In business, sometimes it is easy to get carried away with doing business, adding a level of 'kind' to your interactions with customers, partners and staff will make an incredible difference. It's the small things that get people talking about how great your business is, and word of mouth remains one of the best marketing tactics out there!
Here are eight small ideas to get you started:
Handwritten notes are a great way to show your customers you care. If you are an e-commerce business, write a little note and include it with your shipped products. Alternatively, if you are a service-based business, consider writing a handwritten thank you note the next time you take on a new client.
Handwritten notes are a good act of kindness for a business
Your staff are the foundation of your business. Take the time to thank them for their efforts and compliment them on things they do really well. Better yet, thank them on a social platform such as your Company's intranet and LinkedIn. LinkedIn has created an easy way to thank your peers via their 'kudos' cards. To post a thankyou on LinkedIn, do the following:
Open the app on your phone or log in via web browser
Click the post button
Tap celebrate a teammate
Click Give Kudos
Select the recipient(s)
Select the award
Add your post content
Click post
Instead of waiting for customers to come to you with suggestions, ask them what they think, and listen to the answer!
When talking to current customers, remember not only their name but also small things like their birthday or favourite chocolate. Remembering items like this can make a massive difference to your business' service. You can use a CRM system to keep track of important things so that you can be reminded of things like birthdays as they happen.
Offer discounts or freebies to regular customers. If you are a local business, you might want to think about offering a local's priced coffee. Alternatively, service-based companies could provide a free audit relating to your field of service.
If you are a service-based business, you may be able to introduce clients that offer complementary services to their customers. For small to medium businesses, this can help a lot.
Ask your team about what charities they are passionate about, ask them why and make a note to give to those charities when you can. Your staff will get behind the initiative, and the culture you build will flow through to your customers.
Take the time to handwrite a thank you note to each staff member, observing something that makes them unique to your team. Send them via the printer/scanner to their email addresses; they will arrive at work and start their day reading it, it will make their day!