PD Strategies Blog

A very important leading indicator is your loyal customer base. If it is growing the you can expect your sales to grow too. Peter Ducker said that the purpose of business is to create and keep a customer. Have you included goals for customer loyalty scores in your strategic plan?  Creating a customer is done through a clear message and marketing but keeping a customer is based on performance. Don’t spend all your time on marketing for new customers while neglecting your current customers. A loyal current customer is the cheapest and most effective form of marketing. A company that says it separates itself from others by service usually does not know what that really means. As an example, it seems that most businesses are focusing on customer satisfaction to determine their customer service measurements. This measurement is flawed and often falls short of actionable expectations. Companies also make a mistake...

Regardless of what we sell we are all really in a service business. People do not buy what we sell. They buy us. If they truly buy us they are a loyal customer. Nothing is more important to a business than a loyal customer. You can be making a lot of sales and have a good income but you will not have that for long if you don’t have loyal customers. What is the best way to have a steady stream of loyal customers?   Under promise and over deliver. Customers generally have a level of expectation when they engage our services. It is important that we manage those expectations by being truthful about our procedures, deadlines, and outcomes. Failure to meet expectations of our customers will result in a lost customer. Doing exactly what we say will satisfy our customer but little more. They got what they expected but no more....

People remember when they have been wowed in their experience with your company. What is the difference between average and being wowed? To wow your customer you must exceed their expectations. When you wow your customer by exceeding expectations your customer creates an emotional bond with your company and your services. They become loyal customers. But there is more to this. Sometimes you will disappoint a customer. No one is perfect but how well you react to make it right can create an even bigger emotional bond. Here is the way one of my Westchester County Businesses handled critical customer situation. They are an HVAC provider. There had been a spike in temperatures in our area causing an unusually large number of air conditioning units to fail. The company received a large number of calls and the service team was working overtime. They were honest in telling clients that they could...

It is a fact that small business generates most of the jobs in this country. We need local small business to grow our economy. I had the opportunity today to address a group of small businesses in Westchester County New York. I’m certain you’ll agree that at best, today’s business environment can seem somewhat volatile. Many pressures have been added to small business by competition from larger national organizations such as big box stores.   While I don’t want to oversimplify I believe that small business must pay full attention to the three steps below if they wish to remain sustainable. Step 1 – Strategic thinking – Planning and Deciding Strategic thinking means working ON your business rather than IN your business. It includes planning and deciding where you want to take your business now and in the future whether it is in 5 years, 10 years, 15 years or more....

As a business owner wouldn’t you agree that the main purpose of a business is to attract and maintain customers? If that is true then managing and measuring the voice of your customer becomes one of your most important functions. A customer service focused business will make certain that its customers get what they want and come back for more. That is critically important to the long-term success your Westchester County business. All factors that impact negatively on the customer, (unfriendly policies, inappropriate response time, untrained employees, etc.) must be identified and corrected if you wish to compete effectively and profitably now and in the future. The success of your business depends upon building and anticipating the future. Your current sales and profit are NOT indicators for the future. They tell what is happening now. The true indicator of future success is measured through your customers’ emotional attachment to your brand....

Regardless of what we sell we are all really in a service business.  People do not buy what we sell.  They buy us.  If they truly buy you then they are a loyal customer.  Nothing is more important to a business than a loyal customer.  You can be making a lot of sales and have a good income but you will not have that for long if you don’t have loyal customers. What is the best way to have a steady stream of loyal customers?   Under promise and over deliver.  Exceed your customers' expectations.  Here is an experience that I just had. Due to a spike in temperature in the Northeast this week my central AC was working overtime.  I realized on Thursday evening that the system was not cooling.  I called the after-hours number at my HVAC provider.  The person at the other end told me that the service team...