Hello, and welcome to the Ciceroni blog! By reading this blog, you will sharpen your business, and sales and marketing skills in preparation of becoming a well rounded and knowledgeable business person.
Throughout 2008, I will be discussing easy to follow techniques to increase your sales, brand awareness and product placement success. In my direct executive level involvement over the years, I have uncovered many business "secrets" of major corporations. Big businesses have been using these secrets for years as a simple and effective way to grow their businesses. In order to level the playing field, I will be exposing these secrets to benefit both you, personally, and your business.
My intention with this blog is to:
Challenge you and your business beliefs Force you to "Think outside the box" Push you to Push yourself Make you look in the mirror
I invite you to journey with me throughout 2008 to drive your business and create the success you only thought was possible!
"Sales and Marketing Secrets of Major Corporations - What they don't want you to "know!
Secret #1 - Customer Service is DEAD! All you hear and read about is providing incredible customer service in everything you do. Well, let me tell you, a lot of a business owners' time is focused AND wasted on trying to provide effective and incredible customer service. That's what all the major corporations and business gurus out there want you to think. While you're wasting your time focusing on providing great customer service, they're busy taking all of your sales!
When was the last time you had a good customer service experience at some of the big box retailers?
Do you expect good customer service?
Why do you shop there?
I would guess it is not because of good customer service. People shop at these retailers because they know they will get the lowest price for a product. If you expected good customer service when you shopped there, you probably would be disappointed and would not return.
Many big box retailers do not focus on effective customer service and neither should you unless you think you know more then they do.
Case in point: Wal-Mart focuses on the expectations and experiences of their customers. Wal-Mart knows their customers EXPECT a "low price always" so they strive to create the effective experience of "low price always" in all they do. It is the experience of fulfilling the consumer's expectations which will provide repeat customers and drive new customers to you! And just to keep things in perspective, I am not saying Wal-Mart does or does not care about customer service. This example was meant to highlight their approach toward providing their customers an experience.
Instead of focusing your attention on customer service, you must instead focus on the experience your customer desires. Giving the customers what they want, when they want it is far more positive and beneficial to your company than any customer service initiative you could provide. One employee having a bad day will ruin your effective customer service promise and will probably drive your business elsewhere. By understanding the consistent experience your customer expects - you will be able to create a vision, mission, culture and strategy that focus on always providing this experience to your customer.
You need to ask yourself - Who is my customer? What do they want? How do I give it to them? When you can answer these questions, you will also be able to create an experience to drive your business. We will examine these questions in detail as well as the mistakes made in creating a sales and marketing plan in next week's blog of the Sales and Marketing Secrets of Major Corporations - What they don't want you to know!
In the meantime - check us out at http://www.capjem.com/. We stand ready to partner with you in the success of your business endeavors.
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