Online Tools (CC) by Greyweed, Flickr

What’s being said about your small business online?

Many small business owners have made the decision to not get involved in the growing social media trend. Their reasons include: the time or money it takes; don’t understand it; doesn’t seem necessary; or their customers aren’t using it.

Avoiding the online world  is the wrong path to take for two reasons.

First, your business is being put on the map without you doing a thing. This happens when various companies and services just do it. It also occurs when people, such as myself, identify you through Yelp, Trip Advisor or being a Google Local Guide. (I put one on and corrected one before coming to work this morning.)

When your business is identified and mapped, you have the opportunity to “claim your business.” This means you can provide basic information about your business including physical address, phone number, web site, and store hours. This information is what the mobile world, well over 50% of the U.S. population, uses as their business data base.

It also allows you to correct information that someone else may have already posted. I did a workshop on having an online presence. During the event I searched for several businesses present that day. The physical location for one of them, a restaurant, showed up as being in the parking lot over six blocks away. As a consumer, if I can’t find you immediately I will probably just go somewhere else.

When claiming your bubble, you also will find reviews already posted.  Thank people for offering testimonials.

For negative reviews, engage them to see how you can resolve the problem. If it is a major issue, take the conversation out of the public channel. The important thing though is to show you are responsive. And it’s important that others see you are concerned.

There is an underlying caveat to responding to reviews, negative and positive. It assumes you are being timely in your response. A response six months after the fact doesn’t help.

Second, outside of the business mapping service, people are more and more likely to use a social media channel for a testimonial or, more likely, a complaint. It’s crucial that you have one or more alert systems in place to monitor what is being said about you and your business.

In the area where I live, there is a controversial issue. Without their knowledge, businesses are being mentioned as being supportive or non-supportive. In the cases I am aware of, they are neither. However, this does not stop social media from spreading the story.

Responding to this stories is crucial for small-business owners. Yet in three of the cases I know about, the owner was not aware of the stories. Thus, my big push as to why you need to be online.

The chances are that, at some level, your business is being mentioned online. Even if it is your local paper’s online edition, you are there.

So accept the fact your business is online. Make plans to use it for building your business.

Photo (CC) by Terry Johnston, on Flickr

Have you ever had a customer waiting for something? How did you respond? Did you provide an answer based on your work schedule, or did you respond quickly, without any thought of whether you could deliver as promised?

Making promises is easy. Keeping those commitments is much harder.

Your response puts you on a slippery slope. You want to appear responsive to customers’ needs, yet over-committing to something you can’t provide only will damage your reputation. Do you think about your work schedule in realistic terms before responding with a commitment? And are you serious in your answer, or are you just wanting to pacify the customer?

Did you say what you meant? When you say a couple of hours, do you mean two hours or sometime maybe that morning or afternoon, or even that day? Did you even think you were making a commitment, or were you really just saying you were working on the problem?

Communication is tricky. You know what you are thinking, but do your words reflect those thoughts accurately?

On the other side, you have the customer. How does he or she interpret your comment?

Each customer may interpret the comment differently. Some will have that firm two-hour block in mind while others understand you are working on the problem with no firm time commitment in mind.

Through time, these things become less of an issue as you get to know your customers. They learn your common phrases and meanings and you know theirs.

Yet you are operating in the dark with the new customer. The early elements of your reputation are being formed with the new customer.

So what can you do? Obviously, part of the answer is to get to know your customers. But if the customer is new, you may not have a second chance to make a favorable impression.

That’s why you need to be honest in your assessments. Don’t use vague answers. Give a clear, specific answer and check back with the customer to ensure they understand your message. Be very aware of what you are telling the customer and how it might be interpreted.

Finally, be clear in your answer and base it on what you know you can deliver. Consult your work schedule to see what’s possible. In other words, don’t say that something will be ready for pickup at 5 p.m. today if you won’t have it ready at that time

Your business reputation is built not only on the work you do but on how well you meet the commitments you make. Clear communication can go a long way to build your reputation. Make it your standard.

Photo (CC) by BruceBer, on Flickr

Promises are made in many different ways by a business.

Some are verbal and some are written. You can find some just in the visual images and graphics shared. Some are offered through traditional marketing channels and some come to us online.

Here are four promises that businesses have recently offered me. Each item was something I was interested in:

• A restaurant, in their advertising and on their website, offered “local foods.”
• An tire repair shop gave me the opportunity to suggest an appointment time that worked for me using their online tool.
• A hotel outlined its green policy and had multiple pictures with the recycle logo of its efforts.
• A local garden shop advertised various products it had for sale.

So what were the results. Three of the four promises made were not kept. Only the hotel came through on having an active “green” program. They showed that through its staff and their work, through blue bin recycling efforts, and through signs demonstrating their efforts.

The other three, well, the wait staff couldn’t tell me what was local at the restaurant; I am still waiting, after three weeks, to hear from the tire repair shop; and the items at the local garden shop were not there (and they had never carried them – it was a generic advertisement).

So what does this mean for the business owner? 

First, in terms of promises kept, we tend to not even recognize most of them. It’s expected so when the transaction is over, we go on our way without a feeling of satisfaction registering. It takes several of these successful trips before we begin to see the company as reliable and dependable. Unless the item is something big or important or involves a timeliness issue, a single promise just doesn’t stand out.

But look how well I remember the promises not kept. One time and I have already identified your company as one to watch or simply to avoid.

In my case, the results of these unkept promises: The tire shop previously provided me with “above and beyond” service so I will probably give them another try: I will probably give the garden shop another try based on past performance; but, I probably would not go back to the restaurant. This was a first time try and there are many other eating choices for my dollar.

It’s difficult to build your business reputation. One miss can overcome a lot of good work. Be aware of the promises you make and work hard to fulfill them.

Photo (CC) Chris Potter, on Flickr via stockmonkeys.com

What do these four things have in common?

• Keep up building maintenance
• Develop your online presence
• Provide good wages and benefits
• Establish a solid customer service program

Give up? Perhaps the article title gave you a hint. Each of these items has been shown to build your bottom line.

That’s correct. Spending money in these and other ways can bring in more than they cost.

And all of these influence customer behavior.

Now before you revise your budget and start writing checks, what is important to understand is that probably none of these methods is effective by itself. But together, you have taken steps toward establishing your brand and your identity.

How?

Building maintenance touches on the visual merchandising aspects of your business. This means having a clean, neat space. The windows are washed and the bathroom is spotless. This doesn’t just apply to the building but your product displays, cash register area, the floors and even rooms not available to the public eye. (Yes, your employees will talk about what goes on behind the scenes.)

Your online presence identifies your willingness to stay connected with your customer and those who might be your future customer. Having a presence shows you are staying current. And as you share your ratings, you begin to build trust and integrity in your business.

Good wages and benefits for your employees may be self-explanatory. You can’t afford to have a revolving door for employees if you want them to not only understand your business philosophy but to live it every day at work and in the hours they spend away from the business. And don’t forget that empowering the employee to take action is a no-cost way to move your business forward.

Having a solid customer service program also builds your reputation. Your program, among other things, should listen, apologize, respond promptly and offer a solution.

Small Business Week

As a business owner, you may consider many aspects of the business as an expense line item. Your task is to make those line items into revenue generators. Your goal is customer retention. One study found that a 5 percent customer retention rate could increase profits by 25 percent or more. Another study noted that more than one-half of customers would pay a 14 percent premium for good customer care.

These are just four examples. Think of what you might be able to do if you make a line-by-line study of your expense items.

So you have your task: Turn your expenses into revenue through the message you send.