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Business is about people. We all need and want products and services to solve our problems, make our lives easier and fulfill our desires. So, we are all buyers and we interact with people live and/or digitally everyday to get what we want and need.
Think of the last time you bought a product from an independent business owner or hired a service professional to do something for you like bookkeeping, hair cutting, book a vacation, mortgage application, massage, oil change, dental cleaning, etc. What did you like about their service? What did you not like?
Most likely you liked their service if they were friendly, smiled, polite, eager to help you, asked you questions, listened to what you had to say, responded to your communications quickly, explained the product/service in detail, and provided you with their product/service quickly, accurately and to high quality. They also likely wished you well after the product/service was delivered, and asked you to let them know if there is anything else they can do for you.
Does that sound right?
Notice all the parts of their service, called “customer/client service” that didn’t have to do with the actual product/service provided, like:
To be successful in business, you need to provide high quality products/services AND the top-notch customer service others provided to you.
So, before you approach anymore people whether it be in person, over the phone, by email, social media message or other method, look at the business communications you have put out there lately, to see if you provided all of the great customer/client service components listed above. If you did that’s great, you likely are doing well in your business.
Be objective in your evaluations of your past communications by looking for anything you may have done that is counter to the list above.. like spending a lot of time verbally or through digital communication talking about yourself and your products/services compared to the amount of time you asked questions and ACTIVELY listened to your prospects/customers/clients’ answers.
If you discover that you didn’t provide all aspects of great customer service, you likely got fewer sales, repeat business and referrals from the customers/clients.
If you determine that your business communication skills and practices could use improvement, practice the past conversations you could have done better with and the potential conversations you may have out loud over and over again, trying to do better each time. You could also practice them on your friends and family members and ask for their feedback. Then, try it out on your prospects/customers/clients and evaluate yourself and the outcomes of the communications after each interaction, and keep working to improve.
For digital communication, pay attention to the length of your messages. Unless you are relaying information that the reader asked for, keep your communications short and make them engaging, meaning ask questions about them, comment positively on what they say, ask follow up questions, etc.
Any communications you have should be back-and-forth like a tennis game. If you just put a bunch of information out there and hope others get back to you, you won’t get as good of results as if you engaged in the communications like a back-and-forth game.
Below are examples, of actual email marketing emails I have received, as well as an example of a good social media message I created and a bad one I received.
Above are real email-marketing emails I have received in the past year.
What do you think?
Notice the length of the good social media message above and the bad one. Which would you be more likely to read in full?
Other points:
If you would like help to improve your verbal or digital business communication and/or sales skills, book a free consultation with me to discuss my private coaching services.
Tammy Defoe is the Founder and President of GTApreneurs Inc. She is a Business Coach, Sales Trainer and Public Speaking Instructor. She is very skilled and experienced at helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses.
Author: Tammy Defoe Tammy Defoe is the Founder and President of GTApreneurs Inc. She is a Business Coach, Sales Trainer and Public
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