March — The Perfect Month to Improve Your Business

The success or failure of a business largely depends on preparing for the future. By now, our avid readers have “checked in” with customers, suppliers and staff. Armed with all that great feedback, it’s time to put it to use. This blog installment focuses on improving communication with customers, building interest, anticipating demands and adjusting strategies.

You’ve started a conversation with your customers when you checked in with them. Now it’s time to show you care about — and listened to — what they said. One idea is to write down the ideas they give you as you check in and then follow up with an email to make sure you have it right. If they don’t have time for this kind of conversation, a questionnaire can provide insights from them.

While written questionnaires or surveys work, online surveys are currently the favored method to get valuable feedback from customers. These surveys can be quite fun and are commonly posted on popular social media sites, such as Facebook. You know your customers best, so reach out in a way that most appeals to them.

Now that you’ve generated interest and received valuable feedback, it’s time to align that information with your business strategy. This may mean an adjustment, either small or large. Don’t worry! Adjustments due to better information are good. Perhaps you underestimated demand that is about to overwhelm your business. So, you add more resources. Or you over estimated the latest “great” idea — no problem. You can reduce your target or shift to a more successful idea. By treating your customers as partners, your business can adjust to their needs and everyone will be happy.

Communication is essential for success. By speaking with and listening to your customers and then adjusting to their needs, you develop a much stronger tool than a basic sales pitch. You develop a relationship that grows stronger over time and improves the future of your business. At Pen In Hand LLC, we can contribute to your communication team. We have extensive experience creating content for sales brochures, websites, ad copy, door hangers, case studies, and press releases. We can help develop questionnaires, website surveys and customer satisfaction surveys. Phone scripts and site visit coaching documents can be developed to convey your message in a brief, concise and consistent manner. Reach out to us at info@peninhandllc.com if you would like to learn more.