Over the course of the last few years (some argue as many as the last ten years) there has been a revival of interest in the 1980s electronic music scene. I must say that I haven’t been disappointed as I grew in that period, without the big hair, I hasten to add! Anyway, seeing some of the bands and music that have seen a resurgence has been like witnessing a blast from the past.
One band that was very much in the thick of the 1980s electronic music scene was Depeche Mode and it was only the other day that I found myself blissfully humming away to one of their tracks: “Everything Counts”. This was Depeche Mode‘s eighth UK single, released in July 1983 and in the song (you can check it out here on YouTube) there is a couple of lines, which go:
It’s a competitive world
Everything counts in large amounts
Now, you might be asking what has this got to do with growing businesses?
Well, those two lines offer a sage piece of advice for how we operate our businesses and reminder that everything that we do matters and even the smallest thing can make the biggest difference when it comes to being competitive or standing out in your marketplace.
What I take those two lines to mean, specifically, is that when it comes to serving our customers everything counts in their experience of you. Everything matters from:
- Your handshake
- Your business card
- How you or your team answers the phone or conducts itself on the phone
- How you quote
- How you chase invoices
- How you handle customer complaints
- Your emails
- Your invoices
- Your website
- Your brand
- Your marketing
- Your company literature
- etc
So, with this in mind, when was the last time that you reviewed not your customer experience but your customer’s experience of you? In doing so, ask yourself this:
Is my customer’s experience of me consistent across all areas?
Asking this will give you simple clues as to where you can make immediate improvements in how you serve your customers in different parts of your business. Following that you can then go about thinking about improving your overall customer experience and how you serve your customers.
Thanks to Esami for the image.
