(Time to read this article is about 90 seconds)
When I was a young guy, girls who were “easy” were popular for all the wrong reasons. But in business, being “easy” is a very good thing. Staples, the office supplies retailer, has created a whole marketing campaign around being “Easy”.
So, are you “easy” in all the right ways? Here are 8 important “easy” questions to ask:
- First, are you easy to find wherever your target customers might be looking for you? Are you easy to find in person or on the internet? Have you used ‘search engine optimization’ to be at the top of the screen on internet searches?
If you’re exhibiting at a Trade Show, is your booth easy to find? If your business is on a long street, do you always state the name the closest cross street, so folks know about where you are? For example, Yonge Street. in Toronto runs 40 miles from Lake Ontario, to Newmarket. So, saying that you’re at 8267 Yonge St. is not all that helpful.
What will you do to be easier to find? If people can’t find you, you don’t exist.
- If your customers have to come to you, is it easy and affordable to park, or to get to you by public transportation? If not, how can you make it easier…and be amazing in the process?
- Is it easy to understand what you do and all the ways you can be helpful to your target customers? The quickest way to increase sales by 10% to 15% in most businesses is to make sure that your existing customers know about all the value you can deliver.
So, what are 5 things you will do to make it easier for your target customers to understand what you do, and all the ways you can be helpful?
- Are you easy to communicate with? Is your contact information on your website emails, invoices, price lists and marketing materials? Do you speak your customers’ language? Do you have a phone answering system that drives people nuts? Do you communicate clearly, in person, on your website, in your printed material and on your contracts, invoices and packaging? Do you get back to people quickly when they have a question or problem?
Specifically, how will you improve your customer communication at every ‘touch point’?
- Are you easy to do business with? What is it about doing business with you that drives customers nuts? Do you have processes that are inefficient, staff that are not trained, or policies that are deceptive or annoying? How can you make it easier for your customers to buy…and to come back for more?
- Is it easy to pay you, or do you make folks jump through hoops, follow confusing processes or wait in long lines, to give you their money? How will you fix this?
- Is it easy to trust you? Do you always do the right thing…or just when it suits you? Do you deliver your promises? Are you trustworthy? Is your entire industry considered to be untrustworthy…and, if so, how can you clearly differentiate yourself by becoming the one that folks do trust?
- Are you easy to recommend? Do you always perform in a way that people feel safe recommending you? Do you have customers or fans? Customers give you business. Fans help you grow your business. What extraordinary things can you do to turn customers into fans?
So, there you have it; 8 questions to ask when looking for ways to become easier to do business with. How will you use them to be more popular, for all the ‘right’ reasons?
