5 Sure-fire Steps for Becoming Your Customer's Go-to-Guy
The key elements for becoming your customer’s/client’s Go-to-Guy are based on traditional values: superior quality of product, high caliber of customer service, and competitive pricing. However, in addition to these traditional values, it is also necessary to stretch yourself beyond them and to establish yourself as an indispensable resource. This means that you express to your customer a sincere intent on becoming part of his team. You do this by providing the customer with the expertise and assistance that he cannot get anywhere else, and by communicating to him a “can do” spirit. This “can do” spirit builds a strong and lasting relationship that produces better results for your customer.
Business success is about relationships… Developing relationships with your stakeholders – employees, lenders, suppliers, and customers – should be the cornerstone of your business endeavors. However, before you can begin to successfully build a relationship with your customer, you first need to have strong and lasting relationships with your employees, lenders, and suppliers. The foundation of these stakeholder relationships are anchored in both trust and value.
A customer/client will initially do business with you if he perceives you to be trustworthy, and if he believes that you can provide additional value to his business. He will continue to do business with you as long as your efforts have been honest and straight-forward, and as long as you actually produce value-added results for his business. In other words, once you have established yourself as a trusted partner and as a valuable Go-to-Guy, your customer will recognize you as the indispensable resource that you are!
In order to acquire this valuable Go-to-Guy status with your customer, follow these Five (5) Sure-fire Steps. These steps should be part of the fabric of your enterprise and of its day-to-day operations.
1. Develop a “can do” spirit that becomes part of your company’s mission, and in turn, its culture. Creating a culture for your company is about cultivating passion in your employees. Keep in mind that your company’s culture can develop only after you clearly articulate the company’s principles to your employees and the methods by which they carry out company activities. As the business owner, you can take actions to create a strong company culture, but it is your employees and their actions that bring the company’s culture to life. Ideally, you will want to have a culture that empowers your employees to delight your customers by exceeding their expectations.
2. Gain a greater level of knowledge about your competition. Perform an ongoing analysis (Competitor Profiling) of each of your top three to five competitors. Competitor Profiles give an in-depth description of the competitor’s background, finances, products, markets, facilities, personnel, and strategies. A Competitor Profile identifies both the strengths and weakness of each competitor and highlights true differences between you and your competitors. The differences between you and your competitors become the foundation for establishing your competitive advantage. Keep continual tabs on your rivals so that when circumstances warrant your immediate attention, you will be able to respond quickly and effectively to the ever-changing, competitive landscape.
3. Prepare a Customer Analysis of each past, present, and prospective customer. Since the Analysis identifies customer types in terms of wants, needs, and desires, it is an essential element of any company’s success. The Customer Analysis should include product mix purchased, price levels, credit limits, payment history, geographic location, number of locations, size of locations, demographic profile, and psychographic profile. The Analysis should also identify the customers that provide the greatest return on investment as well as those customers that you should not being dealing with at all. The Customer Analysis should present answers to these critical questions:
• Why does the customer buy from us? What are the critical factors involved in their decision making process?
• How do we communicate with the customer? How effective is our communication?
• What does the customer like about our business relationship? What do they dislike?
• What does the customer like about our competition? What do they dislike about the competition?
• What additional product/service would the customer buy from us if it were available?
• What is the most critical item that we need to focus on to better our relationship with the customer?
4. Create and effectively articulate your Unique Selling Proposition. Your Unique Selling Proposition is your biggest marketing weapon and is the key to differentiating your business from your competitors. Delivering value and benefits, that no one else can deliver in the marketplace, is the foundation of your Unique Selling Proposition. Your USP becomes the cornerstone of your sales and marketing message. It is this message that builds and reinforces your brand, attracts new customers, and sustains your competitive edge.
5. Create a written Action Plan and implement it for each of your customers– past, present and prospective. Establish one or more goals for each customer. Break down the activities/steps/tasks into small parts, and then identify the actions you need to take for each. Many Action Plans fail because the tasks appear too general or too difficult to obtain. Clearly identify specific goals that you want to accomplish for each individual customer. Set a realistic time schedule for each task. Then, for each goal, determine:
• What activities/steps need to be taken?
• Who in your organization is responsible for each activity/step?
• When will each activity/step begin and end?
• What resources will be used to accomplish each activity/step?
• What is the expected outcome for each activity/step?
• What evidence will demonstrate your progress for each activity/step?
By incorporating a “can do” spirit and by systematically following the Five (5) Sure-fire Steps you can truly become your customer’s Go-to-Guy—His Indispensable Resource.
© 2010 Terry H. Hill, Training for Entrepreneurs.com
-
About the Author:
Terry H. Hill is an author, consultant, trainer, mentor, and the founder & managing partner of Legacy Associates, Inc., a business consulting firm based in Sarasota, Florida. Legacy is the parent company of the online small business, entrepreneurship, and management training website, http://www.TrainingforEntrepreneurs.com A veteran chief executive, Terry works directly with business owners of privately held companies on the issues and challenges that they face in each stage of their business life cycle. Terry is the author of the business desk-reference book, How to Jump Start Your Business. Contact Terry by email at http://www.legacyai.com or telephone him at 941-556-1299.
Article Source