What Makes You Special | M4B Marketing | Small business news; tips; networking

Posted by m4bmarketing under Marketing
From http://www.m4bmarketing.com 5118 days ago
Made Hot by: BusinessBloggerPro on November 20, 2010 2:50 am

What do you say when asked “What is your key point of difference?"
Of course there can be many answers, but often you hear small business owners say it is due to customer service.The problem with this is that it is so generic. Instead find out the key words that your customer's use.

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Comments

Written by globalcopywrite
5118 days ago

Hi Susan,

You've performed a great service with this post. I nearly weep with boredom every time a small business owner tells me they have great service. When I ask them what that means, they can almost never articulate it because they haven't really thought about it before. In a lot of cases, they DON'T deliver much in the way of service at all. Thanks for making us all stop and think about how we really are different.

Cheers,

Sarah

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Written by m4bmarketing
5118 days ago

Hi Sarah,

It does seem that great service is the catch cry for small business. Good point about them not being able to articulate it and perhaps it is because they do not have feedback or insights.

Thanks for your comment.

Susan

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Written by yoni67
5119 days ago

Susan,

One more thing about entitlement: There is a sense a lot of times that as a businessperson, someone deserves my business. No way! You gotta earn it. If I walk into a store and the person frowns, acts like I'm taking up too much of their time or chats on their cellphone and makes me wait...I depart immediately!

I'll go somewhere else even if it's across town to find that person or business that I consider a perfect fit!

Lovely post that inspiers conversation like this!

I will be taking off of work. I've notified my clients and will be changing my status to "not available." I need to take a break. I think I will set the goal of Jan. 1st to return.

Yoni

Now a message from Rivkah:

Hi Susan! Thanks for your compliments on my post! It was fun. It gave me the chance to put into practice all that Yoni has taught me!

Rivkah!

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Written by m4bmarketing
5118 days ago

Hi Yoni,

Very true about earning business. Today customers have many more choices due to the internet. Instead of just local offerings they can go online and buy. In fact our retailers who do not have an onlibe presence moan about loss of business quite a bit.

Take care of yourself and have a well deserved rest.

Rivkah,

You should write more.

Susan

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Written by businessavante
5119 days ago

Interesting angle, Susan! Look inside your personality to see which parts to reflect in your marketing. I Agree about not relying on customer service as a business' main "difference" - some companies who shout it the loudest are the worst at it!

businessavante

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Written by m4bmarketing
5119 days ago

Hi Duncan,

These days I do believe we can overthink things. I can't tell you the number of small businesses that say customer service without looking at what part.

Susan

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Written by yoni67
5119 days ago

Susan,

A very inspirational post! Very heartening. Almost everybody has beauty in them. Specialness. Yet, some people in Business still don't get it. What makes them unique"

Their frown.

Their crappy attitude.

Their sense of entitlement (thinking their store or their business is the only game in town...they don't realize that dissatisfied customers usually have alternatives)

It's about customer service. People want to be made to feel special. It is the greatest selling point we have. Bill Gates once said his chief criteria for hiring is attitude. You can teach anybody to operate a computer but attitude can't be taught.

Wonderful post!

Yoni

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Written by m4bmarketing
5119 days ago

Hi Yoni.

First up I hope you are going okay. Very true about attitude and I bet your clients know what makes working with you special. It certainly would not be boring.

I like the your words about 'the beauty in them".

Susan

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