Happy Customer Service Week!
Celebrated in the first week of October (along with, appropriately, Get Organized Week), Customer Service Week is a good excuse for us to round up some seasoned advice to help you ramp up your customer service.
Below, we share tips and tactics for finding that first customer and keeping them coming back.
Know Your Target Market
First step toward finding that first customer: understand who your potential customers are and how your product or service would benefit them. Follow these tips to find your target market, brainstorm your benefits and reach potential customers.
To dig deeper into the demographics and psychographics of your target market, do some market research at your local library or visit Pew Internet for the latest research and data on the online habits of your potential customers.
Build Your Brand
A free Google website (Google: Google website and your state) can be a key piece of real estate to help you communicate your brand to customers who are searching for your goods and services.
But before you build your website, make sure you’ve built a solid brand. This series from Entrepreneur magazine and marketing expert Jim Joseph can help your business market like the big brands on a small business budget. Some of my favorites in the multipart series are:
- Defining Your Brand: The First Step In Your Marketing Strategy
- The Art of Positioning Your Brand and Why You Can’t Afford to Screw It Up
- How to Engage Customers on a Dime
Don’t Neglect the Old School
Face-to-face networking and business referrals can be golden tickets to really connecting with potential customers, communicating your value and building a relationship. In fact, landing referrals from networking or past business associations is both a cheap way to pick up new business and boasts the highest retention rates.
In this video, Mompreneur Melanie Coburn, co-founder of networking community Cadre, shares how to make connections and network effectively. Pro-tip: use Eventbrite to be strategic about where you’re going and to find out who will be there.
How to Keep Them
Delivering on your brand promise and providing exceptional customer service: that’s how you keep customers coming back—and even turn the toughest of customer critics into evangelists.
Here are a few tips on building customer advocates—and even turning them into your salesforce.
- How Do You Find Evangelists?
- Turn Your Toughest Customer into Your Biggest Fan
- Get Your Customers to Sell for You
Need help?
Use our Resource Navigator to find Resource Partners in your area who are ready to help you define your market, build your brand and find that first customer.
Here’s how, for example, to search for folks who can help you target your market:
- Under “Area of Assistance” select “Marketing.”
- Under “Specific Need,” select “Research.”
- Add your zip code, your industry and your business stage to narrow the results to your location and your niche.
Also remember that you can always call, email, or live chat with our Iowa Business Concierge if you’d like to connect with a real person who can help you grow your business.
Content contributed by Sarah Mote, KCSourceLink. KCSourceLink is a proud affiliate of U.S.SourceLink, America’s largest resource network for entrepreneurs.
