BE IN THE PEOPLE BUSINESS

“We are not in the coffee business serving people, but in the people business serving coffee.” -Howard Schultz, Founder and CEO of Starbucks

Owning a business has huge rewards and advantages, if you’re making money. If not…well, I probably don’t have to go into all that. But how do you ensure that you will make money? That is the goal, right? Yes, money is great and we all need it to survive. But what if I told you that if you stop focusing on money and start focusing on people, the money will come?!

Did you know that Satisfied customers will do business with you again and even tell others about you. I don’t need to quote statistics because you’ve probably already experienced that. I will however give you my favorite statistic:

“A 2% increase in customer retention has the same effect as decreasing costs by 10%” -Leading on the Edge of Chaos, Emmet Murphy & Mark Murphy.​

​So what can you do right now that will make the biggest impact on your business? Put the spreadsheet away and look at your guest, take time to dig into your surveys that maybe you haven’t really dove into, mentor your people and listen. Open your ears and let them speak, if you don’t take the time to listen you will never grown. Don’t just listen to your customers but listen to your people too. They work on the front lines and get to experience all of it, so they most-likely have something to say that is worth listening to. We have to see business for what it is and what it has become. We have to provide a service that sets us apart from all of the competition, because if you don’t….the guy or gal down the street might.

“33% of Americans say they’ll consider switching companies after just a single instance of poor service.” -American Express

33%….from one bad experience?! They will just leave and not come back….Let that sink in. That is a huge opportunity for companies that don’t put customer satisfaction at the front of their business model.
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“Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends.” -Walt Disney

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