Are You in Control?

Are you?

Are your employees?

Are your customers?

The answer is…your CUSTOMERS are, AND, your EMPLOYEES drive the customer experience.

 

Here is why;

 

As the forward thinking entrepreneur it’s your business, it’s your idea, and you have a great service or product. You control the budgets and how the business runs, you might answer to shareholders, but guess what…it is not about the money, and no one cares about your product or service until it matters to them. If you keep talking about product or service, no one (apart from your immediate circle, friends and family) is listening. If this is your limit, that’s ok. You can stop reading this. But if you want to grow or step up the business, keep reading.

Your employees do have some control on your business, under your #leadership of course. Your employees may contribute to the business, the processes, but remember they are ABSOLUTELY your lifeline to your customers. Guess what, poor customer care is a sign of a broken brand and poor company culture.

Your CUSTOMERS do control your business – because without them your business is nothing but a hobby. And, you don’t have a brand until they tell you you have a brand (the wisdom of Marty Neumeier)

• If your customer care is poor – your brand is damaged.
• If you’re not speaking their language – they don’t hear you.
• If you don’t create meaning for them – they don’t care.
• If your purpose means nothing to them – they don’t care.
• If you are not standing out for them – they don’t see you.

It is important to know exactly who your customer is, and why you matter to them.

Building a brand is also about the future of the business, so here are a couple of questions…

What do your customers want in the future?

And how are you going to matter to them in the future?

Here is another question…

Who will be your buyers in the future?

Just a quick aside – We all know Gen Z is here, and their buying behaviours are different to anything that has gone before, (they grew up with the internet). To this next generation the purpose of a business really matters, because if your purpose means something to them, they are more likely to engage, in fact over 94% more likely, (but be aware of purpose washing – it’s kinda like green washing) – end of aside.

How can you influence Customers, and be meaningful to them?

• You can create your purpose with truth and authenticity.
• You can control what happens in the subconscious mind of your audience, where our thoughts and feelings live, by influencing perception.
• You can build a company culture where your employees want to stick with you and live your brand.
• You can use a tone of voice that connects to your audience and speaks their language
• You can figure out what is different about you and stand out for your customers
• You can figure out why you matter to your customers

And finally just going back to purpose again, your purpose is NOT your mission or your vision, yes they feed into your purpose, but your purpose is your reason for being beyond making money, and it is built from the ground up.