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Casual Articles - How Well Do Your Customers Know You?
Where contract and temp work was once the province of the labourer pool, more and more firms are seeking consultants and contract workers for positions that call for professional qualifications, including internal and external audit jobs. Because these positions don’t carry the same degree of security and often offer fewer benefits, they often command higher salaries, and offer a greater deal of flexibility to those who take the positions.Working as a temp or contractor in an internal audit job offers a number of advantages to both the temp worker and the employers. For employers, choosing to employ cont
Write it out. Practice saying it aloud. Make it funny. And tell it to everybody. Publish it on your marketing materials, and especially your website. Create a special page on your website called “Our Story,” or “My Philosophy” that shares this personal anecdote.
Start Blogging
A popular new medium through which to share your feelings, experiences and emotions is with a blog. I recently started a Blog for my business, and it’s become a valuable tool to stimulate personal dialogue with potential customers
When taking a road trip to a new destination, smart travelers invest preparation time to identify the best route, make note of rest stops, research hotels and restaurants that satisfy their needs and budgets, check weather conditions, and so on. In other words, they have a thoughtfully developed plan before they go.Their plan may change along the way based on opportunities or circumstances beyond their control. Yet, they are equipped to effectively handle the unforeseen and make the most of their situation.For marketing achievement, you’ve got to have a road map to reach your destination. A care
Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, asked himself this important question several decades ago. His answer: employee nametags. So, he rolled out an initiative that required all of his employees to wear badges, the purpose of which was to “help the customers get to know the people they bought from.”
But helping customers “get to know you” isn’t just about names, it’s about information. In other words, it’s about self-disclosure, which is the process of revealing your personal information to another.
This process starts with a small piece of information, i.e., your name. Then, as the relationship develops, it progresses into more intimate territory with the sharing of opinions, preferences and experiences. What’s more, because of its reciprocal nature, self-disclosure has incredible power. It creates comfort, establishes rapport, helps discover the CPI (Common Point of Interest) and builds trust between you and your customers.
I once worked at a mom-and-pop furniture store in Portland, Oregon. More so than any business I’ve ever walked into, the owners of City Liquidators leveraged self-disclosure to its fullest extent. You couldn’t step five feet into their store without seeing pictures of their family. The walls donned clippings from nostalgic newspaper articles and various personal memorabilia that brought the store to life!
As a result, shoppers who walked in the door felt like they personally knew the owners. Engaging conversations about children, families and growing up in Portland were frequent among the customers. And, the emotional connection sparked by these interactions helped the customers feel more comfortable while shopping – which ultimately secured their loyalty.
Not to mention, self-disclosure actually helps YOU get to know your customers better as well! Here’s another example. My friend Dennis is a doorman at the Ritz Carlton. He is a master of using self-disclosure to establish relationships with guests.
If a family with young children pulls into the front drive, Dennis always gets excited. (He has a young daughter himself.) And as soon as he extends his warm welcome to the arriving guests, he doesn’t hesitate to share information about his own family. Sometimes he’ll even show guests a picture! But Dennis knows that an effective way to learn about his customers is to educate them about himself first.
How well do your customers know you? Here are some ways you can use self-disclosure to create comfort and build rapport with buyers:
What’s Your Story?
How did you get your start in business? Did you “fall” into your line of work? Perhaps there’s an interesting anecdote or event that caused the birth of your business. If so, this is called “Your Story,” and it’s a fundamental tool for helping your customers get to know you.
Write it out. Practice saying it aloud. Make it funny. And tell it to everybody. Publish it on your marketing materials, and especially your website. Create a special page on your website called “Our Story,” or “My Philosophy” that shares this personal anecdote.
Start Blogging
A popular new medium through which to share your feelings, experiences and emotions is with a blog. I recently started a Blog for my business, and it’s become a valuable tool to stimulate personal dialogue with potential customers.
Have you pulled up to the gas pump lately and thought about how cheap gas is? If so, that's called conditioning. We've been conditioned over the last few months by the high gas prices that $2 per gallon is cheap. I'm sure the oil companies hope it stays there, and they've conditioned us to accept it.Look inside your restaurant. Have you conditioned your customers to accept mediocre food, service, or cook times? Are your employees conditioned knowing you accept the lowest standards possible and they can come in late, out of uniform, and be unproductive? It’s never too late to re-condition the team.
I once worked at a mom-and-pop furniture store in Portland, Oregon. More so than any business I’ve ever walked into, the owners of City Liquidators leveraged self-disclosure to its fullest extent. You couldn’t step five feet into their store without seeing pictures of their family. The walls donned clippings from nostalgic newspaper articles and various personal memorabilia that brought the store to life!
As a result, shoppers who walked in the door felt like they personally knew the owners. Engaging conversations about children, families and growing up in Portland were frequent among the customers. And, the emotional connection sparked by these interactions helped the customers feel more comfortable while shopping – which ultimately secured their loyalty.
Not to mention, self-disclosure actually helps YOU get to know your customers better as well! Here’s another example. My friend Dennis is a doorman at the Ritz Carlton. He is a master of using self-disclosure to establish relationships with guests.
If a family with young children pulls into the front drive, Dennis always gets excited. (He has a young daughter himself.) And as soon as he extends his warm welcome to the arriving guests, he doesn’t hesitate to share information about his own family. Sometimes he’ll even show guests a picture! But Dennis knows that an effective way to learn about his customers is to educate them about himself first.
How well do your customers know you? Here are some ways you can use self-disclosure to create comfort and build rapport with buyers:
What’s Your Story?
How did you get your start in business? Did you “fall” into your line of work? Perhaps there’s an interesting anecdote or event that caused the birth of your business. If so, this is called “Your Story,” and it’s a fundamental tool for helping your customers get to know you.
Write it out. Practice saying it aloud. Make it funny. And tell it to everybody. Publish it on your marketing materials, and especially your website. Create a special page on your website called “Our Story,” or “My Philosophy” that shares this personal anecdote.
Start Blogging
A popular new medium through which to share your feelings, experiences and emotions is with a blog. I recently started a Blog for my business, and it’s become a valuable tool to stimulate personal dialogue with potential customers
Advertising is not for every company. But some require it because their market is big and constantly changing and evolving. Consider this, up to 30 percent of the people in the US move each year. Or, you may be locked into a battle with a competitor. People do business with companies they know and trust. Advertising can help build awareness, so that eventually consumers will trust your offer.I firmly believe that advertising is an excellent tool for rapidly building awareness of a company, its products or services. I believe equally firmly that you build a brand through public relations, not advertising.
As a result, shoppers who walked in the door felt like they personally knew the owners. Engaging conversations about children, families and growing up in Portland were frequent among the customers. And, the emotional connection sparked by these interactions helped the customers feel more comfortable while shopping – which ultimately secured their loyalty.
Not to mention, self-disclosure actually helps YOU get to know your customers better as well! Here’s another example. My friend Dennis is a doorman at the Ritz Carlton. He is a master of using self-disclosure to establish relationships with guests.
If a family with young children pulls into the front drive, Dennis always gets excited. (He has a young daughter himself.) And as soon as he extends his warm welcome to the arriving guests, he doesn’t hesitate to share information about his own family. Sometimes he’ll even show guests a picture! But Dennis knows that an effective way to learn about his customers is to educate them about himself first.
How well do your customers know you? Here are some ways you can use self-disclosure to create comfort and build rapport with buyers:
What’s Your Story?
How did you get your start in business? Did you “fall” into your line of work? Perhaps there’s an interesting anecdote or event that caused the birth of your business. If so, this is called “Your Story,” and it’s a fundamental tool for helping your customers get to know you.
Write it out. Practice saying it aloud. Make it funny. And tell it to everybody. Publish it on your marketing materials, and especially your website. Create a special page on your website called “Our Story,” or “My Philosophy” that shares this personal anecdote.
Start Blogging
A popular new medium through which to share your feelings, experiences and emotions is with a blog. I recently started a Blog for my business, and it’s become a valuable tool to stimulate personal dialogue with potential customers
Charity is possibly the best way to support the downtrodden. These days there are several non-profit charitable institutions across the globe that are working in different areas with an objective to help people in need and work for their development. Helping with the rehabilitation of victims of natural disasters, child education, and women empowerment are some of the different responsibilities taken up by these organizations. These charities mainly depend on donations by the well-to-do section of society and government grants in order to function and continue with their social service.When people decide
If a family with young children pulls into the front drive, Dennis always gets excited. (He has a young daughter himself.) And as soon as he extends his warm welcome to the arriving guests, he doesn’t hesitate to share information about his own family. Sometimes he’ll even show guests a picture! But Dennis knows that an effective way to learn about his customers is to educate them about himself first.
How well do your customers know you? Here are some ways you can use self-disclosure to create comfort and build rapport with buyers:
What’s Your Story?
How did you get your start in business? Did you “fall” into your line of work? Perhaps there’s an interesting anecdote or event that caused the birth of your business. If so, this is called “Your Story,” and it’s a fundamental tool for helping your customers get to know you.
Write it out. Practice saying it aloud. Make it funny. And tell it to everybody. Publish it on your marketing materials, and especially your website. Create a special page on your website called “Our Story,” or “My Philosophy” that shares this personal anecdote.
Start Blogging
A popular new medium through which to share your feelings, experiences and emotions is with a blog. I recently started a Blog for my business, and it’s become a valuable tool to stimulate personal dialogue with potential customers
Employers today are caught between the proverbial "rock and a hard place". They need more qualified personnel to do some of the most basic of tasks but the labor pool is tight and qualified personnel are limited. Many employers have resorted to hiring bodies in hopes of retaining a few good ones ("Like an archer that wounds at random is he who hires a fool or a passer-by". Proverbs 26:10). And some employers have even decided to delay the growth of the business until the employment market changes.Answers to the problem of hiring and keeping good employees are often difficult to come by and may demand a
Write it out. Practice saying it aloud. Make it funny. And tell it to everybody. Publish it on your marketing materials, and especially your website. Create a special page on your website called “Our Story,” or “My Philosophy” that shares this personal anecdote.
Start Blogging
A popular new medium through which to share your feelings, experiences and emotions is with a blog. I recently started a Blog for my business, and it’s become a valuable tool to stimulate personal dialogue with potential customers. A blog is an online journal on which you can post comments, links, stories and articles. A blog is free and easy, and also a great way to let your customers know what’s going on in your life. And the best part about it is: they can post their comments too! Talk about self-disclosure!
Recommend Resources
In your newsletter, on the phone or in person, recommend books, CD’s and other resources. Tell your customers how much these things have changed your life, your business and your relationships. If they take your advice, they’ll be more inclined to share their own experiences with you, not to mention you’ll soon have more things in common!
My friend Ed who works for Cornerstone Financial does this all the time. He spends a few hundred dollars a year buying copies of his favorite books for his customers. He tells them how the books improved his life in the hopes that his customers will reciprocate their similar experiences – which they do.
Your ability to educate your customers not only about your products and services, but about yourself, is critical to your success. If you follow these principles of self-disclosure and reciprocation, your customers will get to know you better than ever before! So, remember what my friend Jeffrey Gitomer says: it’s not what you know; it’s not WHO you know – it’s who knows YOU.
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