Step 1:
Measure your customers’ satisfaction. Customers generally won’t tell you if you’re not meeting their requirements; they’ll just buy from your competitors instead. Recent research by Accenture shows that more people will change suppliers because of poor service than because of price.
Customers will like you more if you show that you’re interested in their opinion. So ask for it.
Step 2:
Measure the effectiveness of your marketing. It’s likely you already track where your leads come from, but is your marketing as efficient as it could be? Find out what messages you should be giving to your target market, through which media and you can make sure you’re spending your marketing budget as wisely as possible.
Step 3:
If you quote for work and are not successful, don’t assume it’s just because of the price. People don’t always buy the cheapest and lowering your price may even give a negative impression of your business. Under-valuing your services (because you’re not getting enough business) could actually start a vicious circle of creating the wrong impression, leading to further price cuts, leading to a worse impression.
When you’ve quoted for work and not won the business, ask why.
Step 4:
In any business there is an inevitable element of customer churn. But why are they leaving? You may be wrongly assuming it’s because the market is depressed, but you may be losing market share because your customers prefer what your competitors have to offer.
Ask your ex-customers if they are now buying from somewhere else – and if so, why.
Step 5:
Assess what you’ve learned from the above, make the necessary adjustments to stay ahead of the competition and:
Step 6:
Go back to Step 1! The business environment is changing all the time; don’t be complacent and don’t think that doing this once is enough.
If you want to speak to Shape the Future about your own future, call us on 0800 781 4045
or email us by clicking here.
.
