Customers are the life blood of all businesses. Without them they fail. Failed businesses close, livelihoods are lost, staff lose jobs, and dreams are shattered.

Why then do so many businesses forget the golden rule?

Customers Matter!

I’ve recently had some pretty average customer experiences and it made me grumpy (and it takes quite a lot for me to get annoyed as a customer).

Perhaps thankfully for the businesses in question I held my tongue, but as a business growth consultant and coach, I was tempted to remind them of the importance of their customers to the success of their businesses.

They need us more than we need them.

As customers, most of the time we have options. We can take our money elsewhere.

Business is competitive

Business has never been more competitive, and so we MUST ALWAYS ensure our customers matter and that they marvel over their experience with us.

Importantly, hopefully they will return as customers and recommend us. We’re doing a great job when that happens.

Here’s a lovely quote by someone unknown, but popularised by Mahatma Ghandhi a long time ago.

Personally, I think these sentiments are still VERY relevant today.

What do you think?

Let’s ensure we treasure our customers. We won’t know their importance until they’re not there any longer.

Thank you

Thank you for being a part of my community. I am really grateful. You are a customer to me and I want the experience you have with me and my work to be extraordinary.

I’d love to know how I can better serve you to guide you to achieve the extraordinary in your business and life – as you define it. If there are ways I can support you, please let me know.

QUESTION:  What the best customer experience you’ve ever had? Let’s celebrate the businesses that love their customers. I’d be thrilled to hear your stories. Please click the link to leave a comment.

Would some guidance from me be helpful to you? If so, please arrange a free 30 mins Skype strategy meeting with me. Here’s my calendar to make an appointment. I’d love to support you in some way to gain ‘seductive clarity’ in any aspect of your business or life.

I first found this quote almost 30 years ago… forgot about it, and recently found it again.

It was relevant then and still is now, don’t you think?

Would you add anything to it?  Would you change it in any way?

I’d add the following:

My 6 most important words:   Thank you. I am very grateful.

My 3 most important words:    I LOVE You.

We forget how important words are.  They can elevate or deflate us – and others.  Let’s choose our words carefully.  Let’s focus on elevating ourselves and others.

QUESTION:  What are your favourite words in life?  Mine are:  I LOVE You.  How about telling me yours in the comments box below?  I’d love to know.

Would some guidance from me be helpful to you? If so, please arrange a free 30 mins Skype strategy meeting with me. Here’s my calendar to make an appointment. I’d love to support you in some way to gain ‘seductive clarity’ in any aspect of your business or life.

The price a business owner establishes for the sale of their products and services is arguably one of the most important business decisions they make.

And yet, pricing is one of the most feared elements in managing a business.

One of the many conversations I have with business owners is related to pricing, and those discussions often start with me saying, “Your prices are too low.”  They look at me in shock and respond with all the reasons why they cannot raise their prices:

• I’ve lost jobs because I was too expensive.
• I’m more expensive than some of my competitors.
• I’m barely making enough profit as it is, and I can’t afford to lose customers by raising prices.
• You have got to be joking— put my prices up in this depressed market?

Responses like that generally demonstrate that those business owners don’t understand the impact pricing has on a customer’s perception of their business and its branding in the market.

Here are three reasons why you must never compete on price:

1.  Perception – you’ll be seen as a ‘low-end’ player

If your prices are too low, your market will label you a low-end player and you’ll attract bargain hunters who’ll invariably try to get you to discount your products even further.

2.  No or little customer loyalty

Lower prices also make it unlikely your business will build long-term relationships with such customers, who by their very nature will shop around to get the best prices on a product or service, not staying loyal to any one business.

3.  Get better quality customers with higher prices

Higher pricing raises customers’ expectations.  If you constantly deliver on those expectations, your business will usually enjoy customer loyalty, and you’ll attract better quality customers who are willing to pay more for quality customer service.

The BIG question is….. Are you branded?

I hope so.  What does your business, your brand, stand for?

What is the promise you make to your customers?

Branding is about building a relationship with your customers, while living up to your promise.

Ordinary to Extraordinary

A brand can turn something that is pedestrian, homogenous or ordinary into something that is unique and that stands out from the crowd.  Something that is extraordinary.

A strong brand builds respect, loyalty and retention, and allows you to set your pricing strategy accordingly.

What do the experts say?

Dr Michael LeBoeuf, international business consultant, focuses a lot of his work on how to win customers and keep them.  He has created a matrix based on extensive research on why customers leave a business.

Why customers leave a business

• Perceived Indifference      – 68%
• Unresolved Conflict           – 14%
• Get a Better Deal/Pricing –  9%
• Influenced Away                –  5%
• Move Away                         –  3%
• Die/Insolvent                    –  1%

Based on that research, of those customers who leave a business, only 9 percent leave due to pricing, whereas 82 percent of customers leave because they are not treated as special or there is an unresolved conflict.  In essence, they leave due to a lack of customer service.

The key to business success….

Therefore, the key to success is concentrating on the customer value proposition you deliver to your customers.

It’s about going beyond the call of duty to provide value and service.  It’s about creating customer cheerleaders, people who will be loyal to your business for a long time and at the same time will refer their family and friends.

Pricing is strategic

Pricing is not an arbitrary decision; all businesses should have a pricing strategy.

When determining your pricing strategy, the key is to know your proposition for your customers and price according to that, rather than pitching your business against your competition and attempting to undercut them to win more customers.

Never compete on price 

It’s worth repeating.  NEVER COMPETE ON PRICE.  That’s a business decision that will see you, your business, and your staff and suppliers lose in the end.  Why?  Because if you are prepared to discount your price once, you will do it again and again!

At the beginning, in order to maintain your profits, you can create increased operational efficiency to compensate for reducing your prices.

If you continue to reduce your prices, then eventually you will need to reduce your staff numbers or their pay (or both), and no doubt you’ll also be asking your suppliers to reduce their prices to you.

Do that for long enough, then your staff can’t afford to work for you and your suppliers won’t be able to afford to supply you, so you won’t have a business.  It is a lose/lose business strategy.

Become branded

A brand is a differentiator.

A brand is a promise.

A brand is an experience.

A brand can move a business or a person from the ocean of obscurity and ordinariness to the river of relevance and riches.  A brand can help you achieve the extraordinary – as you define it!

QUESTION:  What are the biggest worries or fears you have when thinking about pricing and/or branding?  Leave a comment below.  C’mon, let’s get the conversation going.

Would some guidance from me be helpful to you? If so, please arrange a free 30 mins Skype strategy meeting with me. Here’s my calendar to make an appointment. I’d love to support you in some way to gain ‘seductive clarity’ in any aspect of your business or life.