In the last post, we discussed the first secret to creating a robust customer service plan and how to determine your vision.

Today, we’ll discuss the second secret to transforming satisfied customers into Raving Fans: understanding your customers’ needs. To effectively serve your customers, you must know who they are, and demographics play a crucial role here. For example, an upper-class woman in her 30s will have vastly different expectations compared to a blue-collar worker in his 50s.

There are four main areas you need to consider and plan when figuring out what your customers want:

• Listen to Your Customers
• Ask Your Customers Sincerely
• Offer More than Just a Product/Service
• Know When to Ignore Them

All of these factors are essential when determining what your customers want from their shopping experience.

Listen to Your Customers

You need to listen to both what customers explicitly say and what they may imply. Sometimes, customers might request one thing but actually prioritize something else. For instance, if customers are asking for lower prices, you might discover that their primary concern is fast delivery.

Additionally, pay attention to your ‘silent’ customers. These are the ones who don’t complain because the service has been so poor that they’ve simply given up, feeling that their voices don’t matter. They sense being unappreciated, and if a competitor emerges, they’re likely to switch.

Finally, it’s important to pay attention to customers who respond with a simple “fine”. These customers resemble the ‘silent’ customers in that they’ve grown accustomed to poor customer service, leading them to provide a monotonous response.

Ask Your Customers Sincerely

If you lack sincerity when seeking their opinions, they’ll easily see through you. You might wonder about the customers who remain silent. In that case, you should pose sincere questions that prompt them to reflect on their experiences. Make them feel genuinely valued, which you should be!

Offer More than Just a Product/Service

Your customers seek more than just a product or service; they desire an experience that leaves them feeling satisfied. They evaluate every step of the process. When you acknowledge this and treat them as individuals, they will sense a genuine sense of belonging.

Know When to Ignore Them

You might believe that this goes beyond delivering excellent customer service, but in truth, you can’t cater to every need, and you won’t always be able to please everyone. It’s essential to establish limits and adhere to them. If your vision and company aren’t aligned with a customer’s needs, they may be better off seeking a solution elsewhere.

These are the steps and tricks for determining what your customers want and how you can utilize them to develop your customer service vision and plan.

If you find yourself stuck, consider taking advantage of our FREE test drive, and let us assist you through the process.

In the previous post, we discussed the first three of the 7 specific areas you need to consider in your franchise prototype process.

Here are all seven again:

• Primary Aim
• Strategic Objectives
• Organizational Strategy
• Management Strategy
• People Strategy
• Marketing Strategy
• Systems Strategy

These 7 areas will fine tune your plan for the ultimate level of success.

Today we are going to cover the last four.

Think of building your business model as planting a tree. Initially, it’s small and fragile, and you might wonder if it will survive the night. However, by consistently watering, fertilizing, and nurturing it, your ideas will strengthen the trunk, and each of these strategies will grow into the branches of your now robust tree. Discovering the right support staff, employees, vendors/suppliers, and other relationships will enable your tree to flourish with leaves and flowers.

Management Strategy

The way you structure your management team is crucial not only to your growth but also to the happiness of your employees and, ultimately, your customers or clients. This strategy is results-oriented and relies on the system in place rather than solely on individuals.

In short, a management strategy consists of standards that encompass goals, rules, a mission statement, and other tangible elements that instruct your employees on how to act, guide your management in growing your business, and inform your customers or clients about what to expect.

All of these elements should be in perfect alignment with your business goals.

Employee Appreciation

You should create a people strategy that conveys your appreciation for your employees’ job performance and dedication to your business. It’s also important for them to understand the ‘why’ behind their specific tasks. This helps them establish a personal connection to their work, resulting in improved productivity and a more content workplace.

There are a number of strategies you can use to keep it interested at “the office”:

• Performance Incentive Programs
• Contests that reward high performance
• Employee of the Month
• Performance/Holiday Bonuses

These are just a few ideas you can implement. One of the most effective ways to show appreciation to your employees is by holding a meeting and asking them how they would like to be rewarded. Take some time to consider their input and implement the best strategy. To keep things fresh, periodically change the approach you use, so your employees are pleasantly surprised. Once they become accustomed to one incentive, it’s time for an entirely new approach.

You should foster a sense of community within your company, characterized by support, appreciation, and respect. The more an employee feels “at home”, the better they will perform and the higher their level of loyalty.

Marketing Strategy

Marketing is, of course, essential for the success of any business, but it must also work cohesively with the other strategies you’re employing. There are two major pillars of a successful marketing strategy: the demographic and psychographic profiles of your customers.

The psychographic information reveals what your customers are most likely to buy, while the demographic information tells you who they are. This can help you understand why they purchase specific items. Without this information, the quality of your business prototype becomes irrelevant.

Systems Strategy

There are three types of systems in every business:

• Hard Systems
• Soft Systems
• Information Systems

Hard systems refer to inanimate systems or systems that lack ‘life.’ Soft systems, on the other hand, can involve living elements. Information systems encompass everything else, including customer data, product information, finances, and anything involving data and numbers.

Among all three systems, the most crucial is the soft system, as it encompasses the sales systems your business employs. Within your sales system, the two keys to success are structure and substance. Structure refers to what you sell, while substance pertains to how you sell it.

All three systems are vital to the success of your business, and though they have distinct roles, they must all collaborate to accomplish the task. This principle also applies to your entire business development program.

I’d like to take a moment to recap the ideas we covered in the business development lessons.

An entrepreneurial myth, or e-myth, is an assumption that anyone can succeed at business with:

• Desire
• Some capital
• Projected a targeted profit

There are essentially three key roles that need to be filled to set your business up for success:

• The Technician
• The Manager
• The Entrepreneur

The four different stages of a business life cycle are:

• Infancy
• Adolescence
• Growing Pains
• Maturity

There are a few things we are going to talk about:

• Business Format Franchise
• The Franchise Prototype
• Franchise Prototype Standards

There are three main areas of business development:

• Innovation
• Quantification
• Orchestration

7 specific areas you need to consider in your franchise prototype process.

Here are all seven again:

• Primary Aim
• Strategic Objectives
• Organizational Strategy
• Management Strategy
• People Strategy
• Marketing Strategy
• Systems Strategy

We can assist you in addressing all of these areas and provide your business with a jumpstart that places you ahead of your competition right from the beginning. Utilize our FREE test drive, collaborate with one of our coaches, and gain access to a wealth of tools and resources.

Today, I’d like to discuss the three keys to business development and how you can lay the right bricks to establish a solid foundation.

There are three main areas of business development:

• Innovation
• Quantification
• Orchestration

If executed effectively, these three areas will assist you in constructing a solid foundation for your business.

Let’s briefly discuss each one.

Innovation

Innovation should not be confused with creativity, which is the expression of ideas. Innovation involves translating these ideas into action. This is where a significant portion of your focus should be, not only at the outset but throughout your business’s entire lifespan.

Quantification

This, of course, pertains to the numbers. We are referring to the value of your innovation. The most effective way to measure this is through customer response. Positive responses indicate what you are doing right, so continue with it. Negative responses highlight areas where you may be going wrong, and you should address those issues. This approach will enable you to keep evolving and adapting to the needs of your customers and the business environment.

Orchestration

After you’ve identified the areas that are working, you can narrow down those aspects and focus on transforming them into standout ideas. Shifting your focus in this direction allows you to optimize your business and fulfill the needs of your customers.

We can assist you in navigating these three areas to develop your franchise prototype during your FREE test drive.

In the upcoming lessons, we will transition to discussing the 7 specific areas you need to consider in your franchise prototype process:

• Primary Aim
• Strategic Objectives
• Organizational Strategy
• Management Strategy
• People Strategy
• Marketing Strategy
• Systems Strategy

These 7 areas will refine your plan for the highest level of success.

Today, I’m going to talk about the life cycle of a business and how to get the most out of each cycle while also extending the lifespan of your business.

The four different stages of a business life cycle are:

• Infancy
• Adolescence
• Growing Pains
• Maturity

We’ll discuss what each of these cycles means and how they can individually contribute to expanding your business’s lifespan.

Infancy

This phase is generally considered the technician’s phase, where the owner is involved. At this point, the relationship between the business and the owner is comparable to that of a parent and a new baby. An unbreakable bond is necessary to determine the path your business will follow. You should never drop your baby.

The key is to understand that your business must grow in order to flourish. You cannot remain in this stage indefinitely.

Adolescence

In this stage, you need to begin assembling your support staff for delegation, facilitating business growth. The first line of defense is your technical personnel, as they should possess a certain level of technical expertise. However, this cycle primarily falls under the manager’s responsibility. The planning stage must begin, and a relationship should be established with the entrepreneur to plan for the future.

Growing Pains

In every business, there comes a point when growth leads to chaos. This is known as ‘growing pains.’ It’s a good problem to have, but a problem nonetheless.

You are often faced with a number of choices:

• Avoid growth and stay small
• Go broke
• Push forward into the next cycle

Maturity

The final cycle is maturity, but this doesn’t signify the end of your business. Your passion for growth must persist for your business to succeed. You must maintain an entrepreneurial perspective to drive your business forward.

You can see how all four of these cycles are interconnected and rely on a strong foundation for your business to achieve and maintain success. Your three key roles (the technician, manager, and entrepreneur mentioned in my previous post) must also collaborate to navigate these cycles effectively.

If you’re having trouble understanding your business life cycles and determining which of the key roles you fit into, consider trying our FREE test drive and collaborating with one of our exceptional coaches.

We are going to embark upon a journey through the world of e-myths and debunk them to help you avoid falling into the e-myth trap.

First, let’s take a moment to discuss what an e-myth is. An entrepreneurial myth, or e-myth, is the assumption that anyone can succeed in business with:

• Desire
• Some capital
• Projected a targeted profit

This sounds great, but it’s just not realistic. Think of starting a business as a marathon. Sure, everyone starts out of the gate at a record pace, but after a few miles, people start to slow down, and some drop out entirely. Building a successful business requires stamina and agility.

The reality is that there are many different facets to a successful business and none of them can be ignored if you plan to find success.

Let’s take a moment to discuss entrepreneurial seizure. This term defines the roller coaster of emotions that accompanies starting, nurturing, and the potential failure of a business.

The emotions that occur, in order, are:

• Exhilaration
• Exhaustion
• Despair
• Sense of self-loss

This is usually caused by the e-myths and assumptions we talked about. Your hopes can be raised so high for instant success that even the smallest setback can send you into an emotional tailspin. This feeling is also brought on by the stark realization that you can’t do everything and will need help in areas where you lack knowledge. Faced with limited choices, you may feel the urge to back out and hide, but don’t do this.

Use our FREE test drive to get the business coaching you need to avoid feeling overwhelmed and defeated.