As a small business owner, you know that today’s customers want it all, their way, and they want it all now! It’s simply a reality of doing business these days. Lucky for you, as a small business you actually have an advantage over some of your larger competitors when it comes to creating the peak service experiences today’s customers want. Before we explore why that is, let’s quickly take a look at what today’s customers really want:
Customers today want their service experience to be hassle-free! They want your company to be easy to do business with, and have error free services and products delivered in as short a time possible AND they want those products and services to be comparably priced – or less expensive – than your competitors AND, in this digital, technology driven world, what they really want is personal human connection! Because, after all, before we’re anything else, including being a customer, we’re all human beings!
Today’s customers won’t be satisfied with having just one part of this equation. They want it all. And that’s why being a small business can be advantageous:
- As a small business, you have the flexibility to make changes quickly. Customers having to wait too long for service? A small business can quickly identify all the reasons customers have to wait, brainstorm different ways around, try them out and make changes! Small businesses have the flexibility that big ones often don’t!
- Figuring out how to improve service processes, especially finding ways to be more effective – to do things right the first time – helps save money because you don’t waste time fixing things. And we all know, time is money! So, making changes in your service processes keeps costs low too!
- Finally, small businesses have the opportunity to create closer, deeper, more human relationships with their customers! And that’s a huge advantage, because when we have a deep, personal, human relationship with a customer, we can meet their underlying needs and wants – and that’s what turns a customer into a customer-for-life!
As you can see, being a small business has many advantages! However, in order to capitalize on that advantage, you need to use, what I call Practical Creativity! Practical Creativity means first getting creative ideas to improve service to customers, and then, turning those ideas into reality! How often have you had an idea to do something in your business in a different way and then simply said to yourself, “Nope. That wouldn’t work.” It’s a common thing we human beings do! However, until we turn our creative ideas into reality, we haven’t helped our customers – or our small business!
Sometimes, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and think that big businesses have all the advantages. If you’re using Practical Creativity to your advantage, though, it’s really the opposite!
Have some great stories about how your small business has taken advantage of Practical Creativity? Let me know, I’d love to hear!
Karyn Ross
