During my childhood I had the tendency to exaggerate or fib on little things for instance, how far I hit the baseball, how sick I was (to skip school) and of course when I broke something in the house. Now that I am older, wiser and have a better understanding of the value of truth, my actions have transformed tremendously. This behavior is understandable in naive children but I have noticed this same behavior in small businesses.

Small businesses have the tendency to imply “lie” that they are larger than they are. For instance some will claim they are a national business when in fact they only service locally but have sister companies in other states with different services. Another example is when a small business consisting of only one employee (owner) classifies their home office as their main headquarters, insinuating that they have multiple locations and are more grandiose than they are. My favorite “white lie” used frequently by small businesses is their broad description of their territory that they service. An example of this is when they say they service the west coast in reality they service one city that happens to be located on the west coast.

Small businesses are essentially trying to deceive potential clients which I, as a potential client do not appreciate being misled. With all the resources that we have available to us like Linked In, a business website, and blogs like this one, everyone has the capability to research businesses before making purchasing decisions. So it is inevitable that we will figure out the actual status of the company and in turn be disappointed by their tactics.

Do you or fellow employees embellish on your businesses?

Don’t risk a possible good business relationship with a white lie. These embellishments directly affect a brand and reputation of a business. Embrace the fact that you are a small business and use it to sell your business to success.

Have you ever exaggerated about your business or caught someone in a white lie. If so; share in the comment box below.

Buzz Marketing

Word of mouth is the most powerful marketing tactic, which can either help or hinder companies. Every visit and encounter between you and your staff with a customer is categorized and ranked by the customer. If the service is good or bad, it will be remembered and most likely be talked about. If the visit is non-eventful run of the mill encounter it is not thought about twice. It seems to me that the majority of my conversations with family, friends, and co-workers lead to places we have just been, places we want to go because we heard good things about it and always leads into places we will never go to again because of the service or quality.

“The average person who has a bad-service experience tells at least nine others about it and l3% of complaints relate their experience to more than 20 other peoples. In comparison, people who receive an excellent service only tell three or four others about it" - Research Institution of America

Triggering a Good Experience

1. Be personable
2. Make connection with customer make them feel like their business matters
3. Listen to your customers
4. Empathize with customers
5. Exceed customer expectations
6. Stay proactive and keep gathering customer service ideas
7. Employee satisfaction directly correlates to quality customer satisfaction

Management at Culvers Connects

I had a memorable experience at St. Albert’s Church bazaar where the Albertville Culver’s catered in a stand. I have always enjoyed Culvers because of their great quality food and friendly service but at the bazaar, their service went above and beyond especially being out of their element with limited supplies on hand. My family and I ordered four corndogs and a pulled pork sandwich. The corn dogs were brought out to our table promptly but too promptly, I bit into mine and found that it was cold. I pondered just eating it but decide to take mine back so Culver’s was aware that their cooking time needed to be tweaked.

I brought it back to the counter where they apologized profusely and said that they would bring one out right away. Shortly after I sat down a Culver’s employee had followed me back and asked about the condition of our other corndogs we informed him that they were all cold but too hungry to wait for new ones. He apologized again and offered to bring out four new ones, which we declined since the other three were already devoured.

Management then made the decision and brought us over not just one but four new-cooked corn dogs. We were all pleasantly surprised by this gesture and commented on how this kind of exemplary service is needed at more places in order to gain customer loyalty. Thanks to Culvers initiative, they retained 5 loyal customers

Importance of Good Customer Service

1. Customer retention
2. Customer referrals
3. Trigger a good experience worth talking about