Small Business Recap | Sponsored by Canvus Apps and our Online Inventory System
We will provide a weekly recap in news and notes from around the web in the world of Small Business. These tidbits can be related to information from the IRS to innovations in technology impacting small business owners as well as information on how to improve your small business. This week we look at an article by Mark Cohen from the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/28/business/smallbusiness/increasing-sales-by-answering-customers-questions.html). Mark brings the most basic principle of running a successful small business to the forefront, customer service. One great way to have more time to spend on customer service is to incorporate time saving tools like Stockpile, our free online inventory system. Mark had a Q&A with Marcus Sheridan, owner of River Pools and Spas, on how he was able to bounce back from the financial crisis of 2008.
"Q. Take us back. How did you save your company?
A. I just started thinking more about the way I use the Internet. Most of the time when I type in a search, I’m looking for an answer to a specific question. The problem in my industry, and a lot of industries, is you don’t get a lot of great search results because most businesses don’t want to give answers; they want to talk about their company. So I realized that if I was willing to answer all these questions that people have about fiberglass pools, we might have a chance to pull this out."
As Marcus stated being able to answer customer questions is a great way to attract eyes to your business. Very few people want to provide this information because they think they will lose business by providing the answers to customers questions. In the world we live in today with all the data available on the internet my prospective customers are looking with businesses willing to assist them in answering questions regardless of them being contractually obligated to the business. Simply put customers want answers prior to deciding who they will take their business to. The more a business is willing to answer questions the more trusting the customer will become with that business, which in turn may convert that prospective customer into a sale. The owners of Stockpile are cut from the same cloth. They care about being able to meeting customer needs more than being able to generate revenue. What better way to show this than by making your product free to use. They are also prompt in answering questions about their software and being able to build in functionality based on customer feedback.
