In 2009 who are the new, important people you need to meet? Not customers though, you know, the ones that are going to challenge you, make you see things differently and give you a new perspective. Put together a list of four people across the country who you think will have a deep impact and then go get them. You never know what it will bring or where it will take you!

I’ve just read “Enough” by John C Bogle, it’s a must for your reading matter in the next couple of months. Interesting, challenging and so very right, it’s a look at how we have become obsessed with excess rather than having ‘enough.’ It’s an attempt to stop us in our tracks and understand what’s important in business, what impact we have and to start living by strong values that support humanity rather than driving towards the short term which brings about inevitable disaster.

It’s a book that has been published with great timing!

Amongst all the noise, doom and gloom there are some good news stories, you just have to look hard to find them. But one of the most fundamental questions we have to ask ourselves is what our customers will expect and want in 2009!

Customers won’t want price hikes but possibly won’t expect price cuts either. However, they will want to understand why you are different, where you add value, see new ideas yet, will still want the assurance of consistency in terms of delivery, quality, service and value for money. They won’t want ’solutions,’ won’t want to be seen as a number, nor a segment. They will want to be seen as a person, as an individual with particular needs that meet their desires and whims. 

Customers in 2009 will demand to become more involved in your business and you will encourage it, knowing that you are taking advantage of a unique and exceptional opportunity to innovate. You will, like never before, utilise the ability of the internet to communicate and have conversations with your customers. The trick will be to start this straightaway and not wait to see how things ‘turn out’ in mid 2009!

Change is inevitable. Recessions, big events or Black Swans as Nassim Nicholas Taleb mentioned in his book in 2007, cause havoc and disruption. But what is certain is that huge amounts of change follows and rightly so. By understanding how the big events of 2009 will impact our customers thinking, their behaviour and attitudes, we may just stay one step ahead of this game we are all playing.

People not saying thank you for that proposal you sent through, that idea you suggested, that bit of info you researched for someone without being asked. Not showing our wholehearted appreciation when a customer comes back to us for more when there is so much competition out there that is a little cheaper or looks fabulous and amazing.

Developing a product for the market place without having a thought about how you are going to market it. Ego’s of any shape or form in business. Manipulating people’s lives rather than enriching them and introducing more complexity when only simplicity is required. Following direction, or the way things have always been done when huge heaps of imagination and innovation are required. Creating sales and not loyal customers and compromising long term benefits for short term profits.

I could go on….I won’t.

It’s more important in these times than ever to be tuned in to what’s happening out there. Today is a good place to start considering how you are going to take advantage of these interesting events! And it’s a great time to know these five things:

1. Out of site, out of mind…..marketing on a consistent basis is essential not only for survival but growth. Customers forget very quickly what you do. Marketing gives you your profile, it builds your reputation and it reinforces that you are still there to existing customers. To stop marketing is a quick walk to the the edge of the cliff!

2. Your competitors won’t go away. If they are switched on they will be deciding on their next amazing strategy that’s going to attempt to woo your customers away from you. They’ll be thinking about how they can be more creative than you, offer a better customer experience than you and communicate far more clearly what they do than you are doing at present. They are never far away cooking up something that will blow customers socks off!

3. With existing customers you have to maintain their state of mind, with potential customers you have to change their mind. Existing and potential customers are different, so develop a strategy that reflects that!

4. Marketing is not a one off event, it’s a series of events over a sustained period of time. That means it rarely brings results immediately. Commitment to the long haul is required, investment of realistic time and money essential and an understanding that it will be at least three months before results start to show is a hard dose of reality. Stop moaning your marketing is not working and give it a reasonable chance! 

5. Keep ahead of the game. If you want to know how to market, ensure you have a sound understanding of what is working and what is ‘old school.’ Read, read and read…yep for some that’s boring but get attuned to the latest trends. Get signed up to Seth Godin’s blog, buy the latest leading edge thinking in marketing books and subscribe to at least one magazine that pushes your thinking such as Fast Company!

If you are not keeping up, you are almost always falling behind.

If we don’t know much about something we tend to conform to the ordinary, the average, or to put it another way….what everyone else is doing. If you don’t know much about fashion, you follow the trend of the moment relying on what everyone else is saying you should be doing and who are very often in the same position as you…they don’t know much about it!

And lots of us small business owners do the same with our companies. When we don’t know much about marketing we tend to do what our competitors are doing, in the false sense that this is actually what’s working or it’s because we are too frightened to move from the beaten path and forge our own route, direction or way of marketing. 

If it’s to do with the people that work for us, we follow the management practices of yesteryear using control (cos’ we are frightened), applying incentives (cos’ we don’t know how to engage with people) and exercising positional authority (cos’ some days it’s the only management tool we feel we have.)

The truth is that by getting up to speed and gaining leading edge skills in marketing and leadership you can find a sure way of preventing that conformance and really start the process of showing how you are different and not ordinary!

http://www.acleareye.com/thoughts/Article_Nine_Predictions_for_2009.pdf

You don’t add value to a customer if you’re offering them something that’s inflexible, you don’t add value to a customer by not being in touch with them and you can’t add value if you don’t know what’s happening to them! If you are providing a service to a client that ‘locks’ them into you for a sustained period, you have to work harder at keeping them. You have to be more innovative and deliberate in delivering your service.

If customers are paying you on a regular basis ie: every month for a maintenance contract, you need to be supporting them on a regular basis. You are committing a basic customer experience crime if you let the standing order come into your account and then REACT when they need you.

No regular contact will result in customers feeling under valued, taken advantage of and in worst case scenarios…abused! Work harder during the contract phase and you won’t have to work so hard at the end to keep them!

Saying as little as possible often has the greatest impact:

http://bonafidemarketinggenius.com/2008/12/15/how-to-ruin-a-great-concept-in-3-easy-steps/

Think into the future (there is one I promise) three years from now. Look back and identify what are the big decisions you have implemented that have made all the difference to performance/growth/survival. You now know what to do next….!!!