As I wait for
yet another late contractor,
my willingness to overlook issues
is dropping
dramatically.
Because his lateness
tells me
my business
and my time
are NOT important to him.
If it was important,
he would be on time.
And this will cost him.
There will be
no bonuses.
I will negotiate
every charge
he seeks to apply.
And I doubt I’ll work with him
again.
There are costs
to being late,
some of them
you will never become aware of.
Be on time.
Every year, I craft
a short story
as a thank you gift
for readers.
This short story
costs me about $1,000 US
to craft
and takes 1 month of work.
I give it away for free.
This year’s story has
over 1,000 downloads.
But I haven’t received
any thank yous from readers.
Not one.
There is complete silence.
Which causes me to think
they no longer appreciate
these free short stories.
So next year,
I won’t be crafting one.
Thanking someone
makes a difference.
If you enjoy or appreciate
something,
thank the person
or the company
supplying it.
I send my beloved Mom
a poinsettia
every November,
the start of
her holiday season.
Every October,
I have to email
the florist
to ask them if they are selling
poinsettias
that year
as there aren’t any yet listed
on their site.
They say, ‘Yes.’
I buy a random florist bundle
and ask them
to change the order
to a poinsettia.
Every year.
Which is fine
for me
because I know the florist has sold poinsettias
in the past.
But what about new customers,
customers who don’t know
they sell poinsettias?
What about customers
who don’t want to take on
the extra work
of contacting the florist?
I suspect THEY
either
don’t order the poinsettias
or
they contact another florist,
a florist who has poinsettias
displayed on their site.
And there ARE other customers
like me wanting poinsettias.
Because for every customer
contacting a business
about something,
there are dozens or hundreds
of customers
with the same issue.
If one customer contacts you
about an issue,
consider fixing that issue
for everyone.
In my part of the world,
1 in 25 people (or more)
are currently suffering
from COVID.
That’s one illness alone.
There are wars happening
that impact
people’s families and friends.
Climate change
is still impacting people
and their loved ones.
People are facing
many other challenges.
These people include
your sales and other customer facing
teams.
Customer service is,
as a result,
sucking big time.
And that is impacting
your customers
and your sales.
What can you do
about this?
You can build
more customer service
into your products.
Place a thank you message
on your packaging, for example.
Or/And
You can tweak your systems
to make customer service easier
for your employees.
You can take out steps
in the product return process,
for example.
Or/And
You can hire more employees.
Or give employees more paid breaks
during the day.
Or make their working conditions
as pleasant as possible.
These are just a few fast ideas.
Your customer facing employees
can likely supply more.
Your customer service
sucks right now.
Do something to ‘fix’ it
and improve future sales.
I had a social media post
go viral recently.
It received many, MANY thousands
of likes.
I didn’t receive
any new followers
due to that post.
Not one.
Sales
didn’t increase
due to it.
I gained no additional satisfaction
from the post
being seen by so many people.
All it did
was suck a lot of my time
as I had to manage the responses.
Going viral isn’t always
the solution
to your marketing woes.
Look into
a variety of possible solutions
and hope
one of those
works for you.
Yes, I know
your products are available
at a variety of places.
Yes, I know
if you set up a page
with links to all those places,
you will likely
forget one.
Yes, I know
it is simpler
to tell prospects
to search for
your product name
at their online store of choice.
But most people
won’t search
for your product name.
That is too much work
for them.
(I’m included in that group.)
They won’t buy your product.
Add a buy link
to social media posts.
If you forget
an online store
on your website’s product listing,
add it.
But please send customers
somewhere.
‘Influencers’ claim people
should change their bath towels
every two years
or they lose their effectiveness.
This is, of course,
bullsh*t.
I have rotated between
two bath towels
for well over two decades
and they remain ‘effective’
and soft.
The push to replace
bath towels after two years
is artificial obsolescence.
It is a marketing campaign
to sell more bath towels.
And…
it works!
Most people I know
replace their bath towels
every two years.
Can you use
artificial obsolescence
to sell more
of your products?
One of my Romance Novels series
sells REALLY well.
It earns
more than all the other series
combined.
THAT is the series
I promote the most.
Why?
Because $1 promoting that series
has a larger financial return
than $1 promoting any other series.
The series has a fanbase
to help boost the promotions.
These readers (customers)
are more likely to share
promotional material.
The series already has a good ranking (positioning)
at online booksellers.
Promotion boosts that ranking higher
and higher ranking means
exponentially larger visibility.
It has the glowing reviews
which help sell the book
once readers (prospects) arrive
at the sales page.
It has momentum
and an object in motion
stays in motion.
Feed the strong.
That usually has
a better return
than promoting the weak.
One of my Romance Novels
(products)
was featured
on an extremely popular
podcast.
That gave me
new readers (customers).
I reached out
to my agent
about being featured
and she reached out
to some of my former publishers.
THEY then promoted
my novels (products).
That gave me
more new readers (customers).
I chatted about that
to some authors
with larger readerships
(customer bases).
THEY then promoted
my novels (products)
to THEIR readers (customers).
When you receive some good luck,
leverage it
as much as you can.
Turn good luck
into GREAT luck.
I go on cruises
regularly.
I usually stay
in the least expensive cabin.
Recently, my cabin
was upgraded
for free.
It had a balcony
and was larger.
It will be VERY challenging
to go back
to booking
the least expensive cabin.
Temporary upgrades
WORK.
They will shift
some of your customers
to the more expensive option.
Offer a temporary upgrade
to your loyal customers
as a ‘reward’.
Evaluate the results.
Expand that marketing
if you see positive results.