In this article, I’m going to talk about the one thing you need to do to get and keep customers. One of the biggest areas of work in any business is marketing. Business owners commonly struggle with these issues: which platforms to use, writing and posting content consistently, understanding and analyzing analytics in order to do it all again but better.
Put all the marketing aside for a moment. What can you do to get and keep customers? Update your page or profile everywhere your basic business information is found. Your website. Your Facebook page. Instagram. LinkedIn. Twitter. Your Google Business Profile. Update all of them consistently every time there is the smallest change in days of operation or hours.
Here’s why.
Let me share a story. Since our son returned home a few weeks ago after completing his US Army service, our family has been enjoying doing things around town that he’s missed these past 3.5 years. We been patronizing new businesses and showing him the recent developments around town.
This weekend we planned to spend the afternoon doing an outdoor activity and enjoying a few of Erie’s best seasonal businesses. Knowing the season is short, we called to verify hours before heading out. Based on published information, we were good to go only to discover the first destination closed for the season when we arrived. Their recorded phone message said they were open. Their Facebook page says nothing regarding hours and has no posts, at all. Visitors to the page are prompted to call for information. Hence, back to the voice message. I checked their website once we got home. It loads various pictures and information. It took four full screen scrolls to find hours of operation at the very bottom of the home page
Later in the day, two of my sons decided to run out for a snack from a local, seasonal favorite. What did they do - checked their Facebook page. Yep, open till 8:00 pm. You know what happened? They got there and they were closed.
Compare this with another one of Erie’s favorites, Sara’s on Presque Isle. No matter the weather forecast their hours are consistent each year, April 1st to September 30th and it’s posted below the opening photo on their web page.
It’s tough figuring out your hours and what is most convenient for your customer. Some businesses have a seasonal flow, especially those who really rely on weather as a determinate of customer demand. For instance, in my family, we are all avid downhill skiers and when we can, we head west to ski. Talk about a business dependent on weather! But you know what, the resorts post their opening day and their target closing date before the season opens. These dates and the anticipation of the opening of the season are highly covered on social media. Video clips of resort upgrades, last year’s events, and footage of clients just having the best time. No matter what happens with weather, skiers know what to expect, when they can hit the slopes and when they can get their last run in. If the snow pack is good, they’ll extend their season and that makes for more news and publicity.
To get and keep customers, you have to provide good customer service. And high on the list is letting customers know when you are open for business. Here’s a simple process for doing it well.
Have consistent information on all platforms.
Don’t just change your most popular social media platform and disregard the others. Make sure your basic information such as hours is correct and consistent on all platforms. Your customers should see the same information and message everywhere they find you. If you can’t keep them all up to date, then consider getting rid of those you can’t manage.
Tell your customer again and again.
If you have to change schedules, let your customer know, not just once but many, many, many times. More times than you think. As many times as you might tell your teenager. Tell them. Tell them again and repeat, and tell them again.
Manage the emergencies that will occur.
If you have an emergency, I suggest you share as much as you can as to the why. Be as open and honest as you can because even customers can be empathetic when they are inconvenienced. Post on the door that you are closed due to a family emergency, staff emergency, or educational conference. Post on social media as early as possible. If you know you are going to be closed on a day that you are usually open, share this information as early as you can. Then go back to steps 1 and 2. Same info on all platforms; repeat, repeat, and repeat. This is also a great time to ask fellow business owners to share your change of schedule message with their customers and you can do the same for them when they have an emergency.
Making sense of it all.
What can you do to get and keep customers? It’s pretty simple. Let your customer know when you are open! Update your page or profile everywhere. Everywhere your basic business information is found. Update consistently every time there is the smallest change in days of operation or hours. This way you won’t miss or disappoint a customer.