Starting a new business has many challenges associated with it, but perhaps the biggest hurdle to get over is finding customers from the start. The longer it takes to build up a customer base, the longer it will take to start making money and even longer before you make a profit. In some cases, this can be too long, and the business has to scale down or fold completely before it even has a chance to begin properly.
That’s why it’s important to impress people – customers – from the very start. It’s not as difficult as it might sound, particularly in this age of technology. Here are some ways it can be done.
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Social Proof
Social proof is, simply put, testimonials and reviews for your business. This is massively important as it will not only impress (assuming everything is positive), but it will also show that they can trust you, that you deliver on your promises, and that your customer service is excellent too.
Even if there are issues with a customer and their review isn’t recommending you as highly as you might like, there are ways to turn this around and impress others as well. Respond well, making your response public where appropriate, so that others can see that you take these things seriously and you are determined to put things right. Reviews can be changed, and if you work hard here, it will pay dividends later on. A great example of a good complaint’s procedure can be seen at https://kallibr.com.au/complaints-appeals-policy/.
Be Professional
No matter what you do in business, you should always be professional. Whether you work in a huge multinational corporation or it’s just you as a sole trader, you must not take things too personally. If you take things to heart, you will not be looking objectively at what you are doing, and you might not be as professional as you should be.
Being professional means responding to queries in a timely manner, being polite and courteous, sending out invoices and reminders on time, getting the job done well, and helping customers wherever possible.
The more professional you are, the more likely people are to buy from you, buy from you again, and recommend you to friends and family.
Listen
Not everyone has the ability to listen, and when you run a business, making sure you do have that ability and ensuring that you put it into practice when potential customers are asking questions and talking about what they need is crucial. Firstly, it will be a pleasant surprise for the customer to feel they are really being listened to. Secondly, it means you will be able to help them much more efficiently, thus ensuring a happy customer and a well-received product or service.
Listening will help you to get the job done correctly the first time. It also means you don’t have to keep going back to the customer to ask more questions, which can be frustrating, irritating, and even off-putting all together. It certainly doesn’t give off a professional impression of you and your business.
