Welcome to the SoPro sofa series

Customers should be treated as humans, not a commodity. Build relationships, offer advice, engage emotions. The success of a business relationship is built on trust. Gaining trust takes years, losing it takes seconds.

In the digital age the customer expects nothing short of ‘awesome’ in every interaction. Businesses have to differentiate and tailor the experience to make it personal and memorable. You can do this by anticipating and responding to the needs of your customer before they’ve a chance to express them.

Building a new business is like laying down fresh train tracks. You don’t build infrastructure for where people lived yesterday or even today. Build for how people will live tomorrow.

Being a company who are easy to deal with, providing good forms of consistent communication and showing value to a customer that’s real!
I always say “If a client is spending money with you, you should always be in contact with them and treat them how you would like to be treated”

In any “impossible” situation, the key is always to ask the right question. With all the resources of the internet and/or your personal network, good answers are likely to follow.

Small businesses are more agile than bigger players and so can offer a more personal service which is very important.
Also, small businesses need to specialise in their particular niche if they are to compete successfully.
The key thing, though, is for the business to be totally customer focussed and for management to have the well-being of staff as their primary focus.
In that way the team will be happy to take care of customers. Even an online business can give the right impression to customers with the right content and customer experience, if backed up by a friendly, professional, helpful team on the phone.
Look after customers first, do the right thing for the right reason in the right way, and the profits will follow.

Having a strong forward vision: as someone whose business specialises in delivering high impact brand campaigns, I’ve come to appreciate the importance of having a clear vision of what I want to achieve. Not just visualise a finished project, but also what success looks like for my business. In order to achieve that, I need to be able to communicate my vision effectively to my team.

Make a difference: Having the ability to make a difference is a gift bestowed upon a leader, especially as a female in such a high position. Being a part of the cultural changes towards diversity, equality, and inclusion for all, is your opportunity to make a real change – for better and for always. In the same sense as making a difference, having the attitude and company culture to do so is also vital. Leading with passion is infectious, which means that if you want your team to share the same passion you have for what you do, you need an environment in which creativity and engagement can thrive. That doesn’t just happen by itself – it needs to come from the top, which is why leaders have a crucial role in defining the culture of a company.

Be brave, take risks: Being brave and taking risks is a key trait of an excellent leader. Taking a step into the unknown, and taking risks to earn rewards, is the secret behind all good leaders, and your staff will respect somebody who isn’t afraid to take a risk and is brave in their decision making.

Like the Shawshank Redemption movie’s quote: “Time and Pressure” i.e. by single pointedly focussing on what you do, do it well and loving your work, it will appeal to customers and prospects. Like anything, it takes time to perfect a system and one day, breakthrough allways come. Be patient, love what you do, be clear about your vision by constantly refining it.

An awesome customer experience starts with clarity, is grown with proactivity and empathy and concludes in success. It’s so important that any expectations for success and the route to get there is clear from the offset for both yourself and the customer to avoid unwanted surprises and to ensure alignment throughout the customer journey. Building on this solid foundation by showing that you understand your customer’s needs, that you are proactive in making recommendations and that you can challenge your customer to get the best results, you are sure to create a memorable customer experience that will leave them wanting to return!

The ingredients for an awesome customer experience are a big dollop of empathy, a large spoonful of collaboration, 4 scoop of shared values, 2 buckets of understanding, a gallon of positivity and finally a can do attitude that delivers exactly what they ordered.