences. Consider the unassuming mattress — an everyday item that carries a remarkable weight of association. When thinking about mattresses, people often associate them with the “culture of sleep” (per MotivBase). In reality, customers implicitly instill mattresses with a broader meaning, encompassing beauty, stress relief and overall well-being.

    Casper, a prominent player in the mattress industry, embraced this profound insight and launched their 2022 campaign, “This is where dreams begin.” This initiative was fueled by a recognition that customers’ authentic desires often reach beyond explicit preferences or assumptions. By tapping into these true motivations, Casper aimed to establish connections that resonate with customers on a fundamental level. This strategic shift acknowledges that customers seek more than just functional products — they yearn for solutions that align with their deeper aspirations.

    There is untapped potential for companies to not only provide products but also offer holistic experiences that cater to customers’ deeper emotions, forging lasting bonds of loyalty and satisfaction.

    Related: What The Fastest-Growing Companies Have In Common

    Transforming insights into actionable strategies

    By analyzing long-form text from social/search channels and applying an anthropological lens, AI can play a pivotal role in helping uncover the hidden motivations and behaviors that shape customer preferences. From first-hand experience with our customers, we are finding that consumer behavior studies that once took ethnographers months to complete can now be done in weeks or even days.

    For example, for a leading consumer brand’s cleaning division, we recommended a sensing AI tool that could uncover opportunities to fill the R&D pipeline. By sensing millions of data points using search, social and new product data, we identified the emerging, maturing and declining trends related to the cleaning category by analyzing growth and size.

    Related: How AI Can Turbocharge Innovation and Help Destroy Your Competition

    This approach uncovered not only expected trends but also unexpected shifts. Instead of listening to a focus group of customers and sorting through reviews, the team could now better understand the true trends of the masses. These millions of consumer engagements led the team to find surprising and unfamiliar trends popping up in the category, which they were able to capitalize on by better prioritizing their R&D roadmap.

    These stories offer a fresh way to see the old saying, “The customer is always right.” It’s not just a rule anymore; it’s about exploring why customers want what they want. Customer-centricity means bridging the gap between words and actions, digging into the reasons behind surface desires and using AI to make smarter decisions. In a changing consumer landscape, those who understand this approach will be skilled at meaningful engagement and gain a strong competitive edge, shaping an environment where every customer interaction resonates deeply.

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    Francesco Fazio

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  • The 3 Tiers of Customer Service (and How to Get to the Top) | Entrepreneur

    The 3 Tiers of Customer Service (and How to Get to the Top) | Entrepreneur

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    The way I see it, your decision to read this article already puts you ahead in the customer service game. Here’s my logic: There are literally billions of human beings out there who, unlike you, will never read an article or book on the subject of customer service improvement because the subject isn’t of interest to them, and they don’t understand the power that customer service improvement can bring.

    Because of your demonstrated interest in the subject, I’m going to assume that you’re already providing “pretty good, much of the time” customer service. You’re already getting quite a few things right — at least on most days and in most customer interactions. So, take a moment to pat yourself on the back. (But don’t strain your neck.)

    If I’m right about this, it means that you’ve already learned the value of customer service from the moments when you have gotten it right, and you’re now inspired to take these successes even further. You’re ready to elevate and polish your relationships with customers to a sufficient level to build the customer connections (and business results) you’ve always hoped to achieve.

    In other words, you’re ready to get out of the middle of the pack — what I call Rung 2 of the Customer Service Level Ladder — and ascend to the top rung, Rung 3.

    When you’ve only reached the middle rung of customer service, while you may be judged more-or-less satisfactory by your customers, you’re not yet loved (or even probably remembered) for the quality of customer service you provide.

    Related: Yes, the Rich Are Different — Here Are 5 Customer Service Secrets I Learned While Working With Wealthy Clients

    The problem of providing “pretty good, much of the time” customer service

    Being on the second rung loads better than languishing at the bottom on Rung 1 (unacceptable service). Still, it will never inspire the engagement, passion and loyalty you need from customers to grow your business.

    The problem is that a merely satisfied (Rung 2) customer will still have a wandering eye. And how can you blame them? If your more-or-less-decent customer service is no better and no worse than what your competitors can also supply, where’s the value to a customer limiting themselves to only one supplier — you?

    What do merely satisfied customers look like? Picture them like this: Although they harbor positive feelings towards your business, they haven’t yet ascended to becoming a devoted advocate for your brand. Unlike a genuinely loyal customer, merely satisfied customers maintain (frustratingly) open minds and remain willing to explore alternatives to your business in the vast marketplace.

    Related: 5 Reasons Why Your Business Is Losing Customers

    A merely satisfied customer is like a free agent, always ready to be enticed by competitors

    In other words, here’s what you need to remember: A merely satisfied customer belongs to the marketplace. A loyal customer belongs to you.

    This is why it’s so important to elevate your organization’s performance to Rung 3, the level of iconic customer service, where customers now consider you their only possible supplier—a category of one—and start going out of their way to sing your praises and share the word about the extraordinary level of customer service you provide.

    Once you’re viewed this way in the marketplace, you’ll be able to use your new, elevated status to grow your company reputation and to reliably and repeatably grow your bottom line.

    Moving your organization up the customer service ladder: The art of anticipatory customer service

    If customer service were a game of hockey…that would be super weird, wouldn’t it?

    But let’s say for a minute that it is, in which case the highest level of customer service, anticipatory customer service, is like being one step ahead of the puck, giving customers what they want before they even know they want it, and anticipating their needs, desires, and questions even before they express them. It’s one step beyond generic reactive customer service: simply fulfilling a request when asked, and it’s the key to creating unforgettable experiences—and memories of your business—for your customers.

    Customers often don’t ask for what they need because they don’t realize they could benefit from something your product or service offers. (Or even know that you offer it.) Or, sometimes, they’re too shy to speak up or “don’t want to be a bother.” (I promise: this last phenomenon isn’t as rare as you think!)

    That’s why anticipatory customer service is so powerful. You’re actively seeking out unexpressed needs and going above and beyond to meet them, as well as unasked questions and answering them. When you uncover and take care of those unspoken needs and wishes, you create a whole new reality for your company. In this reality, delighted customers become loyal advocates, spreading the word about your exceptional service.

    This level of mind-reading service, where customer needs are met before they can even utter a request, is the ultimate secret to winning customer loyalty. And guess what? You can train and inspire your employees to get there—and transform your relationship with customers (and your business results!)

    You may have some doubts

    Now, I get it: you have some doubts. You’re probably wondering if your employees could become Jedi masters of customer anticipation. Hold onto your hats because I assure you they can and will. This will, however, require you to:

    1. Embrace the anticipatory mindset
    2. Promote this mindset throughout your company
    3. Support the anticipatory customer service approach with targeted, meaningful customer service training.
    4. Build, over time, a culture of anticipation through the power of “positive peer pressure,” an environment where employees know that the way things are done around here is to do more than the minimum in a way that is meaningful to our customers, rather than merely complying when asked to do so.

    You also might be doubtful for another reason. You’re wondering if you can afford to provide such an extravagant standard of service. And yes, it doesn’t come for free. But creating mind-blowing service systems is a brilliant investment for any business. The rewards in terms of customer loyalty are worth every penny of your investment and then some. Once you commit to elevating your game and embracing the power of anticipatory customer service, get ready to score big and watch your business grow and prosper like never before.

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    Micah Solomon

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