Success Plan 2013

Create a plan for your success.  Success is not an accident. Success is a conscious and well-implemented plan.  As 2013 knocks on the door, and New Year’s resolutions are just around the corner, it is time to plan for success in 2013. 

Goals

Do you have specific goals with time frames and an action plan for achievement?  Are they written?  Have you shared them with someone who will hold you accountable for implementing them?

Knowing what you want is good.  Deciding how to achieve it is essential.

A coaching client of mine is a mountain climber.  He says, “Getting to the summit is optional.  Getting down is not.”  This same sentence applies to goals.  Knowing what you desire to achieve sets a target.  Designing and implementing a specific plan to reach that goal is critical..

Time frame:

The most efficient plan is to set goals in stepping stones: 3 month, 6 month, 1 year, 3 years and 5 years.  Looking at a five year goal may appear overwhelming but breaking it down into smaller time frames makes it appear more realistic.  It is similar to weight goals.  If the ultimate goal is to reduce your weight by 100 pounds, it may feel impossible.  If the goal is to lose one pound a week, the goal does not feel so overwhelming.  A pound a week is quite realistic. 

Start easy and build.  If your goal is to increase sales by fifty percent for the year, start by deciding to increase sales by one percent per week. 

Decide on tomorrow’s target activity the night before.  Let your subconscious work on the best strategy for approaching the challenge from the mind of the customer.  What do you need to do to improve your presentation to the potential customer? 

Target Areas

Product knowledge – You know your product but does your customer know how the product will directly benefit them?  The more you know about your product and the more you know about the needs of your customer, the easier it is to match the two together.

If the customer needs to attract more clients and your product is printing, introduce them to your new brochure design templates.  Show them the variety of designs available and how easy it is for them to create their own custom brochure.  Indicate how they will be able to have a professional result without the professional price.  Take them to PrintPlace.com and show them the quick turnaround time, the famous PrintPlace guarantee and the mailing services options.  

Company knowledge – Familiarize yourself with the core values, beliefs, history, mission and value proposition of your company.  Know them in such a way that you can relate them to the potential customer in a way that demonstrates how those values, beliefs and mission will benefit the customer.

Take them to the home page of PrintPlace.com and show the variety of products as well as the price match guarantee.  Point out the fine print at the bottom of the page.  “PrintPlace.com is one of the leading online providers of offset printing and mailing services. With our simple online ordering system and guaranteed low prices, small businesses to Fortune 100 corporations receive more value for every print order made.”  Here the fine print is a positive, not a hesitation.

Success stories – When the customer can see themselves relating to the success of their peers, it increases their connection to you.  Stories demonstrate the power of what the product did for real people – people like them.

Image the future you desire and stay on track to achieve it. – Knowing your goals helps you to stay on track, but knowing your customer’s goals helps you to help them achieve those goals.  The most successful salesmen ask the customer about their goals and together they design a plan to achieve those goals. 

Know “why” you will persist not matter what happens until you achieve your goals.  You cannot force the customer to achieve their goals, but you can certainly work on your own target goal.

Believe in yourself – Success is 80% mental and 20% talent.  As an employer, a success motivated employee with average skills was always preferable to a highly talented employee with a lazy attitude.  Repeating positive affirmations to yourself such as “I’m getting better every day.”  “I’m making progress.” makes an amazing difference.  Be honest with yourself and optimistic; don’t fake it.  Repeat positive statements to yourself which you truly believe.

Healthy Mind and Body – Stress happens to all of us at some point.  Find a healthy stress release.  Listen to music, read a book, take a walk or gaze at a picture of someone you love.  Do whatever works for you.  Take care of yourself mentally and physically.  If you are like me, you do not do your best work when you are stressed, exhausted or hungry. 

Success is achieved by establishing a goal, a plan to achieve it and diligently following that plan.  These six elements will assist you along your path to achieving all of your goals.

Customer Service in Tough Times

How much do you enjoy hearing an automated answering service say, “Listen carefully as our menu options have changed?  Press 1 for . . . .”  It’s not once but a series of, “We need a little more information in order to solve your problem.”  By the time you have negotiated the automated jungle for fifteen minutes and still have not reached a human, the frustration is at its maximum.  If you pressed one key wrong in the process you may have to start over.  Heaven forbid if the call is dropped in the automated chain of events. 

Authentic, caring and personalized customer service invites rather than repels business.  Humanizing your business puts the service back in customer relations and fills a customer satisfaction need.

Automation saves the company money

Does it really?  BI (before the internet), a happy customer told three and an unhappy customer told ten.  Now with the social media platform, an unhappy customer can tell hundreds with a few keystrokes.  It is not a savings if it irritates customers so much that they leave.

Social media can be a positive or a negative. You can humanize your brand by personally responding to customers in a prompt manner.  If they wrote telling you that your app is not loading correctly on their smart phone or that your purchase link is broken on your web site, you know the problem and can immediately offer a “work-around” solution while you correct the issue.  If instead you issued the canned, “We are sorry for the inconvenience, how can we help you?” response, they immediately know it was a pre-written standard message. 

So what can you do?

Personalize your customer service by returning calls, emails and social media communication promptly with a human response rather than a canned reply.  Set up an online chat room and staff it more than a few hours a day.  Use follow up “how did we do?” emails or surveys; they can be as short as two or three questions.  Even better, make a telephone call to inquire about their experience.

Show customer appreciation by sending a note card.  Even two lines on a handwritten card can make or break a relationship.  Thanking someone is good but thanking immediately is double the positive impact.  Thank them even if their comment was not positive.  The fact that you cared enough to send a note will do wonders to bring them back into the fold.  If the conversation is agitated, take it offline to work through the details and find a solution.

In Tough Economic Times, Tensions Rise

This can be one of the most challenging customer service issues.  Customers who always paid on time are now running late and customers who had a record of paying late may not be paying at all. 

Customer service will shine or crash in challenging economic times.  Customers are naturally more edgy when the bottom line goes red instead of black.  Sometimes they are looking for someone to blame, anyone except themselves. 

Reach out to them with a helping hand.  Call with the genuine motivation of asking how they are doing.  Be willing to extend caring without attempting to sell or collect any past due amounts.  Starting a conversation with “How much can you pay?” will be a conversation stopper.  Create more of a business partner than a supplier/purchaser relationship.  If they say they need to bring in more business, offer low cost ideas which will truly help.  PrintPlace.com has the freedownloadable design templates for postcards and brochures.  These templates will allow them to create their own designs and receive professional results without the professional creation price. 

Suggest mailing to the customer lists already in their database rather than purchasing new lists.  Hand distributing brochures to local businesses and existing customers would increase their customer connection and keep costs to a minimum. 

Caring customer service can cement the relationship and assist them in getting back on their financial feet.