Standing Out

The trick to standing out in the crowd in your line of business isn't being slick or a smart aleck (we see a lot of people playing the smart aleck online). It's not being controversial or being a shock jock. The trick to standing out from others is being consistent and helpful as you build relationships.

Regardless of what you may have heard, people are still looking for someone to help them; they're still looking for someone that will make them feel safe and secure. I know we have the internet now and people can "educate" themselves on all the products they need, but all the information in the world will never replace a real relationship based on trust, knowledge, and a desire to be helpful.

If you want to stand out in your business, follow these three rules:

1. Communicate consistently
Write a note. Send an e-mail. Send a Tweet. Facebook them. Call on the phone. Drop in to say hello. And when you do any of these, provide something of value.

2. Make yourself available
While I was writing this post, one of my customers called and needed help with a piece of equipment he uses. The manufacturer was short with him on the phone (probably busy), and told him what he needed to do to fix his problem, but he didn't seem like he wanted to help. All I did was let my customer vent, agreed with what the manufacturer suggested he do to fix the issue, and then suggested a couple of other options. Right before he got off the phone he said, "Thank you." I said, "For what? I did do much." He said, "I know, but when I call you I can tell that you really want to help me." Be there when they need you!

3. Build trust
The most important thing you can do in any business is build trust. That means you need to know your stuff, be honest when you don't know your stuff, know what your customer needs, and be honest when you find your product may NOT be the best fit for your customer's needs.

If you follow these three simple rules you'll be leaps and bounds ahead of your competition in no time.

Image: diankarl

Brand Tags

Seth Godin mentioned Brand Tags in his blog yesterday. I thought it would fit nicely with what I wrote last week about Joe Dannelly's Two Columns branding exercise. Hop over to Seth's blog and read his post, then give Brand Tags a try.

To view what others say about the different brands, click the link on the top of the page that reads, see what other people have tagged it. This exercise will help you see how you, and others, view some of the most popular brands on the market; which will help you brand yourself better.

Image: mleak

Joe Dannelly and Brains on Fire®

Brains on Fire®

I attended the Upstate Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners meeting last night. Joe Dannelly was the speaker. Joe works with one of the most progressive Idenity and Branding Companies I know, Brains on Fire®. Hearing Joe speak was a real treat for me because while I'd love to be able to hire Brains on Fire® to help me brand Wolff, with a starting price of $85,000.00, they are a little out of reach for my budget! Just the same, even though Brains on Fire® caters to high ranking companies, both nationally and internationally, they showed concern for local small business as well when they agreed to speak to this group.

Fisk-A-Teers

During Joe's presentation, he talked about the work Brains on Fire® did with Fiskars® Shears. They helped Fiskars® develop a Community Website for Scrapbookers called Fisk-A-Teers. It's a brilliant marriage between a hobby and a supplier that does two things as far as I see it:

1. It's an excellent way to promote the Fiskars® brand.
2. It provides a powerful medium for Scrapbookers to learn, swap ideas, show off their crafts and build friendships. These things lead to loyal customers!

Two Columns

One more thing I wanted to share with you from Joe's presentation was an exercise he had all of us perform. Each of us had to take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle of it. In the left hand column, we wrote down 3 or 4 of our favorite brands. In the right column, we wrote what we loved about those brands and what draws us to them. After a time of sharing, Joe told us to fold the paper in half and ask ourselves, "Does this list of things I love about these companies describe my company?" It was a great exercise!

I could go on and on about Joe and Brains on Fire®, but the best thing I can do is point you to their blog. It's an excellent source for anyone in business!

Image: cssa_ucsd

Great Service is Still Out There!

Yesterday I shared a post Mike Dandridge wrote about customer service and an article Jeffrey Gitomer wrote about the same. Mike wrote about first impressions and Jeffrey wrote about how good service is hard to find. Well I'm happy to say I had the opposite experience today.

I had a morning meeting in Greenville, SC today. We met at a hip little Coffee Shop called Coffee Underground. When I stepped up to order I didn't know what I wanted. The young lady behind the counter made some excellent suggestions, so I told her to go for it. I asked her to include what my friend was having on my bill. She looked up, called him out by name (he frequents the place) and asked if he'd have his usual. Less than a minute later we had our order and this time I was called by name. Cool!

After my meeting I went to see my website provider. I had some questions, and since I was in the area I figured I'd just drop in and see if they could help. My contact dropped what he was doing and walked me into the conference room. When I told him what I needed, he said he could show me some stuff right then, but it would be better if we set up an online training date so he could have a team put together to help me. He also said that they would record the training, burn it to a CD and send it to me so I could reference it in the future. Wow! I told him I'd call him later to set up the appointment and moved on.

My next stop was my customs broker. My brother-in-law lives in China and he's starting an export business. He was looking for some contact info. She got me what I needed and had me in and out in ten minutes. Fast and friendly!

My final stop was the bank. I used to hate going to this bank because the teller was detached and I always felt like I was an interruption instead of a customer. I guess they fired the old teller because there's a new fellow working the drive-through and he's dynamite. I actually look forward to going to the bank now and all he does is smile, calls me by name and says thank you. Real hard huh!?

As you can see, none of these things took a lot of time, but all of them made an impression. I know this is an overused cliche, but it really is the little things that mean a lot. What little things are you and your company doing to make a good impression on your customers?

Image: CustomersRock

How is Your Service?

Mike Dandridge quoted a customer in a post on the New School Selling Blog. This is what his customer said about a funny sign that joked about customer service...

"Did you ever notice, the places that have those signs that joke about the service, are the same places where the service is a joke?"

Mike took the sign down. He then goes on in the post to write about first impressions.

The most important thing we can do as business people is make good first impressions, and the best way to do that is dedicate ourselves to outstanding customer service. Unfortunately, according to Jeffrey Gitomer's latest article in Sales Caffeine, customer service is not very good and getting worse. So we have an opportunity! It's never been easier to stand out, all we have to do is treat people well and we'll be ahead of the pack. It's kind of a shame isn't it. Shouldn't we be treating our customers well anyway?

Image: successfromthenest.com

If you liked this post, be sure to visit my other blog: Jim Sharp

A Point About Free

Seth Godin made a good point about free in his blog today. This is a topic I'm going to be writing about in the near future. Go take a look. It will be a good spring board to get you ready for some future posts.

Flipping the Funnel

Recently on Jim Sharp, I wrote an article on filling your Sales Pipeline. In the book I'm reading right now, Meatball Sundae, Seth Godin wrote a short section that fits well with this theme. (Click here to go to my Squidoo Len and see the book) This is what he wrote:

"Every business has its 1 percent. Every business has a group of customers so motivated, so satisfied, and so connected that they want to tell the rest of the world about you and what you do.

Your challenge is to give these people a megaphone. To switch your view of the market from a vertical funnel (attention at the top, sales out at the bottom) to a horizontal one, in which ideas spread from one prospect to another." *

He makes a great point. We all have customer advocates, and those advocates can be a sounding board that can make your business or your sales boom. Word-of-mouth and word-of-mouse are two powerful tools. Work to over deliver and excel in what you do, and these advocates will propel you to the top!

* Meatball Sundae, Seth Godin, Page 84