“Big things come in small packages!” This is especially true for startups and small businesses that are very keen about increasing their profits and are ready to do anything for it. The only problem SMBs are unaware of is, mostly big things that really matter to business can be achieved just by changing a few small things in the work process and strategies.
Customer Service Improvements
No matter what your business is about, if you are directly dealing with the customers (anything from selling shoes to electronics) you need to have a customer service department that can listen to your clients and help them solve their issues concerning products, delivery, payments and other related details.
These days almost every business has customer service representatives and if the business size is big then they can have a separate department for this. There are quite a few things you can do to improve the quality of your customer service to make your customers not only love you but also share their good experience within their circles.
What you can do to improve?
Here are the steps you can follow to improve your customer service:
- Do not limit yourself to phone calls but leverage your customers on social and interact with them.
- Potential customers are as important as the actual customers who are buying from you, so spend equal time no matter if they are buying from you or not.
- Keep the policy “Don’t sell, help them buy!”
- Job of a CSR does not end when the product is sold, taking your customers feedback and making them happy is the real job.
- Encourage your clients to share their experience online on platforms like, Google+ local, Yelp and more and this will help you get more potential clients.
These are not big changes in the department as a whole but at the end of the day these ideas will not only help your client stick with you but also give you word of mouth.
Multiple Payment Options
Here we are mostly talking about the retail businesses so as a business owner you should think a lot like a retailer who cares about his customers as well as business.
Multiple payment options are a win win situation for any business as at one end the customer can conveniently pay their bills via different channels so businesses, because of these options, get more chances to close a deal with the customer; on the other hand it adds up a star to your customer service.
What you can do here?
When it comes to payment options there are multiple options one can use that will influence your conversion rate.
- Paypal is widely used online; the idea is to integrate it at your physical shops as well so that people can pay via their cell phones.
- There are few small businesses that are still running on cash only, including options like credit cards, VISA and master cards can help them increase their conversion rate.
- I am not sure if businesses have started doing this or not but Bit Coins are in demand these days. Putting bitcoin as a payment option might encourage digi-lovers and as a whole your conversion rate and sales will increase.
Again, the more payment gateways you will have the more easily you can convert people. Although it is important to have more payment options, always consider the risk in mind and play safe accordingly.
Multiple Shopping Options
You are using the internet to get access to this post and other options you have are to subscribe to the blog and get the same article within your inbox or you can even print it out as hard copy . My point is, in today’s world customers need multiple options for shopping as well.
There are tons of physical businesses that have their online websites from where their customers can shop but if you want to be in the longer run, this is not enough – rather you must have a separate site for mobile and tablet users.
I was looking in to the analytics of an ecommerce store that didn’t have a mobile website and this is what I see there:
The traffic is around 27% on mobile and 18% on tablet, however, the website is not compatible with mobile devices. Now consider the amount of leads they are missing now.
Here is the solution:
There are a few obvious things you can do and that is to have a desktop and mobile friendly version of your online portal for your customers but this may require a big budget. However, here are the small steps that you can take quickly without much hassle.
- Attract potential customers through social media (i.e twitter and Facebook) and leverage them to the website.
- Use apps like shoptab.net to import your shop to Facebook and convert business from social.
- Have a responsive design for your website so that it can work for any type of mobile device as well as computers.
Following these changes can help you earn more profit and more sales for your business.
Discounts and Deals
No matter if you are an online or an offline business, offering deals and discounts to your potential and existing customers is a great idea. This will not only help you sustain your current customer base but will also help you leverage your sales . The best part about this is that it does not take much of your time or money.
There are businesses I know who do not consider these discounts and deals as important apart from the big days like Christmas, Easter and more. However on such big events every other store is offering discounts and deals and so offering discounts in this zone might not hit it off.
How to implement this?
Here are a few ideas that you can use to implement the discount strategy that will do well:
- Try to give discounts to your existing customers so that they feel personal. This will help you create a community around your brand that cares about the business.
- Offer deals other than on big days and this will help you stay ahead of the competition and get more customers.
- Put general deals on deals websites like fat wallet and deal pursue to cater larger audience.
There could be many other ideas that you can implement in your business strategy to make a big difference in your sales and profits.
If there is anything important that I missed above, please feel free to share in the comment section below.
Images: ”Hand writing Strategy with blue marker on transparent wipe board. / Shutterstock.com“
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