Countdown to Prime Day – Enjoy Prime Day video deals through July 12

The wait is finally over, you may now proceed online or by mobile app to experience what Amazon,  stated as “the biggest Amazon event ever!” However, Prime Day is exclusive for Prime members only. You don’t want to miss out on more than 100,000 deals &  new deals will be added approximately every five minutes in the USA.

The online retail giant is making Prime Day deals  available in the US, UK, Spain, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, Canada, Belgium, and Austria.

Countdown to Prime Day – Enjoy Prime Day video deals through July 12

 Benefits of being a Prime member are endless. Here are a few reasons as stated from www.Amazon.com below:

• When you want it, when you need it – Free Two-Day shipping with Amazon Prime

• Get Early Access – 30-minute early access to select Amazon Lightning Deals

• Instant access to video streaming – Enjoy popular movies and TV episodes included with Prime

• Over a million songs. Thousands of playlists and stations. – Unlimited music streaming

• Save it once. See it everywhere. – Access to thousands of Prime Day deals

• A collection beyond compare – A Prime membership includes over 800,000 free e-books

• Look for the Prime logo when you shop. – Prime eligible items, videos, music and Kindle books are clearly marked. Just look for the Prime logo when you shop.

Waiting to buy an Amazon Echo? Amazon’s Prime Day just may be your lucky day!

Amazon Prime Day – $50 Off Amazon Echo

Prime Day Kindle Paper White

Amazon Prime Day – Kindle Paperwhite $30 Off

Prime Member Exclusive Phones

Shop Amazon Prime Exclusive Phone – Moto g4 at $149.99

Shop Amazon Prime Exclusive Phones – Blu at $49.99

Give the Gift of Amazon Prime

Shop Amazon – Give the Gift of Amazon Prime

FREE Gift With Baby Registry Purchase – Click For Details Below:

Countdown to Prime Day – Free Gift with $50 Purchase

Amazon Prime Deals Are Everywhere, but Only for a Limited Time.

Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial

Even if you’re not a Prime member you can still visit Amazon.com and find great deals and specials from the convenience of your home. No need to deal with traffic, heat of the day & using your gas to shop at a brick & mortar store.

Remember Amazon Prime Day starts today & is available for a limited time. Visit Amazon.com/ for details.

Happy Shopping!

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Mark your calendars and set your alarms, shoppers & bargain hunters: Amazon just announced that it will hold its 2nd annual Prime Day on Tuesday, July 12, 2016.

The online retail giant also stated this will be “the biggest Amazon event ever,” exclusively for Prime members. There will be more than 100,000 deals & the event starts at midnight PT, with new deals added as often as every five minutes in the US.

To participate, you will need to be a Prime member or sign-up now for Amazon’s services before July 12th! Click Below to Join Amazon Prime Day.

Primary benefit of signing up for Amazon Prime Today…

You’ll be ready for Amazon’s Prime Day Deals as soon as they are announced!

They have not revealed the types of deals yet, but Amazon has said it will discount items across “nearly all categories and departments.”  So Sign Up Before July 12th below:

Here’s A Sneakpeek of Some Amazon’s Prime Day Deals Below:

Shop Amazon Devices – Prime Day Fire Tablet Lowest Price Ever

Shop Amazon Devices – Prime Day $15 Off Fire TV Stick

Shop Amazon Devices – Prime Day $30 Off Fire TV

Countdown to Prime Day – Prime Music Giveaway

Shop Amazon – Give the Gift of Amazon Prime

As stated above, in order to take advantage of these discounts, on Prime Day, you must sign-up for the Prime membership. However, if you are not a prime member, you can easily sign-up for a free 30-day trial, which will make you eligible for all of Amazon’s savings.

So keep your eyes open for the discounts and deals – but make sure you wait until Prime Day rolls around before you actually open your wallet.

So Don’t Wait, Signup for Amazon Prime for great discounts & specials on July 12!

Customer Service – It’s As Easy As ABC!

Do you want your company to provide outstanding customer service? Well, all you have to know is the alphabet! Here are some alphabetical tips to providing high quality service…and it’s easy to remember! As easy as ABC!

A – Attitude: Maintaining a positive attitude is critical! Positive people set the tone for those around them, and uphold a positive image of their company when interacting with their customers.

B – Balance: Striking a balance between your professional life and personal life is imperative to your success!

C – Compassion: This one really goes without saying…compassion is essential to all customer service interactions!

D – Demeanor: Always display your best, professional demeanor when dealing with your customers.

E – Empathy: Your customers want us to do more than just provide our regular service, and actually understand how they are feeling. Inject your customer service interactions with some empathy!

F – Fun: Let loose! Customers enjoy dealing with staff that displays a light-hearted attitude. Yes, it is possible to be professional and also have fun.

G – Grace: This is especially important when interacting with irate customers, but applies to all customer service interactions. Remember to conduct yourself with grace!

H -Honesty: Be honest with your customers at all times. If you are unable to assist them, be honest and transfer them to someone who can.

I – Innovation: Constantly improve on your methods and work on advanced solutions. Be innovative!

J – Jovial: When on the phone or live chat with a customer, remember that they would rather deal with a happy representative, not a representative who is just indifferent. Why not elevate their mood while alleviating the problem?

K – Knowledgeable: Be knowledgeable about the company you represent, and all of its products and services. This way, you will always have the answer to every question!

L – Loyalty: Outstanding customer service not only keeps your clients happy-it also creates loyalty. Your goal is to maintain their loyalty!

M – Multitask: A good customer service representative is adept at multitasking! They must be able to take phone calls, help a customer via live chat, and generally be able to perform their daily tasks while helping their clients at the same time.

N – No: While the word “no” may not be the best thing to say to a customer, sometimes it needs to be said. Replace the word “no” with a phrase like “I am unable to, but what I can do is…”

O – Organized: Organization is very important, because you won’t be able to assist your clients if you can’t even find the answers! Make sure that your work space is always organized.

P – Personable: Project an agreeable personality, and reach out to the customer. Always remind them that they can contact you for assistance at any time, and I assure you-they will!

Q – Quality Service: Pride yourself on providing quality service, and your clients will pick up on it. Never settle for providing less than the best!

R – Responsibility: As a representative of your company, you will ultimately have to assume responsibility for some issues. Simply take responsibility, and offer solutions to fix the issue.

S – Satisfaction: Make sure that you’re taking customer complaints seriously, and using them towards bettering your product or service. This way, you can help increase customer satisfaction!

T – Trust: Without trust, you have no customers! They depend on you to deliver exactly what you promise, and it is up to you to help build client trust everyday.

U – Understanding: Always try to understand what the customer experienced when helping them with a problem. This will help you, help them.

V – Versatile: Be ready to adapt to any issue at a moment’s notice! Even if you have dealt with smaller issues all day, you should always be prepared to deal with a disastrous one!

W – Welcoming: Welcome customers who are new to your product or service with a friendly phone call, and your extension should they have any questions or require assistance.

X – The X Factor: Just when you thought there wouldn’t be anything for “X”! Here is an excellent book, about boosting your productivity and increasing your sales!

Y – Yes!: This is one of the best words you can say to a customer! Make sure that you can say it all the time, and if you aren’t able to, then figure out what to improve so that you can!

Z – Zealous: Be zealous! What does that mean? It just means you should be enthusiastic, passionate about what you do, and eager to help whenever you can!

Selling on Amazon Marketplace – How to Connect With Your (Potential) Amazon Customers Directly

Amazon USED to give out the email address of your buyers, so you could follow up with them and send them thank you notes and such, but they have changed that a while ago. Read on to find out how you can still connect with your customers.

They might have introduced the restrictions to their contact system in order to keep a tighter reign on customer service quality, and possibly to prevent leakage of their profits. Either way, now there’s no longer a way to get in touch with your customers directly.

Or is there? In fact, there are two ways:

1) Thank You Gifts or Notes

You could include some kind of “special” of gift in your package, maybe a bookmark that doubles as a coupon, or a gift of some kind, for example for an electronic book. If you go for the latter, you might want to give them a choice — or make sure you have a range of offers and send them one that would go well with their purchase.

In order to claim it, they would then have to email you, and bingo — you’ll have their email address.

If all you want is follow up, there’s nothing wrong with writing back, thanking them for their positive comments (saying they made your day!), and asking them if they would possibly be willing to give you positive feedback and include similar comments.

I once received an enthusiastic phone call from someone who said she was so excited about having gotten the book, and so quickly and in such great quality, and that she would leave feedback. However, sadly, she never did.

Here’s the thing: Not very many people leave feedback on Amazon for some reason.

2) Your Own Storefront

One thing many sellers don’t even realize is that you do have your own storefront and if you have a lot of books, it might be worth it to send traffic directly to your own “store.”

For the most part, you will get your customers through your listings right alongside Amazon’s listings (used and new section). But it’s not the only way…

I believe advertising your storefront would work best if you had some eclectic kind of mix of books, where you could advertise it by way of ezine articles for example, or put up an ad at various places (usfreeads.com).

You could also set up a web page (or a blog) talking about your books, or select ones, with links to your storefront.

One thing that makes the storefront less effective, at least for “free” vendors, is that there’s no discount for multiple purchases, at least not initially through Amazon’s order system, although you’re welcome to refund your buyers part of the money OR upgrading them to faster shipping if they buy multiple books.

Customer Satisfaction Tips

Customer satisfaction is tantamount to the success of most companies, regardless of their industry or the product they sell. As such, looking deeper into the reasons successful brands have the most satisfied customers as well as what consumers seek in a shopping experience will help companies improve their current policies and provide a more enjoyable (and lucrative!) purchase environment down the line.

Value Provided

Consumers need to acquire value from their purchase to be satisfied with a company. In a recent poll of nationwide grocery store chains, results showed that patrons of the grocery store were less satisfied with chains that increased the price of food. Trader Joe’s and other chains that base their brand image around providing affordable and quality food items remained on top due to their consistent prices.

Although extenuating circumstances come into play here (i.e. food prices may have increased due to shortages), companies need to proactively gage and maintain the value they’re offering clientele. If a large share of satisfied customers remains loyal to a brand or chain because of the cost-to-value ratio, then minimizing costs associated with product takes priority over anything else.

Shopping Experience

A consumer’s shopping experience will directly affect their opinion of a brand and their likeliness to repeatedly purchase from a company. Nordstrom recently took the top spot in a customer satisfaction survey of nationwide retail stores for many reasons, but most notably, because of the environment they create for shoppers. The department store is known for its clean, spacious layout, soft but audible music from a live pianist, a café with signature drinks and treats as well as the “exquisite displays” seen throughout each department. Needless to say, Nordstrom has successfully created an ambiance that consumers both enjoy and remember.

Interestingly, however, the same survey that named Nordstrom the top retailer in customer satisfaction gave the third place spot to Amazon, supporting the fact that consumers prefer to shop online when possible. As seen on Cyber Monday and Black Friday last year, the majority of revenue top retailers generate come from their online interface. Shoppers who can purchase the same products they would get in-store from the comfort of their homes gravitate towards e-commerce sites that make purchases quick, convenient, and don’t charge too much in shipping.

Amazon’s Prime membership rewards loyal patrons with free, expedited shipping and access to unlimited media streaming, providing even more incentive to shop with them. Their newest addition to the membership – Prime Pantry – will now deliver food and household items in the same quick and efficient fashion as their retail items. Overall, Amazon has a head start on the consumer transition to buying a majority of their household needs strictly online.

Customer Service

Whether a customer purchases a product in-store or online, customer service representatives need to be on hand to answer questions and help with any issues that arise. A bad experience with a customer service representative could mean a complete loss of customers depending on the situation. Consequently, company policy should allow for free returns, exchange of damaged product and other contingencies that will assist service reps with satisfying disgruntled buyers. Similarly, the reps should be completely aware of the products the company sells and protocols for assisting customers before, during and after they purchase an item.

How can large companies like Amazon and Nordstrom ensure that their personnel is meeting consumer needs? A recent study showed that an employer’s engagement with employees directly affects their performance in serving customers. 93% of employees who feel valued and acknowledged by the companies they work for also have a full understanding of organizational goals, meaning they’re better equipped to satisfy patrons. Furthermore, these employees increase productivity by 40%, which translates into an increase of customer satisfaction by 18%.

In essence, the top performing brands across the retail, hospitality and entertainment industries have high rates of customer satisfaction that convert into a loyal consumer base who make repeat purchases and generate a steady revenue. As shopping trends transition to online transactions, companies need to design e-commerce platforms that adhere to the customer’s experience the same way they have in stores. In fact, they may need to enhance the overall shopping experience to compete will other online retailers that currently have the majority of the online market share.

Why Good or Great Customer Service Isn’t Enough

What’s the difference between good customer service, great customer service and Extreme Client Care(TM)? It’s a question I’m often asked and here’s an easy way to think of it:

Good Customer Service: You purchase something and receive an electronic (email) receipt and autoresponder message follow-up.
Great Customer Service: You purchase something, receive electronic (email) receipt, nurturing sequence messages to walk you through using the product and a thank you card (usually done via “Send Out Cards”).
Extreme Client/Customer Care™: You purchase something, receive electronic (email) receipt, nurturing sequence messages which ensure you consume/use the product (yes, there is a way to do this AND do it in an automated fashion), a hand-written thank you card and, dare I say it, a follow-up phone call.
Now most business owners think that the good or great customer service is “good enough”. It’s not. In today’s impersonal, technology-driven environment, creating a customer experience through personal touch is not only invaluable, it’s a necessity.

It’s so invaluable in fact that it turns your average clients and customers into raving fans. Imagine not having to focus on “getting” clients, knowing that you have a waiting list of people to work with you…that’s the power of Extreme Client Care™ and a power that too many business owners overlook, instead choosing — often by default — to worry about constantly getting new clients and customers.

Another quick example:

I recently received several birthday cards and/or thank you cards from people I met and assisted at recent events:

6 cards were generated by Send Out Cards — all with the usual indicia, blue writing and glossy card. Nothing personal here at all. In fact, one of the “birthday” cards was promoting a woman’s event (hint…I’m not going).
2 other cards were also generated by Send Out Cards and included $5 Starbucks gift cards (I don’t go to Starbucks, in fact, I’m not even sure there’s one near where I live).
1 card was handwritten, thanked me for the specific assistance I provided and included a $10 Amazon Gift Card (which I promptly used).
And several beautiful handwritten birthday cards which were promptly displayed on my desk and bring a smile to my face every time I see them.
I appreciate and am grateful for everyone who took the time/energy to write. That said, which cards/people do you think I’ll remember a month from now:

the ones who took the time to do something by hand or
the ones who likely shot an email to their assistant and said “send this”?
That’s the power of Extreme Client/Customer Care(TM). It’s about creating an experience that lasts and is remembered long after the actual sale (or event) is over.

Customer Service for Internet Marketers

Customer service is just as important for online businesses as for off-line businesses. In the off-line world, an unhappy customer is nothing more than a great opportunity to turn that person into a loyal customer for life. The online world is no exception. There are a few differences between online customer care and off-line customer care. Let’s look at how these two are similar, then we’ll investigate the differences.

Similarities

I eat lunch at the same sandwich shop nearly every day. I know this is boring, but I really like the atmosphere of the place. I know the manager very well, and I like the quality of the food.

I also know that the service is very even. I know what to expect. I walk in, place my order, and five to ten minutes later, there I am happily munching my sandwich or my salad!

One day a couple of weeks ago, I had an entirely different experience! The manager was not there. As a matter of fact, I’m not sure any manager was there. Chaos ruled! It took me a full 50 minutes to get my food.

I wasn’t upset. I’ve been going there for over ten years. I had had enough experience with this place to know what I was experiencing was a real exception. I did, however, mention the problem to the manager the next time I saw him.

Know what he did? He not only gave me a free lunch the next time I came in, but he gave my whole family–wife and two kids–a free meal!

This guy is an expert at customer service, and this example shows you why. Not only has he figured out such gestures are the right thing to do, they are the expedient thing to do.

It is so much cheaper to keep a customer than to acquire a new one. Besides unhappy customers talk.

It’s the same online.

What’s the cost of acquiring a customer? Online marketing has gotten so competitive that in some markets businesses (including lone internet marketers) are basically spending as much acquiring a customer as they make on the first sale. The profit comes from upsells and backend products.

If you create ill will through shoddy customer service, then you won’t get your chance to make some real profit.

A customer is not an event! He or she is an asset! Something to groom and take care of hopefully for years to come.

Differences

The main differences between online and off-line customer service exist mainly in the customer’s head, and it’s important you understand where your customer is coming from.

When I first walk into a new restaurant, if the place looks nice, I don’t really worry about spending my money. I figure the food will at least be okay, and if something goes really wrong–well, at least I know where they are.

Not true when I buy something online.

If I’m buying from an established company like Amazon, then I feel pretty good about the transaction, should things go awry. But what if I’m buying from an unknown business?

You’ll notice most online entrepreneurs have what’s called a product funnel. We have cheaper products, mid-range products, and then signature products. Very few customers are going to buy your most expensive product right off the bat. They may not be completely aware of what they’re doing, but they are going to test you first by buying one of your cheaper products.

If someone asks for a refund, then give it to them for any reason whatsoever!

You think word spreads fast in the off-line world? Despite the fact the Internet is so huge, it’s harder to hide there than in the real world. People talk on forums for instance. Once burned, a lot of people feel the necessity to tell everyone else to avoid that merchant.

Free Can Be a Great Customer Service Strategy

Giving away something of value for free can be one of the most effective ways to provide great customer service. The cost of the item or service that you give away can be small for you – really small – but the customer on the receiving end may see it as very valuable.

A restaurant owner might occasionally buy his regular customers a drink or dessert. But you can think even smaller than that. Your “giveaway” could be something that costs you only a dollar or two – or even less.

What got me thinking about this was an email from Ron Backer, president of Gracey-Backer, who saw me speak several years ago. Ron wrote that he was pulled over by a police officer one night for having a burnt-out brake light. Ron didn’t get a ticket because he promised the officer that he would go and get the light replaced immediately. He drove to the nearest service station where the mechanic quickly replaced the bulb. When Ron asked what he owed, the mechanic replied, “This one’s on me.”

The words took Ron by surprise. He said, “I wasn’t even his customer, but I am now! I used to buy gas at the discount gas station a few blocks away and save a penny a gallon – maybe 20 cents on a tankful. Not anymore. I now get my gas at the Exxon station.”

This story reminded me of another business owner, Chris Zane, who is known for his amazing customer service. Zane owns a bike store in Connecticut and one of his customer service strategies is to not charge the customer for anything that costs less than a dollar. If a customer comes into his shop, for example, and needs a master link, a small but important part that holds the chain together, Zane delights in seeing the look on the customer’s face when he says that there is no charge. He says, “The cost to me is virtually nothing. We’re not going to chase the pennies – we’re looking at the long-term effect of giving someone a master link.” The long-term effect translates into loyal customers who may spend thousands of dollars over time – whereas giving away small but important parts costs Zane less than $100 a year. Zane has written a book about his customer service philosophy, and it is available on Amazon.com.

You can also give customers (or potential customers) something of value that has no monetary value at all. It may be just taking a little extra time or making an effort to do something nice. One of our newsletter subscribers sent in a story about a time that he was stranded alongside the road with car trouble. A limo driver took the time to stop as he was driving by to offer him a ride to the service station. There was no charge – he was just being nice – but in the end, it paid off and he gained a new customer. The man who was stranded owns a company that now hires the limo driver when he needs a ride to and from the airport.

Free can be a great customer service strategy. It adds value, promotes goodwill and builds trust. All good things that can eventually lead to customer loyalty!

Customer Service Must Be Deeply Rooted in Company’s Culture

This was a great month for Ace Hardware. J.D. Power and Associates ranked Ace Hardware “Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Home Improvement Retail Stores” for the seventh straight year!

I love Ace Hardware for several reasons. When it comes to customer service, they are solid as a rock. Lots of companies considered rock stars in customer service win awards and accolades – companies like Amazon.com, Southwest Airlines, Zappos.com and others. Deservedly so, by the way. They really are great companies. However Ace Hardware is a different kind of success story. They are a David versus Goliath story, as they compete against Home Depot, Lowes and other “Big Box” companies who have larger stores, more inventory and bigger advertising budgets. Ace uses customer service, and specifically helpful customer service to compete and prosper in their market. But that’s not so much a secret. After all, the JD Power award is very public recognition for a job well done. Their secret starts with their culture.

The bottom line is that to be the best place to buy you must be the best place to work. Here is your best tactic:
Treat your employees the way you want your customers to be treated-maybe even better!

If you have followed my work, you know that I’ve shared this line for many years. It’s the Employee Golden rule.

This is the focal point of a company that is customer focused. The employees must be aware and in alignment with leadership’s vision and mission. Ace has simplified their vision and it can be summed up in one word: Helpful. They have operationalized the word helpful and every employee understands it. Ace wants to have the most helpful hardware stores on the planet. They hire for helpful, they train for helpful and they basically live and breathe helpful. To do this, they can’t just tell their employees. They have to demonstrate it. Not only must the customers experience it, the employees must experience it as well. It’s in their DNA, which for a company is their culture.

When it comes to amazing customer service, it starts on the inside and works its way out, and everyone in the company has to step up and become a leader in that effort. Amazing from the inside out means not saying one thing and doing something else. It means being genuine, and making sure that what people see and hear from you is what they actually get from you. At Ace, associates experience helpful before they are expected to generate helpful.

As Mark Schulein, one of the Ace retailers told me, “We focus on engaging with our own people first, knowing what they’re going through at home, finding out what’s going on in their lives, learning what we can do to support them, because that’s exactly what we want them to do for the customer once the customer walks through the door. We believe that in order to be the best place to shop, you have to be the best place to work first.

Whatever gets rewarded and reinforced becomes part of the company’s culture-and whatever doesn’t get rewarded and reinforced affects the culture too.

The internal culture is the secret to delivering customer service. You can have all of the tools, techniques and more, but if customer service isn’t deeply rooted in the company’s culture, it won’t work.

Money and Customer Service

oney is a fantastic measure: it powers the capitalist world. But it is a phenomenally short sighted measure as well.

Money is usually measured, in essence, by ‘profit’.

Profit is a great measure of ‘success today’.

But profit can often be achieved at the expense of ‘success tomorrow’.

The ‘ customer experience ‘ is the measure of ‘success tomorrow’.

Money is just a measure of ‘energy’. It’s a very important form of energy, and it makes many things happen. But, there are other sources of energy that should not be dismissed in the mad quest for money, and the most powerful of these, and getting more powerful every day, is the ‘customer experience’… which is manifested through what they say about you and your services behind your back.

This is called: ‘the word on the street’.

Well managed, the word on the street can be harnessed to drive your business forward. Poorly managed (or, what is more commonplace, not managed at all and left to chance), it can destroy you overnight.

Unfortunately, people are much keener to talk about ‘poor’ experiences than ‘great ‘ experiences… at least 10 times more.

So you have to be ‘great’, or else your ‘ poor ‘ experiences can ruin your organisation.

Unfortunately, no matter how ‘great’ you are, ‘poor’ experiences will always happen, because nobody is perfect. If you are just ‘satisfactory’, then there is not enough customer loyalty in your business or brand to get you through these problems. If you are ‘great’ you will have enough goodwill built up to rectify the issue and retain the customer’s loyalty.

If we accept that money is energy, then your ‘ customer experience ‘ must deliver significantly more energy to your customer (from the customer’s point of view) than the energy it cost your customer to acquire it.

Sometimes I’m accused of talking soft and fluffy nonsense, and

1. ‘it’s tough out there’
2. ‘in reality it’s not like that’
3. ‘price is more important than service’

To which I reply (in order):

1. ‘Yes, that’s why it’s so important to get this right: the worse you do this, the tougher it will be for you’
2. ‘Reality is what you make it':
a. If your attitude is ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ (the great ‘glass half empty’ view), then you’ll be right.
b. If your attitude is ‘I’ll see it when I believe it’ (the great ‘glass half full’ view) then you’ll be right.
c. Give it a go: if it’s so awful ‘out there’ then ‘surely things can’t get any worse!’
d. I love the quote from Henry Ford, and have it stuck on my office wall: “If you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re probably right”. Great!

3. ‘Yes, price is important, you always have to charge a fair price for the long term, but it’s ONLY more important than service when there are no other discerning factors.’

• If your customer trades with you purely because of your price, what they are really telling you is that your service could do with some improvement!
• What will then happen when someone with lower overheads and better systems suddenly starts to undercut you?

Some more views on price:

o If price is your ‘unique selling proposition’, then, in reality, you haven’t got a unique selling proposition.
o People who trade on price rip you off, pay late, steal your ideas and mess you around… don’t go for them… go for the sensible majority who want a ‘great’ experience at a ‘fair’ price!
o If you win business on price, then you’ll lose it on price: the ONLY long term factor for success is great customer service, producing customer loyalty.

There was a fantastic example of this in the UK in 2008, when a ‘Poundland’ shop was put out of business by a 99p shop next door!

o Be transparent on price: if you’re more expensive, be open and tell your customers why: they’ll often opt for the more expensive but more transparent option (because it engenders trust). Some examples of this:

Amazon.com: tell you all the different price options on products they sell or source.

Waitrose supermarkets in the UK: promote quality and service over price, and enjoy consistent growth & good profits

Stella Artois was always promoted as ‘reassuringly expensive’ in the UK during the 1990s, where it because the No 1 premium lager by a huge margin. (Incidentally, this was fatally undermined when the owners started doing discount price deals on it in supermarkets, and promptly removed the USP!)

o A curious, but real, economic fact: the more you pay for something, then the more it’s worth. For example: in my profession, if I give material away, people rarely pay attention to it… but if I charge a fair price, then it usually has a good effect!

o And always remember: reducing your price won’t affect your ‘customer experience’ one bit!

So, in a nutshell: ‘service first, profits second’. If you deliver consistently great customer experiences, the profits will follow… not the other way round!