The Power of Personalization

We all know that customer satisfaction is the make-or-break metric for all businesses, but small ones that don’t possess giant war chests to survive a string of bad press or ruinous policies. Personalizing your customer experience is how you keep that satisfaction high, as it makes those interactions about more…
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Finding a Competitive Edge

Every business is either looking for a competitive edge, or should be. Competition, regardless of industry, is perhaps at its highest level ever, especially given the online presence that most companies now have. In years past, two pizzerias on opposite sides of town might have been scarcely aware of one another; these…
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3 Steps to Simplify Business Operations

Running a small business can be both rewarding and challenging. As the captain of the ship, you’re responsible for navigating through daily operations amid the seas of nonstop competition. Keeping those operations as simple as possible can lead to increased efficiency, reduced stress, and improved customer satisfaction. Let’s explore three…
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The Art of Compromise

Commerce is an intricate dance, one where both customers and businesses form partnerships toward mutual benefit. A customer wants a good or service, and the business is willling to provide it. The dance happens in the negotiation, but this often involves far more than simple haggling. Instead, so much of…
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Expertise and Empathy

Delivering a superior customer experience is a non-negotiable requirement for your business’s success. There are simply too many alternatives out there for a small business to survive regularly disappointing its customers, especially given the pervasive reach of Internet-based competitors. In many areas of the country, just about any consumer product…
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Mystery Shopping Forever

As a business owner, you might wonder whether mystery shopping in the long term makes sense for your business. Perhaps you’ve thought that at some point, your employees are going to be as well-trained as they can be and that the utility of mystery shopping them will diminish in time.…
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The Here and Now

Many of our blogs talk about taking the right steps to ensure lasting customer loyalty as a way to spur long-term success. After all, loyal customers are the ones who keep coming back and spreading positive word-of-mouth to their friends, family, and greater social network. That’s the essence of having…
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Cheap Is an Illusion

We all love a good bargain, so when advertisements offer the allure of cheap or even free products or services, many of us find the temptation hard to resist. But as in all things in life, the bill eventually comes due, and there is always a catch. Let’s take a…
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Enhancing Your Business Through Engagement

By now, we should all know that fostering a superior customer experience is critical for distinguishing a small business from both its direct competitors, as well as the much larger companies that attract a broad audience (think big-box stores, supercenters, and the like). Many of those businesses out there offer…
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