BEAT THE COMPETITION

Let’s face it, more and more people are worried about the current economic conditions and how they will be impacted.  Comments such as, “Our inquiries have really dropped off,” “People are sure taking a long time to make buying decisions,” “Our customers are demanding more from us or leaving,” “Pricing pressures are becoming the norm,” “Far more “shoppers” than buyers,” “It costs a lot more to find new customers these days,” “Customers are defecting at all time high rates,” along with many other similar and related comments. Now, more than ever, is your time to Be Disruptive, Build Loyalty and Change the Game so you not only survive, but thrive in the future!  This is NOT the time to hunker down and hope the storm blows over quickly – it is here for the foreseeable future.

What are you going to do to Take Advantage of it and come out stronger when the growth cycle kicks in again?  What are you going to change from what you are doing today to give you different results?  Most look for ways to cut the fat out of the organization and improve processes to squeeze every dime out of operations – certainly something to consider. However, while this cost-cutting effort is going on, what are you doing to focus on the group that actually pays you money – the CUSTOMER?  How are you capturing more revenue so you can increase profitability and dominate your competition?

Here are 5 things you can do today to help you BEAT THE COMPETITION and be a leader in your industry...

  • Start by truly understanding your client base. Truly “understand” where your revenue and profits are coming from in your customer base.  This will help feed the other Steps going forward.
  • Now ask tough questions of your leadership team, based on analytics, to truly understand where opportunities exist.  This Step is all about understanding your customer and the competitive landscape.  Time spent here will help you focus for Step 3.
  • Now find out what is going on externally with your customers – the experience you deliver.  Go out and get some good information directly from your customer so you know what experience would differentiate you from your competitors.  
  • Now focus on implementation and retention.  Since you now know which customers have the greatest profitability and what it would take to move them to becoming “Loyalists,” you are ready to build and implement the “truly awesome” customer experience.
  • Start delivering the new experience, communicate it and then measure the results.  Communicate to your customer what you are doing.  They will appreciate you focusing on them and Changing the Game and keeping your promises to build Trust, which leads to Loyalty/Retention, and ultimately Advocacy.

If you find this interesting, and I hope you do, please enjoy a complimentary download of the article below. Let me know if you have any questions for if it stirred more interest where you would like to talk further...