People are talking about you

You are being talked about

No matter what kind of company you have, your customers are having conversations about your products and practices.

The questions that every company needs to ask are:

[unordered_list style=”circle” number_type=”circle_number” animate=”no” font_weight=”bold”]

• Do I want to be a part of this conversation?
• Do I want to learn from it?
• Am I willing to innovate and change on the basis of it?

[/unordered_list]

If you can harness the benefit of this community, your business will benefit.

I have asked a few small businesses to give me examples of how keeping their ear tuned to important conversations has helped their business grow:

[blockquote text=”
[unordered_list style=”circle” number_type=”circle_number” animate=”no” font_weight=”bold”]

• “Phoebe helped us to tune into what was being said about life insurance and income protection on twitter. On multiple occasions there have been tweets from people asking for recommendations for a good broker and we have been able to make contact with them. This has resulted in new business for Rick Mapperson and Associates.”

[/unordered_list] ” text_color=”” width=”” line_height=”undefined” background_color=”” border_color=”” show_quote_icon=”yes” quote_icon_color=””]
-Rick Mapperson, Managing Director, Rick Mapperson and Associates (a personal insurance brokerage) @RickMapperson

[blockquote text=”
[unordered_list style=”circle” number_type=”circle_number” animate=”no” font_weight=”bold”]

• “This is a MUST for any business and has been indispensable for my business. I keep my ear to the ground with respect to the latest news and tips within my industry, movements by my competitors as well as being aware of my clients and prospects evolving needs and struggles. Although it seems like a difficult task to master, provision of certain tools such as Google Alerts and Analytics as well as Social Media allows this part of research to be automatic (in most parts) as well as cost effective.”

[/unordered_list] ” text_color=”” width=”” line_height=”undefined” background_color=”” border_color=”” show_quote_icon=”yes” quote_icon_color=””]
-Janna Fikh, Principal, Fletcher Tax Accountants (accounting practice specialising in small business) @FletcherTax

[blockquote text=”
[unordered_list style=”circle” number_type=”circle_number” animate=”no” font_weight=”bold”]

• “We had always assumed that our customers were happy with us and had left it at that. Phoebe pointed out that we should be maximising these positive relationships to generate more new business. Good Business Consulting conducted an audit of some of our most loyal customers and one of the key findings in the survey was that our customers found it hard to make repeat orders or to refer us. We were losing opportunities without even realising.”

[/unordered_list] ” text_color=”” width=”” line_height=”undefined” background_color=”” border_color=”” show_quote_icon=”yes” quote_icon_color=””]
-Communications Manager of a manufacturing retail business.

[blockquote text=”
[unordered_list style=”circle” number_type=”circle_number” animate=”no” font_weight=”bold”]

• “By finding out what was being said about our business online (mostly forums) we discovered that there were complaints about some of our tradespeople. We are now taking steps to address those problems.”

[/unordered_list] ” text_color=”” width=”” line_height=”undefined” background_color=”” border_color=”” show_quote_icon=”yes” quote_icon_color=””]
-Owner of a handyman business.

..

So, do you know what is being said about your business?

[unordered_list style=”circle” number_type=”circle_number” animate=”no” font_weight=”bold”]

• Have you taken any steps to monitor what is being said about you, your business or your industry?

[/unordered_list]

I’d love to hear stories of how this has worked or even how it has gone wrong for you.