by Steve Scott
http://www.stevescottcoaching.com
©
2009
Very often I get asked: "What can I do to improve
my business? The economy isn't good. I have lost customers. It's more difficult
to find new prospects, customers or clients." While all of this is a harsh
reality for many businesses it is not for many others.
How
come? There are many reasons. Maybe the business you are running is in a good
market niche. Maybe some of your competition has gone out of business thus bringing
more business to you. These are notable but they are all circumstantial. In other
words, fate has put some businesses in a good position regardless of the economic
situation.
When studying small business growth or success
the ones that seem to do well or have the ability to survive, regardless of the
economic situation, have one thing in common. They all demonstrate "positive
deviance."
What is positive deviance? In this case
it is those things that the successful business is doing that the competitors
are either not doing or do very little of .
The best example
I have seen of positive deviance are the small businesses that offer not just
good, but exceptional customer service. To have small business growth exceptional
customer service is a reality, not just a slogan.
Think
about it. Would you rather ride in coach or first class? Most people would rather
ride in first class. And, these successful small businesses make customers and
clients feel like first class passengers on their airline.
A
second attribute of positive deviance is tied to exceptional customer service.
These businesses also practice and have a plan for customer retention and more
importantly, stay in touch with the customer after the sale. In short they build
deeper relationships that go beyond the transactional relationship of actually
doing business. These businesses are adding value to the relationship.
Examples
of adding value, which are part of a good marketing business plan, would be a
regular newsletter, personal notes or a follow up phone call from time to time
to monitor the customer's experience with your product or service.
The
result of providing exceptional customer service and staying touch with the customers
or clients is that by adding value you can start turning them into advocates for
your business. They become your sales force.
And, I have
seen it work over and over again. Virtually every small business that wants to
grow, whether it is in a bad economy or a good one, must demonstrate positive
deviance in relationship building. Exceptional customer service and adding value
by staying in touch are two of the cornerstones that will bring you success.
Success
in this case is that you will be able to run your business by referral. Depending
on your business this will enable you to slash or eliminate your outside advertising.
The cost savings to running your business by referral are huge. And, when you
run your small business by referral, it elevates you and your business. The focus
becomes excellence in doing business, not just doing business.
If
your business isn't doing well right now, exceptional customer service and relationship
building will help and may give you some short term benefit. A more successful
performance strategy is to take the long view.
Start implementing
things or processes immediately that will allow you to excel. When you keep this
focus you will over time build a business that is virtually recession proof. Growing
small business is full of ups and downs. But, when you run your business by referral
the downs are much shallower and the ups are much higher. Now that's a positive
deviance worth pursuing.
