How to Cater to Your Customers for Small Business Success

For many small businesses, the prime area of focus is revenue. As long as company leaders keep a sharp eye on that bottom line, the business should remain healthy, right?

As reasonable as that might sound, it ignores a critical success factor. While we may not know whether the chicken or egg comes first, in business we do know””customers always come first, followed by revenue.

It stands to reason that businesses owners who focus on their customers are likely to keep revenue flowing. So, let’s ask customers what they want, and see what they say! Here’s what your customers want you to know:

” Pay attention to me”

Are you spending your time, energy, and emotional commitment on the right customers? When you analyze where most of your business is coming from, you’ll probably find 80% of it is attributable to 20% of your client base (well known as the Pareto Principle).

If you’re not focusing most of your efforts on those 20% peak customers, you’re not maximizing your results. You can choose to increase the time you spend on them by re-prioritizing your current resources. Alternatively, you might opt to outsource some tasks so you can spend your valuable time attracting more of that lucrative 20%.

” Listen to me”

Why guess what your customers want from your product and service lines when you can ask them? They know what’s working for them–and what’s not–better than you do. They’re living it! Engage them in solutions and find out what enhancements will make them loyal customers.

Some businesses implement formal Customer Advisory Boards to develop a clearer understanding of customer needs. A more informal process of touching base with your top accounts can also help you keep customers happy.

” Find out what else I need”

If you’re a better listener to your best clients, you can think about what else would be valuable to them. What complementary products can you offer? Will they pay for more services, higher quality or decreased delivery times? Most business owners realize it costs much less to grow a current customer than find new ones. To continue to expand, your business needs to find more revenue opportunities.

” Don’t let me down”

No matter how loyal customers are, if your business fails to live up to their expectations, they may leave. It’s vital to the company’s bottom line that you retain as many good customers as possible.

Moving faster than your current operations can handle may cause growing pains that will be difficult to overcome. Problems with product quality or delayed deliveries have to be appropriately managed and avoided, even more so in times of expansion.

Exceed customer expectations with outsourcing

Local outsourcing can help your business accomplish tasks faster and deliver better customer service. Improvements in delivery speed, greater focus on product quality and even reduced costs can all be advantages of outsourcing.

Ohio Valley Goodwill Industrial Services offers a versatile and economical outsourcing operation. We provide total facilities management, janitorial, packaging, kitting, assembly and fulfillment services to some of the top businesses in the Greater Cincinnati area. Our Industrial Services Division also helps support Ohio Valley Goodwill’s programs and services for individuals with disabilities and veterans, helping these individuals find fulfilling, meaningful work in their communities.

Contact us to discuss how we can help your business be more responsive to your top customers! We’ll even schedule a free tour of our Cincinnati-based facilities.