You Are Being Watched
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
– Maya Angelou
When developing a marketing strategy for a business, one always hopes for an organic, word of mouth proliferation. One hopes to determine the referral channels through which a new customer was introduced to us. The group of individuals who fly under our radar are those regular customers who are not vocal or responsive enough to fill out a survey or write us a review, but who through repeated observation form an opinion about our business and perhaps even influence others. You may never hear a single word of feedback from them, but let me warn you – YOU ARE BEING WATCHED.
You never truly know who is watching the day to day decisions you make in your business and what kind of impression it is leaving on these silent observers. It may be something as small as the neatness (or lack thereof) in your establishment or something more direct like the mannerisms of your staff. These actions/inactions either make the customers feel valued or make them feel ignored, and it is this feeling that shapes their conversations when talking about your business.
So here are a few seeds we I would like to plant in your mind today, which hopefully will bloom into affirmative actions towards building a better reputation for your business in your community.
Wise thoughts:-
- Do you happen to remember a memorable experience (good or bad) at an establishment you recently visited? If you were to evaluate your own business based on the criteria which caused your experience to be memorable, how would your business perform?
- If someone was having a stressful day and then they interacted with members of your team, would they then be more likely to be less stressed or more stressed?
Simple Steps:-
- Have a team meeting and get their thoughts on what kind of reputation they think the company has in the community, and why.
- Always be grateful towards a customer who is willing to provide honest and constructive feedback, and follow up with them if their feedback resulted in an actionable change.