How easy is it to do business with you? 7 steps to make it so.

Let me ask you a question:

How much do you hate it when your call is answered by automated (computer) systems?

While you’re picking swear words to express your attitude fully, let me ask you another question:

Does your business use automated answering systems?

It’s so easy to talk about poor service and inefficient business practices when it’s someone else’s company, but it’s much more difficult to address it in your own backyard.

When I ask people if they hate automated telephone systems, every single one of them says yes.

But this is only one minor source of frustration that drives customers to competitors.

What to do?

Try implementing these 7 steps to create customer loyalty by making it easy to do business with you:

1. Be available to sell when I need to buy. Can I place an order 24/7? Can I buy on-line, on the phone, or in-person? Anything less is not easy.
2. Have live human beings answer the phones. If a customer wants to place an order, or has a question or a problem, how easy is it to talk to a person?
3. Hire friendly people. Ask yourself this question right now: How friendly are your people?
4. Take advantage of leading-edge technology. Are you two steps ahead of your competitors? Are you using technology to save time, money, and to be more productive?
5. Identify the reasons your customers are leaving and fix them. Take action to eliminate any internal problems.
6. Identify the reasons your customers are buying and enhance them. Take action to increase selling opportunities.
7. Be your own customer. Would you do business with you? Call once a week to find out what it’s like to do business with your company.

Some of you reading this are going to be upset because you’re thinking, “There’s nothing I can do about it.”

Well, actually you can.

Contact your 3 best customers. Ask them to call your company and try to place a large order 5 minutes before the start of your business day. Then ask them to email their experience to you. Forward that email to your CEO, and sit back to watch the sparks fly.

You may be corporately handcuffed, but your CEO knows that your customers fill your bank accounts, and pay his salary. If you would like to advance your company, refocus and redouble your efforts on the people that matter the most: your customers.