Customers are different

The people that work with us are different

Our suppliers are different

The way we work together is different

The customer/supplier relationship is different

How we make money now is different

The way we use our computers and mobiles is different

The internet is different

How we consume energy is becoming different

The cars we are driving are different (or if they are not now, they will be)

Our perceptions are different

Our expectations are different

You are different

I am different

……than we were three years ago, yet we are still communicating, building business strategies, marketing plans and product development on three year old thinking. Unstable, unsure times bring about two opportunities, those that are missed and those that are taken.

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.

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.

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!

The two are distinctly different yet we use the two words far too interchangeably. As Professor Levitt said in his book “Marketing for Business Growth” in 1974, “Creativity thinks up new things. Innovation does new things.” He said it a while ago but its still as pertinent now as it ever was.

To our detriment in small business, we do mix the words up in our definition. Small businesses are usually a hot bed of ideas and creativity, it’s what makes them so special yet, quite often, we fail to implement the ideas. Both creativity and innovation are crucial to small business. They are the difference between an average and exceptional one.

Innovation in it’s most basic sense starts with constantly asking the questions about every aspect of your business. In it’s most sophisticated sense, it actually simplifies your business. Whilst creativity will generate lots of initial work, innovation should always make things easier for you, if it doesn’t it is actually complication.

Innovation turns lots of ideas into meaningful action. It asks creativity the question; will this add value? And it’s not just about customer interactions, production efficiency, product development or financial investment. Innovation can work just as easily when improving the way you deal with your people!

Innovation constantly asks these questions:

1. What is preventing us from doing what we talk about doing?

2. What do we need to do to improve and add value to our customer experience/employee experience?

3. What is standing in the way of me (owner) getting what I want from the business?

4. What is the best way to do this?

Not only does it force you to think about improving things, it’s a great way to invigorate a team by getting them involved and engaged with the process. Makes innovation a lot easier to implement too!

The market place out there has raised it’s voice, there are more people talking to you, providing feedback, on social networks and on forums as well as SEO, PPC and the more traditional marketing stuff. But, instead of listening, we more often than not start shouting as loud as we can to be heard above the ‘noise.’ And, it doesn’t seem to matter what market you are in, we are all up to it!

Consequently, the customer/prospect/client can’t hear us. They find it difficult to distinguish us from anyone else, we are just part of that ‘noise.’ It turns people off, they start to ignore us and even worse they become indifferent! They become bombarded with information and as a result close their eyes and cover their ears.

Now is a good time to STOP. A significant dose of looking is required. Look at what you are doing. Look at what the competition is doing. Look at what other businesses are doing in other sectors. Look at where the return on investment in marketing is working or where it isn’t. Then, I bet a good deal of change is required.

If you are not different then you need to be cheaper. The change must be around how you are different, measurable, demonstrable and tangible difference. It may not be your product but it may be your customer experience. It may not be delivery times but it may be that you have the most talented people in the business. It may not be location but it may be that your marketing message is so compelling that people buy into it.

Ultimately, the question and answer is not so much about how your product stands out from the crowd nowadays but how you stand out from the ‘noise.’

Or is it opportunity? No matter. The challenge is to rise above the crisis most of your competitors are talking themselves into, to take advantage of the chaos that is ensuing and be better and greater than your competition, which, lets be frank, is a lot easier nowadays. The challenge is not to be comfortable, not to stand ‘gassing’ in the corridors about the doom and gloom, not to reinforce the misery that many would believe will happen in the New Year but to stand up and be counted. 

Today is about responding not reacting to the problems. Having the courage to look at your business hard, identify where you have been going wrong. Where you haven’t been as effective as you should have been. Not being comfortable with what you’ve got. Rationalise it a little if you have to. Then looking at better ways forward. Has anybody ever got into trouble for embracing the status quo?

Economic crisis makes it difficult for people to hide. If your competitors are even as good as you, at some point they will squash your grapes so to speak! Being good enough ain’t good enough anymore.

The safer your plans for the future, the risker your business strategy is.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while especially in these current interesting times. Apparently it costs 8 – 10 times more to go out and get a new customer compared with retaining an existing one nowadays. Based on this principle, it’s the existing customers that keep us afloat at this time, particularly, if they believe in what you do.

To me it’s about loyalty, value, genuineness and sincerity when it comes to the people that your business deals with including employees. True loyalty…..Steve Yastrow in his post below made it all a little clearer!

http://www.tompeters.com/entries.php?rss=1&note=http://www.tompeters.com/blogs/main/010739.php

Make hay whilst the sun shines. When the sun is shining brighter or for longer periods at a time, then pick and choose your customers more carefully!

Just a small request…come on cafe owners, hoteliers, restaurants, railway stations, airports and any others places of the like, get to grips with it! You should be providing wireless internet access free of charge in today’s market place. It’s expected like air conditioning in cars, winter holidays with sun, coffee in your cappuccino, cheese on your pizza and towels in your hotel bedroom.

It costs little, provides great customer experience and in some cases may even be a competitive advantage, for a short while anyway!