Expectations

Expectations & Satisfaction

Written & brought to you by

Ken Crause – Business Transformation Coach.

The objective every day you are open for business is to make your customers VERY HAPPY. Happy they came to your store. Happy with the deal they got. Happy with the way they were treated and happy with the product. Your first and primary job as a business person is to make your customers happy. If you do that, then they will make you happy also, by spending more money, shopping there more often and referring others to come shop there too.

Every customer that walks into your store comes with certain expectations; that you will be courteous, helpful, give them a good deal and show them that you care about them. They must FEEL that you care by the way you treat them. Shopping is supposed to be an enjoyable experience, not a chore. If however, their expectations are not met, then they will be dissatisfied and will leave disappointed and likely will never return to your store.

The difficulty with small business at times is that customers expect the same service and prices that they get from the “big” stores. Once somebody sets a new standard for customer service, it soon becomes expected of everyone. Don’t bother trying to fight it or argue that you are not.. “Walmart or whatever”. I figure that small businesspeople are more able to set the standards than large ones – who have just too much bureaucracy. Why not be the ones who set the new standards?

Most banks today offer better services because Credit Unions, who are much smaller have been the innovators and set the pace. Why not turn the tables on the “big guys”?

Your mission “should you choose to accept it”, is to have every person who walks into your business, leave very happy and satisfied. They must leave feeling appreciated and that their expectations were not only met but exceeded. They must leave feeling like they are now family and as family should be, welcome anytime.

So what practical things can you do to achieve this?

Here are few ideas to get you started making a list;

1.      Smile warmly and make each customer feel comfortable.

2.      Play soothing music “in the background” – it adds to the experience.

3.      If your product has no smell, then “freshen the air in the store so that it smells nice

4.      Make sure the temperature is “just right” Not too hot and not too cold. You won’t be able to please everyone but you can the majority. I hate shopping in a store that is freezing or cooking hot, don’t you?

5.      Make things easy to find and make sure prices are clearly marked.

6.      Find a way to always give them some sort of a deal – because they’re special. This is especially important when they don’t ask for it.

7.      Bend over backwards to help them when they need help – do not ignore them while you chat with a friend on the phone or someone else who is not a customer. Let them feel important to you.

8.      Train your staff to do the same things and watch to see they actually do – inspect what you expect.

Okay so this is a start to get you thinking – make sure you come up with other concrete ways to exceed expectations and you will be filling your bank account faster than you imagined.

Ken Crause – Business Transformation Coach

Email: ken@crauseco.com

Website: www.crauseco.com

Decisions, Decisions

Making decisions

Written & brought to you by

Ken Crause – Business Transformation Coach.

We all face dilemmas. Which house, spouse, trip, job, or dinner? Every day brings a new challenge and set of decisions that need to be made. Will we make the right choice? Some are major, such as the spouse. Others are minor and will have no long-lasting affect. But Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States passed on a simple and logical way to eliminate some of the stress and struggle.

The idea is to condense many of the factors in a fairly complicated problem and turn them into one simple question. It offers one bottom line decision-making tool. If you examine any question and 45 percent of the evidence points to one side and 55 percent point to the other, that's still a rather difficult choice to make. But what about when the evidence is 75 percent for one side and 25 percent for the other? Is that a hard or an easy decision?

Benjamin Franklin was one of America’s earliest patriots, a skilled business man, a scientist, an inventor, a statesman, philosopher, a musician, and the country's first millionaire. With all that knowledge, he figured out how to make tough decisions in his spare time and so, here's his method. When Franklin had a major decision to make, he would examine the situation and make a list of all the factors favouring each of his potential options. Then based on all the information on his list, he would make his decision.

Because not all of the items are of equal value, he assigned a weighted number to each. It begins with a pro and con list. In other words a list of “for” and “against” any decision.

Take a house as an example.

What if there are two homes you are considering? House A and house B. Each has good and bad features, but some are worth more to you. So house A has a better view, which you give a higher point level. Suppose that 10 is the highest value for a view. So maybe house A scores a 9, and house B a 5 in the view area. But location is worth the most. So a perfect location is rated at 25 points. Kitchens are 8. Garages 5, and so forth. Rate each according to a scale and total each side. The one who scores the most wins.

The same is true for picking a place for dinner. The most important factor gets the highest value, like taste or location. It works well for choosing a new job. Look at the pros and cons, each listed along the page. Sometimes the pros are weak compared to the cons. Relocating may be a huge negative and gather the most points against the job. The higher score in this case might defeat the idea. It depends on what you are deciding.

It's a simple method in your arsenal of decision-making weapons and can easily be used to point you in the right direction. It allows you to see what is really important and what matters most. Ben Franklin was a smart man and I trust his judgment. After all, he helped found the United States of America and so, why not let him help you find the right answer?

QUEEN VICTORIA THE 1^ST

Queen Victoria the 1^st practiced a different method of decision making. When there were times where the decision was not clear (listing the pros and cons). In cases like this it is said she would literally “flip a coin” to choose. When asked how effective this was and if she ever regretted making a decision that way, she replied “never”. She went on to explain that regardless of how the coin landed SHE MADE SURE IT WAS THE RIGHT DECISION, by never considering the alternative again. She did not second guess the decision – it was final. No wonder these people rose to be some of the greatest leaders in the history of the world.

Now that you have some ideas on how to make good decisions, is there some decision you have been putting off making because you simply could not figure out what the right choice might be? Sit down right now and make a list of pros and cons for the decision you are facing. Then weigh which aspects are of most importance to you. Give each item a value based on that rating and then total them up. The decision should be clear. Above all DO NOT SECOND GUESS IT. Once the decision is made - close the book and move on with the decision making it the right decision.

Ken Crause – Business Transformation Coach

Email: ken@crauseco.com