HOW SMALL BUSINESSES CAN IMPROVE CUSTOMER SERVICE AND INCREASE SALES.

Flawless customer service experience does not only translate to more sales; it also brings repeat sales.The size of your small business is one big reason you should not only improve your customer service but also increase sales and outperform your more established competitors. Customers are the lifeblood of any business, and they are especially precious during uncertain times like this. The strength of your bond with them and the quality of their experience with your business will determine how long you will remain in business. Below are 7 ways you can improve your customer service and fire up your sales:

1. SEEK AND VALUE FEEDBACK. As a small business seeking and placing premium on feedbacks from both your employees and customers will help you provide outstanding customer experience. Your employees are the face of your business, they interface daily with your customers and can furnish you with valuable feedbacks that will give your business a competitive edge. Customers on the other hand, do not only buy and use your product/service; they buy that of your competitors too. Their feedbacks if requested can be a source of intelligence to drive your sales. Feedbacks from these two sources can help your company modify product/service to serve your customers better.

2.BE REACHABLE. Be small for good and not big for nothing. Deploy all you can to make it easy for your customers to reach you. Offering many options for potential and established customers to contact you will keep them; and wanting to buy from you. Excellent customer service begins from being close to your customers whenever and wherever. Make your Linked in page, twitter handle, toll free hot line, Live chat on your website, E-mail ID etc. available to them they will appreciate it and reward you for it.

3. SEE FROM YOUR CUSTOMER’S PERSPECTIVE. Every business is to serve the interest of its customers, its size notwithstanding. Thinking like a customer will continually help you see how you can serve them better and keep them happy and loyal to your business. Customers are only interested in how your product/service can improve their lives/add value to them.

4. EMBRACE AND PROMPTLY RESPOND TO CUSTOMERS COMPLAINTS. Some large companies are really losing ground with customers in this regard. Forget that some customers’ complaints will hurt and appear flimsy sometimes, embracing and promptly addressing them are pathways to beating your competitors to providing a top notch customer service. Acknowledging and addressing their complaints within the least possible time will build a solid base of satisfied and loyal fans for your small business.

5. EQUIP AND UPDATE YOUR EMPLOYEES WITH SERVICE/PRODUCT INFORMATION. I have seen an established business “dance naked in the market place” by failing to address this key issue. Small businesses can learn and position themselves to guard against this. Whether you have a designated customer service team or every employee play utility roles, it is extremely important that employees across all departments have an updated information about what you are selling. This will equip your people to adequately solve customers’ problems promptly.

6. PERSONALISE CUSTOMER SERVICE. Customers are different and so are their needs, wants and interests. Treat your customers as individuals and not as a group. The flexibility in small businesses can give you an edge in providing personalized customer service. Embracing a fully personalized customer engagement approach will minimize potential frustrations and allow you to easily resolve many customer issues. This should extend from your e-mail to them to customer support to the sorts of products and services you recommend to them.

7. ENGAGE THEM BETTER WITH AFFORDABLE TECHNOLOGIES. Today’s technological advancements have actually made it even easier for small businesses to adopt new services that will help them better engage with customers. Smart combo of mobile technology, social media and analytics can help you better understand your customers. Deriving insights from social data to uncover trends, preferences and predictions will keep you ahead in efficiently meeting your customers’ needs. These technologies will drive your growth by allowing your company move from an innovative idea to a strong brand and often remove geographic constraints to opening new markets. Adopting new technology for small business is a way of increasing productivity and reaching their goals more efficiently.

Ultimately, empowering your team to drive your customer experience is key in your quest to improve customer service. With a deliberate and conscious effort your small business can be reputed for unmatchable customer service, thereby cornering more sales.

LESSONS FROM THE BEST SMALL BUSINESSES IN AMERICA

For the first time Forbes profiled the best small businesses in the U.S. The list which cut across industries ranging from business services to manufacturing has 25 businesses which have surmounted all the challenges of infancy.

These companies have had the opportunity to grow much faster, but the leaders focus on being great than just big. Little wonder they are called “Small Giants”. They have maintained strong and stable balance sheets for at least 10years running with steady profit margins, demonstrating that every small business has in it the seed of greatness if well harnessed. A critical analysis of these “Small Giants” revealed some valuable lessons for start-ups anywhere and everywhere.

LESSON #1: GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE. Trading with the secret that customer is “the boss and he determines who should be paid or fired” has distinguished these businesses. They are all out providing outstanding customer experience and making the customers feel they are only there because they are around. They enjoy the power of repeat business as they have higher rate of customer retention and satisfaction.

LESSON #2: INVEST IN YOUR EMPLOYEES HAPPINESS. The stories behind the making of these small giants can best be illustrated by this quote by one of the CEOs “Take good care of your people and they will take good care of your clients”. The happiness of your people is the happiness of your clients/customers and the happiness of your customers greatly impact on your bottom line. Small business operators must understand that a commitment to the happiness of their employees is what engenders business growth. Ron Alvesteffer, CEO of service express Inc with 290 employees affirmed that the focus on employees has resulted in a yearly turnover rate of less than 10% and a customer retention rate of 98%.

Profit-sharing and employee-ownership plan have also been deployed as a strategy to keep employees happy and deadly committed to the success of their business. 

LESSON #3: FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY. Laying out your financials before your employees will give them a sense of ownership. One of the companies according to the CEO operates “Open Book Management”- a practice that make available the company’s financials to the employees and also teach them how to read it. Opening their books and informing employees about sales profits has placed these companies above their peers.

LESSON #4: COMMITMENT TO SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFORTS. The outstanding performance of these companies has been traced to a general belief they held about giving back to their communities despite their size. Commitment to social and environmental efforts has proven a pathway to growth for small businesses. One company that has held to this belief from its very beginning is New Belgium Brewery. It strong believes that a business can be a force for good in the world. New Belgium Brewery has not only reaped the benefits of its commitment to social responsibility but has also been in the forefront of a campaign for it. By sheer commitment to social efforts, New Belgium Brewery has grown from a basement company to a $225M with 685 employees.

LESSON #5: PLAN WITH YOUR EMPLOYEES. Sharing and strategizing the future of your start-up with employees is a notable practice to emulate in the emergence of “Small Giants”. Make your start-up small enough to actively involve all your employees in the corporate planning and you will be securing the future of business.

HOW TO BEAT A LOWER-PRICED COMPETITOR

It’s every entrepreneur’s nightmare: a competitor enters your market with a similar product priced at a fraction of what you currently charge. You need a strategy for beating the low-ballers. So what’s the best way to proceed?

On the one hand, all you need to do is drop your prices below the competition, and buyers will beat a path to your door. On the other hand, this approach will land you in a price war, and there are no winners in a price war-only survivors.

Even if you manage to run your competitor out of business, chances are you may not have much of a business left when the battle is over. Here are some steps that can be taken without necessarily engaged in a price war:

REPOSITION, READJUST AND REALLOCATE

1.Lowering your prices = Changing manufacturing and distribution. To beat low-price competitors at their own game while also remaining profitable, you need to squeeze every last drop of inefficiency and cost from your manufacturing and distribution system.

2.Building a Uniquely better product = Changing design and engineering. Determine through market research what features or design will prompt customers to see your product as being unequivocally superior to the competition. Then build it.

3.Creating a hassle-free experience = Changing sales and marketing. Figure out why it’s difficult to buy and use your competitor’s product, and then make it easy to buy and use yours.

4. Taking ownership of the customer’s results = Changing customer support. Build a deep bench of experts who really understand your customer’s businesses. Example: Under Lou Gerstner, IBM hired and retained thousands of consultants, transforming the company from a mainframe computer vendor into a computing services provider.

PROMOTE THE NEW YOU

Once you’ve implemented all the operational changes required to reposition your product in the marketplace, it’s time to tell the world why your firm offers superior value. That means adopting a communication strategy that matches your market strategy, as follows:

1. If you offer low prices, mimic the competitor’s go-to-market strategy. Ensure that whenever a customer sees a competitor’s product, your product is right next to it- at a lower price.

2.If you build a uniquely better product, target your advertising. Reach customer groups that are most likely to believe your product is superior by selecting venues that the competition neglects. Example: Sony’s VAIO PC business advertises in lifestyle magazines to reach female buyers, who are more likely to appreciate the VAIO’s sleek design.

3. If you create a hassle-free experience, generate positive word of mouth. Make it easy for your customers to sell for you. Consider “Tell a friend” coupon or offer referral fees. Example: “Network Marketing” products are typically priced higher than store-bought items, but they are sold by neighbours (that’s the word of mouth).

4. If you take ownership of the customer’s results, create a presence as an industry insider. Get your sales consultants out to conferences, working groups, and industry-association meetings where they can work closely with decision makers and develop consulting opportunities. Support your consultants with a wealth of case studies and reference materials.

EXPLOITING THE LOW-INCOME MARKET OPPORTUNITIES IN AFRICA: 3 INVALUABLE STEPS COMPANIES MUST TAKE.

Companies are yet to unlock the fullness of the revenue potentials in the low-income market. Businesses serving this market have failed in delivering exceptional value to this huge consumer base. This article focuses on Africa as a low-income/bottom of the pyramid market goldmine for companies interested in expanding their revenue base in this most promising emerging market. The size of the bottom of the pyramid global consumer market is figured at a whopping $5trillion. Available data shows that consumer expenditures in sub-Saharan Africa in 2010 was about $600bn.

 This figure accounted for almost eight percent of all emerging market spending, and it is expected to reach nearly $1trillion by 2020. Of notable interest also is the size of the sub-Saharan Africa population responsible for the expenditure. The population in this region was put at over 856million consumers in 2010. This is expected to rise above 1.3billion consumers by 2030.

 The largest category of consumers in Africa which accounts for a little above 60 percent are the low-income earners (bottom of the pyramid market). It is this class of consumers that have mostly been under served. Companies have taken them for granted. They have targeted this huge portion of consumers' spending with dysfunctional strategies that do not allow for consumer allegiance to be formed for the brands. Huge fortune slip by companies thought to be in this market thereby creating an ocean of opportunities for companies that can truly offer exceptional utility to this market. A number of companies came into the market with what seemed an interesting offering at first but later betrayed consumers trust by compromising their offerings. In the quest to exploit the opportunity at the bottom of the pyramid market companies have managed to adapt their products to the market by reducing pack sizes, for example, selling toothpastes, detergents in small packages and so on. Our study reveals that these offerings often come with strings attached. They turn out to be a trade-off between value (utility) and price. This has left a large number of consumers more dissatisfied. They are hungry for better options.

Current assessment of the market situation reveals that African consumers are becoming more exposed and wiser and will make their buying decisions with cautions. They are in need of true value-laden offerings. Their kind of companies are those that can value innovate--produce an offering with exceptional utility at an accessible price-no more no less. Consumers adjudged the value of the company's offerings from the utility derivable and the price place on the offering.

In value innovation companies generate for themselves same value given out to consumers from their price and cost structure. However, this can only be attained when the entire system of the company's utility (satisfaction), price and cost is properly aligned. Companies can save costs by eliminating and reducing factors that other players in their industry compete on, while increasing value to the consumers by improving and introducing elements the industry has never offered. Overtime, costs will be further reduced as economies of scale set in due to the high volume of sales that the exceptional value offering generates.  

For companies looking to make sustainable success in unlocking the full potentials of the bottom of the pyramid market in Africa the following steps will provide an invaluable guide:

1.               INDEPTH UNDERSTANDING OF THE MARKET DYNAMICS. Putting the right foot forward is critical to success in capturing the goldmine in the bottom of the pyramid market in Africa. Without sufficient research it is easy to misunderstand the dynamics of the low-income market in Africa. The nature of the economy (Informal economy) makes accurate data on consumer spending sparse. This constitutes a barrier of some sort. The question now is how can companies find a way around this? A partnership with some long established businesses with relevant consumer data, partnership with the academia and other means such as careful observation of the low-income consumers and so on will provide valuable insights. The diversity of the culture and traditions of these consumers is another key element executives must study to enable them develop appropriate offerings. African consumers are unique in their own right and companies that will leverage the inherent opportunities in this market for growth and revenue expansion must be ready to deep dive in understanding the behaviors and expectations of the consumers.

2. OFFER TRUE VALUE. Companies that will unlock the abundance fortune in the bottom of the pyramid must be ready to consistently deliver true value offerings at a fair price. A peep into the present situation in the market ( For example, in Nigeria) reveals that some companies that made triumphant entry into this market are now sabotaging consumers’ trust by not sustaining the quality of the initial product offering. Some have been accused of unethical practices in dealing with the consumers. African consumers have unique requirements and are in dire need of companies that will respect their peculiarities and offer them true value at a reasonable price; as price remains the key consideration for majority of consumers in this region.

3. DEPLOY THE RIGHT STRATEGY. The size and diversity of the continent’s population makes it difficult for companies to deploy the same strategies they have successfully applied in other parts of the world. It must be noted that what separates the winners from losers in capturing any market is their choice and approach to strategy. The individual purchasing power of the low income earners may be low but strategizing right can effectively aggregate their collective purchasing power and unlock a significant market too attractive for a company to ignore. Focusing on the limited purchasing power of an individual in the low-income market is simply a reflection of a company’s inability to imagine and develop an appropriate product offering and viable business model for the market. Companies must adjust their strategies and expectations when entering Africa. Every strategy regardless of where and when it is applied involves opportunity and risk. It is the responsibility of the strategizing company to maximize the opportunities and minimize the risks. Right strategies will uncover and tap into the wealth of the “Poor”, while generating values to the consumers and the company.

TIPPING POINT

Valued offerings are tailored to substantially meet the needs of the target market. African consumers are hungry for valued offerings. The market longs for exceptional value delivery and not sophisticated technology, which has led to overly complicated offerings that miss the key commonalities valued by the mass of the people. The new African consumer is a force to contend with and represents an opportunity no visionary company can afford to ignore. African economy is fast evolving; access to consumers are improving, a healthier and more stable business environment is becoming a reality are trade restrictions are being loosened. Accenture research has revealed that between 2010 & 2050 Africa’s economically active population will grow from 56 percent of the continent to 66 percent – a striking contrast to mature continents whose populations are aging and moving into the dependent category. Expansion of the economically active population will lead to increased demand for goods and services. This represents the face of one of the fastest growing emerging markets in the world. Companies therefore must step up with offerings buyers can’t resist and must keep it that way to win and retain consumers’ allegiance. So, for companies looking for growth via emerging market, sub-Saharan Africa looms large. Someone once said “Learning to serve bottom of the pyramid may be the next frontier of globalization and growth”.