Friday, May 20, 2005

Have You Ever Thought "I Need More Customers" ?

Sure you have!

If you're an actively involved business person, entrepreneur, manager or CEO you've probably asked yourself this question a few hundred times. But at some particular point you've got to start doing something about it. So what can you do when you need more customers?

BLOOM WHERE YOU'RE PLANTED...
Well one of the first things that I recommend my clients do is take a survey of what you already have. Often times we fail to bloom where we're planted. We generally look at the grass on the other side that really isn't any greener than ours and think..."it sure would be a lot better if I had so in so's customers". A Jewish friend of mine told me a story about a guy in the Torah named Moses who when he was caught between a rock and a hard place was instructed to use what he had in his hand. Moses had a rod...so what do you have?

What current customers do you have that you've failed to provide unforgettable, inspirational service to? What would happen if you would maximize the customer relationships of all of the existing customers you currently have? I mean if you really went out of your way to invest some time into going the extra, extra mile for all of your existing customers. I know what would happen and so do you my friend.

So when you find yourself thinking you need more customers do the following:

Bloom where you're planted and take a survey of every customer you have and ask yourself the deep, deep questions that only you can answer...Have you left your customer asking "Where is the love"?

When was the last time I made customer contact?
Did I investigate to find out if everything was going well?
Does my customer feel like they've been left abandoned?
Am I serving them by successfully taking care of all unresolved issues?

If you've done all of the above you're probably not asking yourself "where are the customers"? You're probably asking deeper questions like "Hey Sally when are we going to get in those new hires to take care of all the new customers we're getting"?