SimpleBiz360™ Podcast

Enjoy three business questions designed to stimulate thought and improvement. Today we feature three algorithm favorites (4, 11, 30) inside this release. You can find our entire question catalog on our channel. We would be honored with your subscription. Cheers! Support the show

If you’re not in the habit of praising employees on a regular basis, you may want to start finding sincere compliments to pay forward. The power of our positive words to employees are often perceived as priceless. One compliment can put a beat in the step of an employee for a week, a month, or maybe longer. The same goes for our customers. Pass on a sincere compliment to a customer, and then watch...

Whether we know it or not, our attitude often pours the perception foundation cement of our customers. If we are short, curt and rude, it will be very, very hard to get a potential customer to lean our way. Maybe today’s a great day to start checking your attitude at the door when you walk into the office each morning. Positive and upbeat attitudes usually translate to positive business outcomes....

We all need great reasons to communicate with our customers. One of the easiest exercises is to sit down and examine what important, or significant business facts have you forgotten to tell customers about? Many times, these facts can directly affect customers. Imagine if you were to discover 10, 15 or 20 bits of customer-pleasing information you could share with customers? These fresh info bites...

Imagine adopting the old restaurant management moniker of, “if you have time to lean, you have time to clean.” Without uttering a word. the way we keep the interior of our offices, the entranceway, the outside walkway, our administrative paper sorting, and the overall appearance of our offices tell customers a lot about our businesses. Imagine the impactful messaging you are communicating to custo...

What would happen if your company tackled every issue as an opportunity to make an improvement. In other words, the issue is a megaphone screaming out to you to make a change. Imagine how healthy our businesses would be, and how happy our customers would be, if we just recognized issues as opportunities to make a positive change? Problems are clues. Clues require investigation. Open-minded investi...

I saw a commercial on television for the pain management center in my area. They were proud of their 10 years of service to the community, and they put a nice advertisement out to encourage people to use their services. It got me thinking; Do many companies attempt to mitigate, or eradicate customer pain points? Imagine what our businesses would look like if we just focused on the top three custom...

The “Experience Economy” is large and in charge in today’s business world. Often times if is the “HOW” we provide services that override the “WHAT” we provide. It sounds inverted, but it is reality in many cases. Customer perceptions are now heavily leaning into the “HOW” we do business . Good perceptions provide our sails with some needed wind at our backs, while negative perceptions leave our bo...

Customers place high value on vendors that display reliability and consistency. If so, then why do so many companies deliver service when, and how it is convenient for them. We address this in out book. Service When It Is Convenient For Us (SWIICFU) is far too common in today’s business world. It is a company-centric model versus what should be a customer-centric model. What say you? Is it time to...

Customer issues often repeat themselves, and carry the same characteristics time over time. Knowing this, does your company address the deeper problem of why issues are repetitive and reoccurring, or do you just try and fix the current issue without a deep dive? Imagine what your business would look like if you took aim at never having the same problem happen a second time? Maybe it’s time to set...

Expectations are a grossly overlooked aspect of modern business. Some companies never address expectations for customers, while many companies set few expectations. As a result, these types of businesses can easily go about servicing customers when, and how it is convenient for the business. However, best-in-class companies actually publish expectations, and then take aim at providing service that...

Search is the optimal word. Customers will very rarely tell you that they are leaving, and why they are leaving. You have to go find the information, filter it, investigate, and then fix it. The cost to reinvent a lost customer is far too expensive to do on a routine basis. The road to customer loyalty is paved by not making the same mistake twice. Your future is an four R (RRRR) proposition. Reta...

It sounds like a funny question right? The truth is, many companies try to pass self-inflicted repair costs onto customers. This video highlights one of the many times I’ve seen it play out in real life with customers. If you want to win customers to your cause, and grow your repeat and referral business, then we suggest you pay the bill for repairing mistakes you have made. Charging the customers...

It feels like this concept has taken a backseat over the past few decades. However, standard operating procedures are a great way to regiment your business so that you can train new associates, deliver better customer satisfaction, and create profitable guard rails for your business. If you have never sat down and mapped out the standardization of your procedures, we would highly recommend you doi...

If you’re groping as to how to begin and end an email, or phone conversation, following the CPA method will take the anxiety out of the process. Simply inject an opening salvo of courtesy, then outline the reason you are corresponding with the customer, and then conclude by stating the action you are asking the customer to complete. It’s simple, quick, fail safe, and admired by readers. If you sti...

Verbally cutting to the chase has become an acceptable business norm. However, in doing so, we often bypass opportunities to ask our customers about their lives. If we know they’ve battled illness, or tragedy, or have been on cool vacations, or have taken time off, wouldn’t it be nice just to ask them how they’re doing with any of those subject matters? Don’t you think they would appreciate that?...

My son-in-law is a DJ, so he constantly needs to have fresh content to use as transition segues. As a result, he processes everyday life situations as possible opportunities for content, and he is really good at it. If we follow that same mindset, we can bump into life experiences that are actually transferrable to our businesses in the form of continuous improvement. All we have to do is pay atte...

As vendors, we are in the business of winning customers to our side. Being polite was a given during the 1900’s. However, nowadays politeness is being dismissed, and replaced by speed of mission. When was the last time you took a step back and looked for politeness in your dealings with customers? If you don’t find it, we highly encourage you to view politeness as a sign of respect for potential c...

We live and work in a world that is so fast paced, that we only have about 30 seconds to make a good first impression. What are you doing with that first 30 seconds with a potential customer? Are you planning this out? Are you rehearsing the dialogue? Are you considering human interest, and human relations principles as you manage your team, and their handling of first impressions? Support the sho...

Deliverables must equate to what expectations were promised. Otherwise, promises made are nothing more than empty words that often create negative customer experiences. Too many negative experiences, and your company will be on the next bus to the business boneyard. We encourage you to make sure the Omelette delivered to table # 9, looks just like the picture in the menu. We encourage you to make...

Sometimes when we try and fix a customer problem, we bump into the discovery that we are making things confusing, and complicated for customers. How cool would it be if a team of employees were to go out and look at every aspect of the business, and uncover other opportunities to exchange complication with simplification? This could be a fun summertime project. Simplicity is admired by most custom...

The business landscape is littered with scads of operators that tend to sweep issues under the rug, rather than roll up their sleeves and try to fix issues. Problem sweepers are a dime a dozen. Sweepers are easy to find, but solvers are a rare commodity in today’s world of apathetic workers. Next time you’re confronted with a difficult issue, we encourage you to look at it as an opportunity in dis...

People feel disconnected and uncomfortable when they’re having a conversation with someone who is only half listening. What amazes me, is how many times we choose to do this in business. Why? If you are trying to win a potential customer to your side, why would you only give them half of your attention in the process? If this is you…perhaps you should think about paying full attention to someone w...

Eye to eye contact builds connectivity during a business conversation. Looking down, or looking away creates customer uneasiness, feelings of alienation, and heightened skepticism. Teach, train and manage, consistent eye to eye contact with buyers, and watch your customer loyalty increase. Support the show

Creating customer confusion is one of the quickest ways to eliminate potential repeat and referral business. To avoid falling into this trap, one of the easiest fixes is to make sure your company is using the same terminology whether you’re talking to an associate, or a customer. This will ensure seamless conversations, comprehension clarity and margin protection. Support the show