https://youtu.be/FXeAlmf4RhE
WARNING: My head is HUGE in this video.
Relationship building. Networking. Not being a narcissist and actually being able to hold a conversation and listen longer than a few minutes. What ever you want to call it, there is real value in meeting and connecting with new people. I had the absolute pleasure of making friends with Amanda Mock of the Do Shit Podcast when I was at Podcast Movement earlier this year in Fort Worth, Texas.
I was very honoured she invited me to speak on her show, about being productive and being focused. In a nutshell, and as she commonly calls it, “Do Shit”. In this episode, we had a fun chat where I shared 5 ways to not piss off your customers (we recorded three episodes so I’m excited for you to hear the others when they come out…or “drop”…I never know the right word on that). It’s amazing how effective you can be when you’re mindful of others and your intent as a business.
Here are the five I mentioned on her show:
- Don’t hide from your customers – How easy have you made it for your customers to get in touch with you? Think about the many ways they would want to get in touch with you: email, Twitter, Facebook, phone call, etc. and have a really good think whether you’re putting that information front and centre. And, make sure you respond quickly when they do reach out.
- Don’t look at them as an “us” vs. “them” – your relationship with your customer should never be competitive or confrontational. You want them to be on your side. You want to be the bestest of friends. Having a “we know better” attitude or attacking every contradictory comment is not the way to make one, much less a customer. One of the best ways to assess this is look at how you address negative feedback. Feedback is awesome. Someone to the time to share with you new opportunities, helped you correct misinformation or showed you things you didn’t know about your service/produce. Thank them!
- Practice what you preach – If you’re selling videography, you better be using the tips and tricks you’re telling others to use. If you’re all about SEO and your website is hard to find? Not good. If you’re a “productivity” expert, I really hope you’re productive. I once read a book where they preached being social and this tool that was going to help you audit your online presence. To say the experience of being “social” and trying to reach out to the author and organization was disappointing would be an understatement. Wrote a blog too.
- Don’t be a lying bastard – Be honest with your customers. Be transparent as to what you want from them. If they call you out on shady practices, bite the bullet and promise to do better. I called out a sports bar for not focusing their franchise Twitter accounts on local interest, and just using generic corporate messaging across all of them. They lied and said they were. Um, I can see your tweets. They are public facing. Didn’t leave a good impression.
- Show genuine interest/compassion for your customers – it doesn’t take much to show you’re paying attention but a little misstep can really show you don’t care. Spell a customer’s name right. Demonstrate their time is important. Understand that those people in your mailing list, followers on Twitter and LIKES on Facebook are humans with interests, feelings and have their own challenges. Not just numbers.
Check out Amanda’s site or listen to the podcast to hear her sixth bonus tip, what she suggests to do next with this information, and for an audio version of this show. Thanks again to Amanda for letting me be a guest and subscribe to her show if you like her style.
Any more ways you would suggest to not piss off customers?
