It's All About The Customer

You’ve seen the signs. A store is updating their look, remodeling, renovating. Call it what you like. In any case, they can’t afford to close the doors while the work goes on.

What does it say about a business that doesn’t post a sign? Does it show they don’t care?

I ask because I walked into a shop the other day and it took over 5 minutes to be recognized. No other customers. No construction. Just seemed like I wasn’t a priority.

Make your customers a priority.

I wasn’t ready.

You practice. You study. You educate yourself. But this one came out of nowhere.

No family history. No symptoms that I recall. Although I may look back and discover something I ignored was indeed an early indicator of a problem.

And then one day, thanks to routine screening for other issues, BAM! Prostate Cancer. Totally caught off guard by that one.

So, how can we use this to focus on our customer?

Expect the unexpected. Be prepared for everything.

Practice your hurricane evacuation route in the dead of winter! Run a fire drill in a rain storm. You may never be ready for everything. But you can’t sit around unprepared either.

I’m back folks. Mentally, it has been a trying few weeks. I can’t guarantee a post every day. Thank you all for your emails and your prayers. 

The following was posted by a friend on her Facebook page.

“Attention telephone, internet, cable/dish providers and court reporting firms: I am your customer. Be nice to me. There are other options out there.”

Be one of the options today that people are drawn to.

I need to apologize. I have not kept up with posting regularly during the last week. I am taking care of a health issue that needs further investigation.

I’ll know more in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, stay focused. Stay strong. Stay committed to your customers.

Borg Tractor Beam Engaged

Okay. I’m going to reveal a little of my nerdy side. (Not a surprise to a lot of you!) I’m a huge fan of “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” I try to catch it whenever it’s on and I’ve got the time to devote to an entire episode.

One of my favorite words from the show (yes, I have favorite words) is disengage. This is usually spoken when the tractor beam needs to be shut off.

It is the tractor beam that has caused a relationship between the host (Enterprise) and the thing being held captive, towed or protected.

How often do you consciously engage your customers? And by engage I really like the definition of engage as related to mechanics: to cause (gears or the like) to become interlocked; interlock with.

Would you want to be interlocked with your customers? Better yet, how would your customers feel about being interlocked with YOU?

Do what you can so that your customers long to have a relationship with you. Don’t be the one to disengage!