A promise in business - always easier to make than to keep

Running a small business, and especially an online one, will put you in close touch with customers.

You don’t always want to be exposed like this. Indeed, a clever autoresponder strategy ought to be one of the foundations of your online business.

Here’s two things you might like to try to make your customer connection really sweet. They are two simple tactics that will keep a small business well ahead of big competitors who will never be able to offer fast, personal customer service like this.

First one: keep your promises.

That means, only promise what you can deliver. Sure. But it also means make realistic commitments on things like quality and delivery times — and bending over backwards to meet your commitments.

Just a few days ago I told a US client, on the phone, that I would complete some work by ‘this time tomorrow’. Well, that turned out to be a little harder than I had anticipated. Never-the-less, I had a time zone difference that worked in my favor a little (I work from down here in New Zealand) and I was able to put other things aside to meet my deadline. (Actually, I missed it by about half an hour, but that was almost certainly close enough.)

Big companies find this difficult. You can differentiate your business right here.

Another thing: fix problems right away.

Customer absolutely love this. If you can find a way to do it you will quickly rise to hero status in the eyes of your clients. And they will recommend you to everyone they meet.

Problems will arise in any business. If you have caused them, then certainly you need to make corrections quickly. But even if you didn’t, there are many problems that can be put right quickly. Fix the mistakes fast and you will have a lot of happy customers. And customers who know you know your work are on top of things, and can act when you need to.

They will have no trouble seeing your service is better than the sluggish, bigger businesses who have departments dedicated to work and (usually) no-one allocated to problem solving. Your business will shine.