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There’s no denying that the Olympic games influence our behaviors.  As a nation, we forget our differences and revel in our patriotism.  We put aside the divisiveness of partisan politics and rally around our athletic heroes.  Gym memberships surge.  Parents begin grooming their toddlers for the medal podium.  And, words like dressage, shuttlecock and rip entry find their way into our vocabulary.

But can the summer games influence our business as well?  Let’s take the Olympic motto: Faster, Higher, Stronger – how well does it apply to your business?

FASTER

How responsive is your team?  Do they respond to every call and email before the end of the day, even if it’s just to say they got the message?  Do you have service standards?  Are they followed?  How do you know?

HIGHER

Do you have goals in place and are they being met?  If so, is it time to raise the bar?  If not, what are you doing to identify the problem?  Are you measuring performance? Has your sales force been adequately coached?  Recognized?  Rewarded?

STRONGER

Is your business focused more on acquiring new customers or retaining existing customers?  The answer should be both.  Do you know what your customers are saying about your brand?  Would they recommend you to others?  By engaging your customers, you can turn customers into brand advocates that will remain loyal and do your recruiting for you.

Electrum Marketing can provide a variety of services that will make your brand faster, higher and stronger.

• Service Standards
• Mystery Shopping
• Customer Surveys
• Sales Training
• Business Development Strategies
• Acquisition Strategies
• Retention Strategies

Contact Electrum Marketing and get ready to go for the gold!

As of June 2012, Chrome, Google’s web browser, had become the web browser of choice for almost 42% of the online population.  Firefox and Internet Explorer follow with 34.4% and 16.7% respectively.   And, just in case you were wondering, Opera, the browser developed from a Norway telecom company’s research project is preferred by 2%.  They claim to be known for their performance and small size.  Is small size really something to be known for?  No.  It’s not.  That’s why no one is using your browser.  Just saying.

But, getting back to my point, in order to make Chrome the most reliable web browser, Google is sparing no expense.  The company is offering $1 million in prize money for hackers who can exploit any vulnerabilities or bugs.  Recently, a Russian student earned a cool $60,000 by revealing a security breach.  Prizes ranging from $20K and $60K are being awarded based on the magnitude of the breach identified.

If Google is willing to spend $1 million to ensure that they remain the most reliable and most secure browser, what are you willing to invest to ensure that you remain the best and most reliable option in your industry?   For a mere sliver of the tiniest fraction of Google’s $1 million investment, you can implement a brand assessment strategy that might identify a gaping abyss in your customer service delivery.

Through brand audits and mystery shopping, you can quickly assess if your receptionist makes a great first impression or is suffering from depression.  Find out if your sales team is helpful and knowledgeable or helpless and negligent.  Do they follow through or fall off the face of the Earth?

Contact Electrum Marketing and see how a customized assessment program can help you identify and close service delivery gaps with real time 24/7 online reports.

Yesterday at Electrum Marketing, I accepted an in-person sales call from a rep I had no relationship with other than I had requested information from him six months ago for a potential project that never took off.  Hoping I might learn about a program that could benefit my clients and make me a hero, I sat down with open ears and an open mind.  That’s the last thing I remember.

He did not start by asking about my clients or their needs.  Instead, he dove right into a very detailed presentation that frankly was sometimes over my head.  If I don’t understand it, how can I sell it to my client?  He rattled off feature after feature.  Where are the benefits for my clients?

It’s not shocking that this happened.  Bad sales calls happen every 30 seconds.*  Since you’ve been reading this 3 salespeople have gone down in flames.  What’s shocking is that he was a senior representative of a very large well known company yet he lacked the most basic sales skills.  Needless to say, he did not get the sale…nor has he sent a follow up email as promised.  Surprise!

I’m tempted to send him my feedback although it wasn’t requested.  Without feedback, he will never get better and the company will continue to suffer.  I’m a strong believer in mystery shopping and a structured customer feedback process and recommend it to my clients.  It helps identify specific weaknesses in the customer experience and provides businesses with the information needed to improve the customer experience, selling skills and ultimately, profitability.

* This statistic is not proven.  Nor is it true.