James Doan - Just Minding My Own Business

Everyone knows what Customer Service is. Most companies have a Customer Support Dept or Customer Care Dept. At least they will have someone that deals with customer interactions. But what is Customer Environment, and what is the difference between the two? Customer Environment is a philosophy that exists through an entire company. It includes ALL the interactions your customers have with your company. 

There are a few certain guidelines you should follow to develop a reputation as a bold, coherent thinker. These apply whether you are writing for a blog, podcast, or book. Do not project a “take me or leave me” attitude. Instead, look for and think about possible blind spots in your perspective. Consider any unexpected consequences of your ideas.  This way, you may be able to head off critiques that would otherwise come your way when you become popular. Pose questions like these to yourself:

Are you accomplishing as much as you'd hoped? Or are you experiencing the all-too-familiar writer's block? No matter where you're at in your writing process, you're precisely where you need to be. Writing is a labour of love—with the emphasis certainly on the word “labour.” Writing is hard, and it's important to remember that some days the words will come easier than others. Rather than get frustrated about a sticky scene or tricky passage, celebrate the words you're able to write and get excited about the ones that will come later.

To help determine a good content strategy for your blog, you need to consider three points: The content must be relevant to your audience. What do they want to learn/know? What are they searching for online? How can you help them? Each post, page, and item on your website must speak to your target audience’s needs, not YOUR NEEDS. Your content is cohesive and adds value. While meeting the needs of your audience, make sure it  meets your own business goals. (attracting new clients, getting subscribers, etc).

Keeping your day organized is often just a matter of getting everything laid out in an easily followed manner.  Plan tomorrow today and put your plan in writing. Take 5 or 10 minutes today to write tomorrow’s to-do list, so you can start tomorrow fresh. If you’re an early riser, set aside some quiet time at home or at work to plan before the day really gets going.  Planning and prioritizing on paper or computer lets you see what you need to accomplish and  when.  Revise your plan and stay flexible and use common sense! 

Whether it be an email subject line or a blog or social media headline, or a headline for a letter or a postcard, laying the foundation for a strong headline is critical.  It’s not unusual for a seasoned copywriter to spend 30-50% of their writing time on the headline alone…and coming up with twenty or more headlines before discovering the one that works! With that in mind, here are four things a headline must successfully do to pull the reader in: 

What does it take to be a cut above the rest? Here are some of the things you can think and improve on that should be enough for a week. 1. Know your purpose  Are you wandering through life with little direction—hoping that you'll find happiness, health, and prosperity? Identify your life purpose or mission statement, and you will have your own unique compass that will lead you to your truth north every time. This may seem tricky at first when you see yourself to be in a tight or even dead end. But there's always that little loophole to turn things around, and you can make a big difference to yourself.

When you are looking to make a purchase, how much research do you do on your own compared to the information you rely on getting from salespeople? Consumers value impartial input. When the customer goes silent in the middle of the sale process, it used to signal that something was wrong. Today, it often means they are doing their research.  You have two options:  1) Provide valuable, impartial content to support their research, or  2) Allow your customer to get their information from other sources. Smart companies will integrate impartial content to support customer decisions. This means not only sharing where you are the best fit, but also acknowledging where you are not. 

Even small tasks benefit from efficient planning. Organization doesn’t just help you tackle large projects. Use these tips to be more productive in your day-to-day life. Stand Up Keep meetings short and on topic by conducting 10- to 15-minute “stand ups.” Not only do studies find that these sorts of meetings are more effective, they’re also better for your mental and physical health.

I realize that repeat customers are a lucrative part of any business. I want to be clear here—I’m not telling you to abandon new customer acquisition efforts. Every business should have both Customer Acquisition and Customer Retention marketing programs. But if you are like many businesses, you focus the bulk of your time and marketing budget on acquiring new customers. In comparison, you fail to devote much time and effort to existing clients and repeat business opportunities. By focusing more on new business, you leave a LOT of easy-to-get money on the table. 

Today, let's look at project planning and task management. The first step in effective planning is deciding what you need to do and in what order. This is true whether you have many projects or several steps within one large project. When you receive a large project, your first impulse may be to tackle it all at once. Instead, investigate how to scale it down into smaller projects. This can reduce anxiety and make your timeline more manageable.

It is sometimes not possible for all the employees of any organization to come together. Still, people need to share ideas and information more than ever. More businesses are using telecommuting strategies.  It is easy to overlook employee development and training. Top-performing companies will make a commitment to electronic tools. They allow the company to teach, track, and even mentor team members. Employers can do this regardless of physical location. Web meetings provide the ability to share programs running on your PC. Internet meeting attendees can even view your desktop.

Storytelling has risen to be a “must know” business topic.  One commentator calls it “the biggest business skill of the next five years.”   Stories have always been a staple of advertising. You can think of a recent evocative McDonald's or Budweiser commercial. Even political advertising has taken on the art of storytelling.  You can learn to use this trend in your own business. Remember that business stories don't need long, thick plots.  The simplest stories have three elements:  situation, complication, resolution.

“Everyone experiences FOMO, fear of missing out,” I read recently in a business book.  A dozen pages on how to overcome this debilitating malady followed. Fear of missing out is an experience of anguish at the idea that others are enjoying something that you are not.  Many marketers take advantage of this by urging people—explicitly or implicitly—not to be the only one who doesn't have a whosiwhatsit or isn't in on the meme of the moment. I looked up from the book and asked myself: Could I remember ever experiencing fear of missing out?  In high school, possibly.  And there went the author's credibility.

Have you ever considered what distinguishes small businesses that achieve sustained growth from those that do not? First, realize there are no strategies that will lead to guaranteed growth. There are seven specific areas in which growth companies concentrate their efforts.  1. Strong sense of purpose. Most businesses that have achieved growth discover that it takes more than the promise of increasing financial reward to fuel their aspirations and ambitions. They find a higher calling than the pursuit of “more money.”

Everyone, to some degree, procrastinates. We all put off things that we don't want to do. That doesn't mean we do nothing. Most procrastinators get plenty done. But it isn't what is most important or urgent. Procrastination is the art of doing something apart from the more essential things to do.  There is a way to make procrastination work for you. Since we all have this skill to varying degrees, why not put it to use? The act of delaying is the true gift of procrastination. Until now, you might not have considered it to be a gift, but it is. Many people get overbooked and overload their schedules.

Business Time Management simply means business planning with definite milestones of achievement of overall success. Thus, both at the planning stage, and the performance stage, do not lose sight of the rare and limited resource of time and the importance of doing everything as per schedule within the given time. In business, there is the pressure of multitasking activities. The first thing to remember is to be extremely methodical in handling these jobs or activities. The official planner on the table should be the principal guide for the particular day. While the previous day should be spent on specifying the activities and the probable time for that, in the day in question start following these activities in a planned manner, as far as possible.

If you already have customer testimonials, with just a little time and effort you can turn them into in-depth case studies. Identify blurbs that represent a valued client type or that indicate a certain need was satisfied.  Ask those buyers:  1)What was the problem or goal that prompted you to buy from us? 2)How did buying from us satisfy that need or want? 3)Why were we better than other options you considered or tried before? 4)How are things easier or better for you now?

Not long ago, I awoke to find that I had not optimized the work that I had done on my website over the previous two days. The user interface was not as intuitive as it could and should have been. It needed to be revised.   It is tempting to ignore such thoughts. The gap between how it is and what it could and should be is something most people aren't concerned with. Yet when you know that something you did was substandard, you cannot ignore it. If you develop a habit of disregarding your own business (or personal life), eventually things will go awry.

Most people need to take a mental health day from time to time, when they just don't feel like going through with their usual business routine. But if this happens a lot regarding the marketing tasks that you've set for yourself, it's time to pause and reflect.  Did you take on tasks that are too boring, too difficult, or unpleasant in some other way?  If so, perhaps you can outsource those to-dos.  Or perhaps you'd do well to find other marketing tasks you feel more attuned to. Some experts think it's fine to let those following you know when you haven't felt like it.  They say that increases your perceived authenticity.  

Up-to-the-minute thrillers now sometimes include a scene where schemers concoct a fake company, complete with a pretty website and false backstory.  Potential customers know this kind of scam is possible.  That's why you must provide as many “this is real” signals as you can to earn the confidence of skittish shoppers.

Why do some marketers treat customers as enemy combatants? They often speak of 'attacking' marketplaces.  Some even organize 'campaigns' to 'target' people so that they'll 'engage' and be 'captured.' There are marketers that use 'roadblocks' on web pages. They 'blast' potential customers with emails. Others favour a fishing metaphor. These marketers set out bait to reel in the big ones. Without lowering expectations, they toss the little ones back. They then take comfort that 'there are always more fish in the sea.' Every so often there's a big haul, but sometimes nothing is biting. Still others talk about marketing as a 'numbers game.' What counts are traffic, open rates, clicks, and conversion ratios. In your marketing, you might be betting on a sure thing or a long shot.