Just for you, I did the promised follow-up to the Journaling for Customers blog, checked the spelling and as I went to hit the "Post" key, lightning struck. Within three seconds there was a brilliant light, this popping and frying sound in the room with all of the computer systems, then total darkness, followed by a really loud crack of thunder. Within a few minutes we could see, by candlelight, that the beautiful blog, crafted just for you, was wiped out. And there was no Internet or computer system. That burning smell was our router. Customer service by our IT support company was fabulous and we were in business the following work day.
What does this mean? For one, I'm not rewriting that blog because I can take a hint. When lightning strikes, do you think you are really suppose to press your luck and recreate that same blog? Oh no. Let's look for another sign about how to turn information about customers into cash flow.
It came Monday morning in the Daily Strategic Attraction Action Tip from Perfect Customers, Inc. and I encourage you to read it for yourself. The three specific steps you need to do next are in that tip sheet. Go to the site, sign up for the free daily tips and go to the drop down archive list to get the one for today. It looks like this 2005/07/18.
Before we discuss the very large profits that business people are making by following CRM principles, such as listening to customers, identifying the most valuable customers and serving them to the level Tom Peters calls WOW, we need to nail down the fundamentals of dialog.
If you have never done this, then start today with a whole new attitude of adventure and discovery. What if I'm right? What if you have been working way too hard for too little money, simply because it was all about you instead of all about your customer? Remember that journal we talked about in the last blog? (Okay, go back to the blog before this one and refresh your memory.) You are listening and writing down the answers to those few, very important questions, right? Now you go back to those same customers and follow the advice that comes from Jan Stringer and Alan Hickman, co-owners of Perfect Customers, Inc.
Tell your customers why they are valuable to you and your business. Collect even more, extremely valuable information and insights about what you can do to create even more customer value. Write it in that journal. If you wish, you can act on that information in an immediate way. If you have more than 20 customers, we have to talk about CRM, your database and how you are remembering everything that every customer told you, then sharing that in real time across your enterprise, whether that's all in one building or shooting e-mails to the handheld computers in the hands of members of your company in airports and meeting rooms across the country.
What happens next? Keep going on your customer communication journey and journaling. And come back here tomorrow to let us all know how you are doing. We'll take the next steps, together, into CRM land. We'll engage an expert guide, Paul Greenberg, and his CRM Blog to make the next steps easier, if not more enjoyable.
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