Customer Service is the Lynchpin to Successful Business

Customer service can make or break a brand. People are willing to pay extra for the attention their dollars deserve. Tolerance in America for companies that treat people with disrespect or even disdain is down. People don't have an overflow of cash to invest in anything so when they spend they want to spend right. They want their business to be treated with its due respect. Nobody wants a sales person to sneer at them or act like their business is an inconvenience or annoyance. No one wants to be argued with about their desires. They do want a courteous smile. They do want to be treated with respect. And they do want to be "helped" and not necessarily agreed with or agreed with.

Since my book is written to help guide others toward change, here is one thing you or your employees can do to improve customer service easily and simply: greet customers will a friendly smile and "How can I help you?" or if you don't have a consumer-based business but rather a service business, pick up your phone with a simple and cheerful, "Good ... morning ... afternoon ... evening" and then add your name "This is ..." How hard is it? Not at all but you will be remembered for it.

Questions to Determine if You Need "Millimeter" Changes

If you wake up each day with a lukewarm feeling about your life then maybe it's time for your to do something about it. Life is meant to be lived to the fullest. Yes, sometimes the grind gets you down, but ask yourself these important questions:

Do you ever feel fully contented? The search for fulfillment and happiness doesn't mean each day has to be a personal day of pure bliss. But if you can say at least four days out seven you feel pretty darned good or even great, you're probably on the right track. If you can say, I maybe feel good or even great once a month ... two times a month ... not at all ... then "millimeter" change is required.

Do you at least "like" or "enjoy" your job? If you can say with solid satisfaction, "Yes, I like my job," then you're in great shape. Did you know when surveyed most Americans admit they don't like their jobs. If it's naturally between a day at the beach and your job, understandable your preference is the beach. But if you wake up each day full of dread and groans because you have to go to work, time for a "millimeter" approach to a new job. No one should get up each day and dread anything.

Do you like yourself? Ah, this is a big one! Self-esteem is an inner feeling about one's self. Do you like your body? Do you feel like you're a great human being? Do you feel you DESERVE happiness? We ALL DESERVE happiness and love. If you can't stand yourself; if you can't even look in the mirror and feel pride; if you've allowed others to walk all over you and think THAT is what you DESERVE, it's definitely time for a "millimeter" change to personal growth and self-awareness.

My book It's All About Millimeters has the solutions to all of those questions. You can buy it online today or on Amazon. Click here to purchase and make a "millimeter" change at a time.

Millimeter Changes Based on Analytics to Improve Marketing

Do you know what are analytics? If you're a business owner and you do marketing to grow your business (which all businesses do) then you probably have marketing tools like newsletters or blog services. Not measuring results and making small adjustments to improve results is like flushing money. You can't ignore your results (or you can but not enjoy rewards). Make sure you have analytics attached to your newsletter distribution tool or your blog to measure response. Now make millimeter adjustments to improve. How do you do that without reinventing your marketing messages completely? Look at the statistics? What is the most read topics? Now slowly each day continue on related topics (and here is the tip: use similar keywords) -- that's it. Now watch for increases greater and lesser. Each day watch and tweak. Nothing major or big to improve business ... always millimeters.

Millimeter Tip: Employee Morale

Since this blog and my book It's All About Millimeters addresses broad changes. Now I'm going to provide a series of examples (tips) on how to make actual, daily changes. Let's start with employee morale. This case study is in my book. Let's say your employee morale is low. People are griping either directly to you or there is "water-cooler" complaints going on. You can sense an overall "attitude" in the energy of the people who work for you. What small step can you take to gain improvements without take them all to Disneyland (joke)? Here is what I do: I feel it's important to give constant, daily affirmations. Positive reinforcement makes people feel good, it improves self-esteem, and it creates goodwill. Remembering to say something positive every day can be a challenge. Place three pennies in your pocket. Every time you praise an employee for a job well done move the penny to the other pocket. Use your praise and the pennies to remind you until all the pennies are in the other pocket. Do this every day. Watch morale boost -- small change, big results.

Any Change is Possible!

So many Americans get stuck in complacency. They might hate their jobs, but the proposition to get a new one is overwhelming. They might want to start a new business, but they feel they have no resources or money. They might have an unhappy marriage, but the prospects of starting over seem too much. They might want to achieve a dream, but the idea seems impossible. Here is the thing and the secret formula to any kind of change (which is spelled out in my book It's All About Millimeters): if you take daily, small steps toward any kind of change not only is it do-able but it will happen. What will, in fact ensure it never happens is to do absolutely nothing. Change will not miraculously drop in your lap. Change requires action. Action requires activity. And the best way to actively do anything is to slowly do it. Just do it, as the commercial tagline suggests.

One Small Tweak in Marketing

Did you know that in marketing a product or service that one minor change in perception can either kill or catapult sales? Product positioning and branding can easily make or break a product's sales record. Sometimes all it takes is a minor change to create big results (millimeter approach). Let me give you an example of a book cover. A book cover believe it or not can make or break sales on the book. Many writers might find this frustrating and ask, "What does the cover have to do with the content?" The answer is very little, but our society is visual. So if sales are lagging one millimeter change can completely change the trajectory of the sales. The larger and more difficult question is how to identify what minor tweak needs to be done to solve the problem? That is where some effort has to be put into research. Focus groups often provide reactions to products that can serve to answer the question. So in the case of the book cover, you might take several sample book covers and survey focus groups' reactions to come up with the final concept cover. In marketing and business, it is often the little things that do count.