Keeping Tabs on the Competition

It’s easy to get tunnel vision—focusing on your own team, your own customers, and your own goals. It’s crucial we don’t forget to look around because here’s the reality: If you don’t know what your competitors are up to, you’re playing the game with only half the playbook. That’s why…
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The Keys to Lasting Customer Loyalty

Customer loyalty is crucial for the survival of any small business. However, loyalty doesn’t happen by chance—it’s earned through careful strategies that target the specific needs and expectations of your customers. At The Brandt Group, we specialize in helping businesses uncover the necessary insights for creating the kinds of exceptional…
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Why Every Small Business Needs a Mystery Shopping Program

Small businesses face a series of unique challenges that high-quality customer service difficult to maintain. Unlike large corporations, for example, small businesses often operate with fewer employees and resources, which can lead to inconsistencies in service—particularly when employees juggle multiple roles and responsibilities. Further, small businesses are usually more vulnerable…
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How Mystery Shopping Can Benefit Your Marketing

When we discuss mystery shopping, we usually do so from the standpoint of how it can directly benefit your business’s customer experience. We emphasize the importance of using the perspectives of regular consumers to gauge your customer service, sales, and support processes from a layperson’s point-of-view. Mystery shoppers observe everything…
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The Antidote for Inflation

Whether the United States is now in a recession has been the subject of much political posturing and debate. Regardless of how any of us feels about labels or technical definitions, the U.S. economy has shrunk two consecutive quarters amid soaring inflation and higher interest rates. A silver lining is…
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A Standout Customer Experience

Regardless of the industry, all businesses face competition of one sort or another. You might be tempted to think that you have no direct peers if you own a unique business in the area—like if you have your town’s only movie theater—but that’s a superficial distinction. You’re still competing for…
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Avoiding More Common Mistakes

Last week, we took a look at Gene Marks’s article for The Hartford, wherein he explained many of the common pitfalls that small-business owners fall into. This week, let’s take a deeper look at a few more critical mistakes you should avoid. Don’t Overwork Yourself Marks admits that “running a…
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Learning from the Competition and Beyond

Customer-service expert Shep Hyken has another great take on what it takes to deliver a superior customer experience, this time taking a look at the importance of studying the competition. But, as he explains, it’s not as simple as copying what they do: “if all you are is a copy…
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