The first day of a new year is, for me, an exhilarating opportunity to create goals, aspirations, and intentions. This year they are taking the form of business New Year’s Resolutions. Want to rock 2019? These business New Year’s Resolutions can help you elevate your game. Let’s do them together!
Listen more than you talk
This one doesn’t come naturally to me. I’m loquacious. I enjoy telling people all about what I think. But as business leaders, it is vitally important to be actively listening to the customers and potential customers we are looking to serve. We need to give our customers the best opportunity to tell us how we can take care of them!
This can take many forms, but here are some tactics I’m using that may be useful to you.
Ask intentional questions
In conversation with your customers and prospects, be intentional with the questions that you ask, and get comfortable with the silence while your customers form their answers. By giving them space to process what you’re asking AND put together their most thoughtful responses, you’ll gain valuable (one might argue, INVALUABLE) insight into how you can level up in the future.
Put together a survey
Get the answers to a handful of your burning questions by putting together a simple survey leveraging SurveyMonkey or the like. Email your customers a link to the survey after every encounter, and regularly review their input. The simple act of asking for input on service delivery not only impacts your customer’s perception of the service they received. It also gives you input on where you’ve over-delivering on expectations and how you can improve.
Be aware of your need to over-explain
Okay, so maybe this is just a problem for me. I want everything to be super straight forward, so often I give more information than is necessary to make my point.
What is the simplest way to put something? Try that.
Deliver more value than your customer is paying for
This doesn’t mean losing money. This doesn’t mean undercharging for a valuable service. This means being so generous with your insight, your service, your contribution, your care, that your customer always feels like they got a bargain.
What does this look like for me in 2019?
Constant teaching. Over-delivering on expectations. And of course, caring about the people behind the business.
Be obsessed with your customers’ experience
The best business book I read in 2018 was Never lose a Customer Again by Joey Coleman.
He outlines the customer journey and ways to deliver and delight at every stage. It is an incredible read, with practical takeaways after each chapter and some really impressive, real life examples of companies who are crushing it at every phase.
For my business, I want to build some new programs for existing customers to reward them for their advocacy.
What about you? When you look at your current customer journey, where can you do better? Where are you already crushing it? Double down in the areas you’re doing well, and make the commitment to DO ONE THING to improve where you know you aren’t meeting your own expectations.
But also, get the book and read it. I’m not even kidding when I say it is a book I wish I had written.
Summin’ it up
There you have it: my three business New Year’s resolutions that any company can start (or continue) in 2019 to up their game. I’d love to hear from you, whether you are borrowing one (or all!) of my recommendations or have a few of your own. Share in the comments… I’d love to learn from you and cheer you on!
This is so great, Erica. Start with silence, over-deliver, and keep thinking about them even after you have. I’m tempted to boil it down even further — it’s not about you (me), it’s always about them (you). (Shades of Martin Buber, but he’s not quite business lit.) But then the next question, already cropping up five days into the new year, how do you make sure you find a useful boundary? How can you over-deliver (without over-committing) for the long term?
What a great, generous comment and question, Angus! I wonder if it is worth a follow-up post? And when exploring the concept, I think it’s important to consider: What’s in it for the client when you (the “vendor” so to speak) have boundaries? I’ve found pretty consistently that when I over-commit, I tend to also under-deliver. Thoughts to ponder as we barrel into 2019 in earnest.
Hi Erica, nice to have you back with Java. Hope the baby is well! On the point to use the simplest way to put something, would it be beneficial to have the client echo what you’ve told them to know that everyone is on the same page? Or picking three main points to repeat so that the client definitely is clear about what they’re getting from the meeting.
Finally, what will you and the client be like when these resolutions are met/fulfilled? How do you know what complete looks like?
Helen, thank you for the generous questions and thoughtful call-outs (and the warm welcome!). I love the idea of asking questions of my clients to validate their understanding and make sure we are all crystal clear! I’ll be finding ways to implement this in my business as the year unfolds.
These are great goals, Erica. Your customers will be pleased!
I like your website – slick, clean and efficient, just like your goals.
I haven’t even finished my goals for 2019, so my hat is off to you (sheepishly).
How do keep momentum? Any tricks or tips in that regard? Wishing you success beyond your over-delivery in 2019!
Mark, thank you for your note and I apologize for my delayed response! By now, you’ve probably created your 2019 goals, but if not, you’re more than welcome to borrow some of mine! In terms of momentum, I’ll say that something I do well in my personal business is sit down at key checkpoints to look at my progress towards my bigger goals. If I am hitting the goals, I want to make the time to celebrate! And if I’m not on track, I want to ask myself those tough questions as to why. Is it a question of execution, or a faulty plan to begin with? By scheduling these regular reviews, I not only stay on course, I operate more intelligently along the way! Perhaps you can find an equivalent activity for you to maintain momentum in 2019 and beyond! Wishing you the best!