For your business to be successful you have to meet the expectations of your customers. If you can't deliver what they want you won't be in business long. To really succeed and grow your business you have to outperform the competition. That's why the best business practice is to exceed their expectations. When you are even better than they expected they will tell their friends and neighbors and they will keep coming back. Today's post offers some tips on how to wow your customers and how using a small business inventory solution like Stockpile can help. Keep reading to learn more.
Be on Time
Everyone's time is valuable so keeping an eye on the clock is important. Open when you say you will, don't close before you're scheduled to, and meet any deadlines or delivery dates that you promise your customers. We know that is easier said than done. There are numerous outside influences that can impact your schedule. If you are consistent most of the time your customers will understand and forgive the rare occasion that you aren't on time. If you do miss a planned delivery date you could offer a discount or some other incentive to create goodwill. If possible, provide a "no later than" delivery date that has some built in room for delays. This sets you up to have the item delivered before it was promised. Doing this allows you to exceed expectations without rushing your process.
Attitude Is Everything
You don't have to be a trained psychologist to pick up on a bored employee's emotions. Their bad attitude is usually noticeable the minute you see them. When an employee would rather be somewhere else it can make interacting with them an uncomfortable experience. Customers who feel bad about asking for assistance likely won't ask. They may leave your business without what they came in for simply because it wasn't a good experience. There are several things you can do to avoid this scenario. During the hiring process look for employees who genuinely want to work for your business. Asking the right questions can help you weed out the candidates who are just looking for a job. When you conduct employee training focus on how important it is to have a positive attitude when interacting with customers. You also need to provide a work environment where employees feel comfortable coming to you or a supervisor with personal issues. Everyone has bad days. If an employee is going through a rough time it might be hard for them to maintain a sunny disposition. If they can come to a superior and ask for help or get someone else to handle customer support for a time that could ease the stress and maintain the level of service that your customers expect.
Give a Little Extra
Anytime you can give your customers a little extra, do it. Free samples, an additional discount, a little overage on their order, whatever it is that little bit more will be appreciated. Everyone likes to feel like they got a good deal and giving a little extra can increase that feeling. This can also apply to how much help you give them while they're in your business. Offering to provide additional assistance can really go a long way towards improving their overall experience. There are certain things they will expect you to do, going above and beyond is that next level service that they will remember and tell others about.
Better Inventory Management
Many business owners cite inventory management as one of their biggest headaches. This doesn't have to be the case. If you use Stockpile you can easily track your inventory whether you have one location or a dozen. Creating records is quick and easy. Because Stockpile small business inventory solution is fully customizable you choose which fields to include in item records. This allows you to track the data that is important to your business. You can add more than just style, sku, color, and size. Adding fields is easy so you can track all the information that you need. You can even include a photo in your record. Using areas and locations lets you be very specific about where items are stored. This makes it easy to locate what you need when you need it.
Keeping your data up to date is important as well. That's why Stockpile makes it easy for employees to access the system and make changes as needed. Because Stockpile small business inventory solution is available for free you can add multiple users without having to worry about increasing your cost. This increases the likelihood that your records will be kept accurate.
Running reports is also easy with Stockpile. Just a few clicks allows you to access all the reporting data that you need for end of the year or tax time. There are so many benefits to using Stockpile small business inventory solution we will definitely exceed your expectations. If you're ready to see what we can do for you, try Stockpile today!
