Just recently I had a flat tire (ugh!). On a whim, I stopped by a shop that I had a coupon for and had used several times in the past. After a couple of hours of waiting for the repair, I presented them with my 10% off coupon – basically enough to offset the tax of the service. When I handed over the coupon, they made a huge deal about honoring it because I didn’t tell mention up front I had it  (I figured give it to them when I’m checking out, right?) The person who answered the phone told me it was fine, the person who worked on my car was oblivious to the situation, and the person who checked me out was enforcing a random policy to the highest degree. It ended up where I had to talk to the bad attitude manager, who said he would only make this exception ONE TIME (BTW: I had been to this auto shop and spent upwards of 500.00 within a few months in repairs). I – the customer giving money, was so frustrated with their lack of communication and customer service, that I made sure to let them know I would tell others in my position not to use them and would migrate elsewhere for all future repairs.

We’ve all been in the position where a business and employees make a bad impression on us. So much that we can’t wait to tell everyone about our horrible experience and encounters. Fact of the matter is, everyone was on a different page within the business and it was apparent they didn’t work well as a team – leaving me with a bad taste in my mouth for their business.

Everyone IN your business is marketing FOR your business in some way. From the person answering the phone, to a sales rep – every action dealing with prospects and customers is either increasing opportunities or decreasing opportunities.

Here are my 5 Tips for Creating Marketing Experts In Your Business

1)      Reward Good Employee Customer Service – Make sure everyone on your team is a customer service expert! Incentives often drive success, so putting some reward system in place can keep employees motivated and enforcing good customer service.

2)      Educate Your Employees – Every employee from the lowest position to the highest should know what you do, why you do it, and who you do it for. Educating every employee up front and continuing that education over time can be crucial for creating a team with the same goals.

3)      Keep Everyone Updated On Business Changes – Chances are your business is changing every day, and it’s important that everyone internally knows and understands these changes as they occur to prevent communication errors.

4)      Allow Everyone To Help Solve Problems – As with car shop situation, going through every employee at the shop to get a solution was frustrating. Empower your team to know how to solve problems so you are able to tackle them quickly and efficiently.

5)      Offer An Easy Way For Prospects/Customers To Leave Feedback – Again with the car shop situation, to give a suggestion I have to go through some corporate loophole. Make it easy and convenient for others to offer suggestions so your business is able to grow and learn from others experiences.