I walk into my usual hairdressers. They make me feel welcome by greeting me warmly and offering me a coffee. They behave as though they want me to be there, and are pleased to be cutting my hair.  Most importantly they do a really good cut.

In return for the exceptional service I receive, I will tell anyone looking for a hairdresser about my favourite salon. I sing their praises, evangelizing about the quality of the cut and the excellent customer service.

This hairdressing salon is a little different to other businesses because it doesn’t advertise, it doesn’t have a Facebook page, and it doesn’t have a Twitter following – it doesn’t need it. This may be considered a little outdated these days, after all as a business you want to be building your clientele, but by focusing too much on followings, likes and shares you’re taking away focus on your service or product. My hairdressers don’t need to think about social media because they get enough business through word-of-mouth.

Focus on connecting, not just collecting

You probably spend an inordinate amount of your time trying to reach out to people. And to some degree, you’ll measure your success by counting the number of e-newsletters opened, or views of your products on your website pages. And, although your ‘reach’ is important what is more vital is that you give your customers what they need – a good experience in working with you.

Be good at what you do and care about your customer’s experience and you won’t need to spend so much time promoting yourself by other means. Create customer experiences worthy of being passed from person-to-person and people will flock to you.

Word-of-mouth is still the original and most powerful way to influence business results. The quality of your work and your customer service will be all the advertising you need because this form of marketing is what your consumers trust above all others.

But what if word-of-mouth recommendations are not forthcoming?

Asking for feedback reminds people about your business and gets them to think about your company or product. The ‘How would you describe us to a friend?’ question forces them to think about, and create a concrete opinion to you. If people form an opinion of you then they are more likely to share that opinion with others.

Advertising or promoting yourself on social media is not fundamental for success. If you’re adverse to Twitter or Facebook (or any other social media platforms), or you simply don’t have the time or inclination, then don’t bother with a half-hearted attempt. Instead create a wonderful experience for your existing business clients. Create happy customers, and they will send many new ones in your direction.

Image credit: Midnight Believer, Whisper

Every interaction you have with potential or existing clients is an opportunity to market your business. So, do you think they would want to deal with a cold bloodsucker or a real human being?

In a world where we are all besieged with advertisements and sales pitches, marketing your business is no longer about getting as many eyes as possible on your ads, it is about using your qualification as a human being to speak directly to clients, to build relationships, and give them the means to identify with you and your business.

Trying to suck the money out of clients with out-of-date marketing concepts that appeal to no one in particular is a loser’s game. But showing your human side by building relationships, whether as an individual or as the representative of a business, will get people on your side.

When it comes to fulfilling business or personal needs, consumers have a world of choice.  And too much choice become baffling. The only thing they have to rely on is their contacts, and they’re going to trust the ones who take the time and energy to help them make the right decision. Building authentic relationships with people is what fosters trust in you and loyalty to your brand. It is trust that drives people to purchase from you.

Doing it the right way ultimately comes down to showing your human side, and appealing to theirs. Talking directly to people about their needs, writing blog posts that speak to people and gets to the heart of their problem, creating ad and email campaigns that clients can relate to – this is all relationship building.

To err is human

Of course, being human, you WILL make mistakes. Mistakes are a natural part of life. The important thing is to demonstrate that you can rectify those mistakes because in doing so you will not only demonstrate your conscientious-ness, but also your ability to deal with problems effectively.

To deny problems exist by sweeping them under the carpet or respond ineffectually, shows clients that you have the problem-solving abilities and emotional intelligence of a frog – this is not conducive to good business relationships.

Your customers will know when you’re being up front or when you’re stretching the truth. Give them a hint that you’re not being honest and you’ll lose them. Instead, admit to your mistake, explaining how you’ll handle it and what steps are being taken to prevent the same from occurring in the future, and they’ll appreciate and admire you more for it.

Expecting faultlessness from yourself or your employees is not realistic. There is a fine line between striving for excellence and unhelpful perfectionism, which does nothing but lead to an unhealthy workplace. It can impact on the mental and physical health of you and your employees, which filters out to the clients. A healthy level of quality control, as opposed to control freakery, creates beneficial relationships between employees and clients. In fact, research shows that the more human and connected a workplace feels, the healthier and more productive people are.

Show you care

For some reason being ‘professional’ seems to be synonymous with a lack of emotion. But pretending we are not human does not make us better at business, and sterile interactions are not the way to come across as a human being. You can be professional AND reveal your true personality, the human in you, even within a larger business, as long as you’re adhering to its core brand identity.

These days, being busy and stressed is often worn as a badge of honour. And for some people, to be seen as the type of person who considers work to be the centre of their universe is the ideal. It is almost as though their endeavours at work have to displace their human relationships or be cold and detached from the realities of being human, in order to be good at their job – this isn’t true – Being ourselves and bringing all of the aspects of our lives to complement our work is what makes us truly human, and come across as such. So, feel free to go surfing at the weekend and tell your newest client all about it.

No matter what business you’re in, the human element is vital. To deny your humanity by failing to build healthy working relationships, or being cold and detached with no warmth and personality coming across in your interactions, creates an unfavourable impression and suggests that there is something about your business that is not quite as it should be. In which case, you may as well have fangs, and blood dripping down your chin, because customers will run a mile.

Image sourced from http://sexyaidanturner.tumblr.com/

In a business world littered with marketing advice, it may get a little confusing to know what to do to increase your company’s visibility. But one thing you shouldn’t do is lots of different things with no purpose or aim – this is the fastest route to a wasted budget. It may sound like a good idea to spend hours on building your social media following by tweeting every 5 minutes, but this is probably not the most appropriate route for your business.

Unfocused Social media, SEO or Pay Per Click advertising may be effective for some, but for many businesses, this scattergun approach fails to have an impact and leads to a lot of wasted time that could have been better spent elsewhere.

When it comes to the marketing there simply isn’t a one size fits all methodology. The best way to understand that best strategy for your business is to ask yourself one question – Who is my customer? Keep that customer in mind when creating your marketing strategy.

Plan consistent strategies

Put a strategy in place with your customers in mind. Think ahead, plan what you need to do, and keep doing it. Marketing works best when it’s consistent – you cannot just send one email and expect great results – whatever you do needs to build up and gain momentum. Measure the results.

• Try Email marketing – this often produces a much higher return on investment than social media, so put your time into creating an effective email marketing campaign where you can speak directly to followers. Grow your email list and write compelling and engaging emails, using words that appeal to your target market, that you send directly to the customer on a regular basis.
• Facebook allows you to get very specific in who you are targeting. Want to aim at women aged 25-40 in London who recently made a high-ticket purchase? Yes, you can target them. Or men in their 40s who love guitars and Apple products? Yes, them too. Facebook use data from individual’s Facebook activities to find out what their interests are, and you can use this to your advantage to reach a very narrow demographic of buyers.

Nurture your target market

• As Simon Sinek says, ‘Start with why’. Tell your customers why you are running this business and let them know why they are important to your success.
• Give your customers reason to trust you and never let them down.
• Analyse your current customers. Why do they buy from you? Use this information to focus your marketing.
• Find out where the leaks are in your marketing funnel. Where do people drop out and lose interest in what you are offering?

The more you can target and focus your campaigns, the more successful you will be in winning customers. This is the only way you will cut out the marketing fat and increase the visibility of your business to the people that matter – those who are going to buy your product or service – and ultimately, improve your bottom line.

Image credit: Petras Gagilas. Target.

You walk into a supermarket and you’re approached by a very friendly shop assistant who is offering a free sample of cake. You feel a little bit excited. Everyone likes free stuff. So, how do you feel about this supermarket? A tiny bit more positive perhaps – more inclined to buy the product?

It seems to be everywhere now – businesses offering stuff for free. But why?

Generates traffic

One of the primary benefits of offering something for free is that it generates traffic. The free product introduces the business and hooks likely buyers, with the result that the expense of handing out the free samples will be more than counterbalanced by the resulting sales. The big US companies such as Kraft, General Mills, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever think nothing of spending a couple of hundred dollars each day to set up a free sample stand inside a supermarket. But these costs are tiny compared to the good will that is being cultivated in the customers who are getting these free samples.

Creates grateful customers

When it comes to reaching consumers, free samples are often much more powerful, and much cheaper than traditional advertising. If enough people try the product then some of them will decide to buy simply because they’ve gotten a freebie and, consciously or not, somehow feel obligated to pay the company back. Researchers have discovered that shoppers who’ve received freebies in the supermarket are more likely to buy the products given away, and to even become loyal customers.

Positive brand recognition

By giving something for free, you’re investing in positive brand recognition. People love to get something for free with no strings attached even if the product is worth little. In fact, the word ‘free’ makes the product and the company or brand more appealing.

It has a positive impact on how they regard your brand and it makes people more willing to give something in return. For example, businesses will give away free eBooks or white papers in return for contact information. People are more likely to respond to a favour with another favour. Rather Inventive offer freebies in the form of their book, Be Sociable, in the hope that it will tell people a little bit about the business, and garner a positive attitude towards it.

If you’re a small business owner then the word ‘free’ can be a little scary. You’re in business to make money after all. But by now you can see that there are various benefits that free samples and giveaways provide. Sometimes the benefits are not seen immediately but are contributing to the positive perception of your business, but at other times the benefits may be more immediate.

So, how can you harness the value of ‘free’ to make your business more successful?

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Photo credit: Myrtle Beach TheDigitel  – FREE Samples

No matter what industry you’re in, if you’re a small business you probably feel like a tiny plankton in a huge ocean. So, what can you do to stand out?

One effective route to success is to become an authority within your field. After all, there’s nothing that brings in new clients better than being considered an expert. You can do this in several ways. You could do interviews, write a book or introduce innovative new products.

Possibly the most difficult route, but one which cannot fail to get you noticed is to solve your industry’s biggest problems. By addressing the bone-aching problems within the your industry you will set your company apart by showing yourself to be knowledgeable about your subject and aware of its shortcomings, and to care enough to want to find a solution.

Let’s look at an example in the electronics manufacturing industry. New standards and regulations are pushing electronic manufacturers to consider their social responsibility when making decisions and to include sustainable engineering strategies to satisfy the growing trend for environmental awareness. The entire lifecycle of a product must be considered; from manufacturing, with the use of harmful chemicals and human exposure; to consumer use, with the consumption of energy; to the end of its life, with waste disposal and complex disassembly.

This costs money and in an industry with steadily shrinking margins and higher product performance and quality expectations, this can be a real problem. Yet, electronics manufacturing leaders will define the solutions and find a way to make it work. They will work to ensure continuous process improvement and will invest in systems and processes, and then they will share those solutions.  

If your business is seen to be the one to introduce a workable solution to a problem. Not only will potential customers become aware of who you are, but fellow industry experts will consider your company to be at the sharp end of the industry.  

How do you become an authority in your industry? Here’s a step by step guide to becoming a problem solver in your industry;

1. Work out what the problems are – If you’re already running a small business within a certain field of expertise, you probably already have a handle on what the issues are. So, clearly define the problem you want to solve.
2. Why does the problem exist? – Now that you have the issue you want to eliminate, have a look at why it exists.
3. Narrow down solutions – There may be several different ways to approach a problem. But concentrate on just one or a couple of clearly-explained solutions otherwise you risk overwhelming and confusing people.
4. Break it down – It’s all very well having a fantastic solution to a problem, but if nobody knows how to put it into action effectively, chances are it won’t be used until another business gets hold of it, tweaks it and takes all the credit. Break down your suggested resolution into a step-by-step actionable plan. This will make your suggestions easier to digest, understand and implement and more people will follow through to completion, making your problem-solving strategy more successful.
5. Repeat steps one to four – So, you’ve successfully solved an industry problem? But your solution will only put you at the top of the list until another business swoops in to solve the next problem.

If you make it your mission to solve the problems of your industry as they arise you’ll establish yourself as a business who can lead the pack. Set yourself apart as an industry expert and you will reap the rewards that it brings.

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Photo credit: David, IMG_4151

What is trust?

In a previous blog post, I spoke about how Simon Sinek refers to ‘Start with why’, an interesting concept about how presenting ‘why’ you do what you do can get people on your side. But at the heart of the ‘Start with why’ theory is the idea of trust. Trust is a feeling of security one has, based on the belief that someone is reliable, good, honest, and effective. Trust is what your employees, customers and clients need so that they can hear your ‘why’ and know that it is the truth.

Trust is critical in any relationship, and is just as true in business. To build a successful business there must be trust permeating the relationships throughout the organisation – between leaders to employees, employees to employees, and employees to customers.

According to the 2017 Edelman trust barometer, the world population’s trust in all four key institutions — business, government, NGOs, and media — has declined. In this climate, “People’s societal and economic concerns, including globalization, the pace of innovation and eroding social values, turn into fears”. This is why building trust in your business is more important today than ever before.

How much trust is in your organisation? In business interactions, we can usually intuitively feel when trust is lacking. Without it, there are the underlying feelings of resentment, undermining, avoiding and game-playing among employees.

I am very well acquainted with one such business; it is a hotbed of gossip; there is an undercurrent of frustration at the management; and rather than unity there is stress and low productivity where fake camaraderie, petty squabbles and backstabbing were everyday occurrences. Does that sound like an environment that puts trust at the heart of its operations?

Trust within an organisation creates a healthy work environment. It forms the foundation for effective communications, staff retention, motivated members, and contributions of energy and, according to studies, there is also significant link to sales, profits, and turnover in organisations with a high level of trust.

How to build trust in your organisation

So, do you think your organisation might be lacking in the trust quota? If so, here are a few things you can do to ensure that trust remains one of the most important features of your business.

Act with sincerity and integrity

Probably the bedrock of trust, keeping your promises will set you up as reliable and dependable. What immediately follows is strong trust and respect. If you frequently make commitments but fail to keep them, you’ll see only frustration and self-serving behaviour – not conducive to long-term successful relationships. Also, offer your true perspective on matters, align your words and actions, and be consistent in your behaviour.

Listen

Listen to and act on feedback, even if it’s negative. If colleagues, employees or customers feel listened to they will more likely feel trust for you and your business. Demonstrate caring and unconditional positive regard to others’ point of view, even if you disagree with them.

Handle crisis well

Do your utmost and encourage others in the organisation to turn a negative situation to your advantage by going over and above to handle a crisis effectively, and you will be cultivating trust

Be transparent

Own your failures, and learn from them.  Share them so that others can learn from them too. It will help you bounce back better and higher than before.

Encourage ideas and innovation

Be well informed – have views on industry issues, and encourage others to. Put your efforts into finding solutions. Don’t tread water; it’s the fastest way to obscurity.

Communicate well

The way companies communicate has a great deal of influence on the amount of trust employees and clients have for them. Be direct, be spontaneous not rehearsed, be blunt not diplomatic and polite. Give personal experience over data – what does it mean in real terms. Also, make good use of social media – a two-way means of communicating, rather than direct advertising, which is one way and doesn’t give customers a platform on which to communicate their views.

Support others

Use your skills and knowledge to support others’ work. Serve all parties’ best interests. It will bolster everyone’s positive regard of you and therefore their trust in you.

How employees create your success

Ultimately, for a successful business you must treat your employees well. They should be at the heart of the business. They are, after all, the people who know the most about your organisation, your products and services and the market. Invest in them regularly. Employees who remain in one place (physically and emotionally) will grow bored and weary.

Employees want to understand why they are doing things, they want to know the difference that they make, and they want to trust and to know that they are trusted to deliver. They will be willing to go the extra mile to ensure that your business goals are met. If on the other hand, they learn that they are not valued and that winning is the ultimate prize, then they’ll begin to think less about trying something new and different and instead focus on self-preservation. The result may be reliable workers, but it will diminish trust and stunt your business’ growth.

Express genuine appreciation up, down, and across your organisation and you will hear your staff say, ‘We’re in this together’.

Trust leads to a happy, productive workplace that can handle anything and will continually move the organisation forward. In these days of inherent mistrust in large corporations, it is important, over everything else you do, to cultivate an environment of trust. It is a non-negotiable facet of a successful business – you cannot have one without the other. In a successful business it is the relationships you forge—and the trust you create—that matter most.

Photo: Ideas Alchemist, Trust

Why should your customers choose your business over all the thousands of others doing the same thing?

According to Simon Sinek, motivational speaker and marketing consultant, when we’re trying to influence others we need to start with why.

We could be selling a product or service, looking for employment, employees or seeking funding – the important thing, Sinek says, is to start with telling people why you are doing it. He says;

“People don’t buy what you do,
they buy why you do it”

Sinek refers to his Golden Circle – the outer edge of which denotes the what. In every industry, including yours, there will be hundreds of businesses doing the same thing. He explains that the businesses that use what to sell products need to manipulate customers into buying their product or service. People will come to this type of business because it offers low prices, freebies, novelty (under the guise of innovation) to compete with others all doing the same thing. This doesn’t breed loyalty or create trust.

The reason why you do what you do is likely to be different for every company. This could be your company’s sense of purpose, it’s beliefs, its values – whatever it is that underpins its reason for existing. This is what attracts people to your business and keeps them returning.  

The goal to influence in business is no longer about the practical aspects of doing business. Consumers have a wealth of choice for every service or product they could ever desire. It’s about the emotional aspect and how connecting with a certain business can make them feel. So as a business, connecting to the group of people who ‘get’ why you do what you do is the key to business success.

What do successful businesses do differently?

Seth Godin explains in his book, All Marketers are Liars that the most successful companies are those who fit into the worldview of their customers and offer something different that these customers value. They use an effective, authentic story to make a better and more lasting impression on customers who will say ‘I’m willing to turn down a better offer or product elsewhere to do business with you.’ because they can relate to your company beliefs and feel as though they belong.

Steve from Efficient Thinking Solutions is a client of Rather Inventive. Steve loves to solve problems. It gives him a sense of purpose and fulfilment to put systems and processes in order so that businesses can get the most out of their employees. Steve’s ‘what’ – to offer the service of consulting for businesses and helping to improve their productivity – is the proof of what he believes. It’s his values and his guiding principles that fuel his business, not the other way around.

How do you get staff on board?

When it comes to selling your company to your staff, so that they are working for something they believe in, it’s the same principle. Sinek says a company should be a group of people with a common set of values and beliefs. This is what keeps the company moving in the same direction, giving everyone a sense of belonging and working together to achieve goals and solve problems. This can only happen when a leader demonstrates his beliefs and his values about the company. Without it, the staff will be working only for pay and will jump ship at the first sign of trouble.

So, do you know why you do what you do, and can you shout about it? Do you hold yourself accountable to that reason, every time you work?  Make sure everyone knows your why and they’ll keep coming back.

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Photo credit: Walter Lim, Start With Why Diagram