This customer service tip is very interesting. Over time any business can deteriorate, often without the business owners or managers being aware. Whenever you go to the same place day after day, changes occur but they are less obvious than if they occurred overnight. It is like looking at a photograph of yourself now and comparing it to one from ten years ago. Sadly there will be a few more lines, possibly a few more pounds and in my case a little less hair. If you woke up and saw these changes overnight you would rush to your Doctors for identification of whatever life threatening illness you have developed overnight.
Exactly the same changes can occur to your business. The day you open the doors the business is sparkling, the uniforms are fresh, the company cars glimmer and everyone has a bounce in their step. Over the space of a few years the premises can become run down, uniforms fade, company cars become dented and old, signwriting fades, carpets fade and there can be a collective run down feeling with the whole business. A friend of mine aptly describes this as business fatigue.
Stop for a few minutes and have a look at your business. Be objective and try to imagine back to the day your opened the doors. How does your business compare today to the when you started? If you are lucky, it will be better, but perhaps there are areas that could improved.
For most businesses, a revamp is required every five or so years. Many of the areas that you now overlook may need attention and often, it is necessary to get in a professional to give you a few ideas on what you can do to make your business sparkle again.
An added bonus with doing a review of this nature is that as technology has developed there are now many new and exciting options available when it comes to fitting out a business. There are some amazing new materials, communication systems, materials for uniforms and many other new developments that will help to make your business sparkle again.
The benefits to you are that this reinjection of enthusiasm and money into your business will be reflected in the attitude of your staff and the perception of your business from your customers point of view. Customers like to see that a business is staying current and fresh. It is professional and it shows a commitment to customer service that will pay for itself many times over.
We recently did a corporate makeover for a recruitment company. It was a very successful business but their name stereotyped the type of recruitment that they offered. No matter how hard they tried their customers only ever used them for one aspect of their recruitment needs.
We recommended changing the company name and logo, completely revamping the office, staff uniforms, signage and company cars. The overall process required a firm commitment from the owners and I can really appreciate their bravery in changing the name of this well known company. As it was the change worked fabulously. The entire business was transformed and there was a real metamorphism in staff attitudes and customer attitudes. The end result ws that this was a successful corporate makeover that will take the company into the next stage of its development. If the change wasn’t made the business could have been overtaken by competitors.
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Jason Rakowski