Savannah Web Design and Internet Marketing | United WebWorks

A Bill of Rights for Sales Leads

Written by Brian Chilcote | November 2, 2016

The Founding Fathers agreed that the U.S. Constitution wasn’t quite complete, so they added a set of amendments - ten of them - right off the bat. It became apparent that in order to head off the negatives of old European governmental systems, they needed to guarantee certain specific rights for the average citizen.

It was a bit like including some average Joes and Josephines in the room when our republic was in the planning stages. In answer to the “what about us?” question, the framers came up with ten privileges that couldn’t be removed without due process of the law.

On this day we can establish religious groups, own a gun, and get a fair trial without our government depriving us of the opportunity for no reason.

The Bill of Rights and the other 17 amendments make it clear that the interests of regular citizens is important enough to be included in our core lawmaking document.

The same should go for any business. When we say, “The customer is always right,” What does that mean, exactly? It means that your company should look at being customer-centric by making and keeping some promises- a “bill of rights” for leads.

Can your business guarantee some basic rights for all who consider buying from you? If so, what might they be?

In the spirit of 1791 then:

May your company, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, add a few declaratory and restrictive clauses to it’s mission, to extend public confidence in your business and to ensure the beneficent ends of your enterprise...

1. The Right to Helpful, Excellent Content.

One of the most important realities to remember when you're building your client base is that maintaining high quality online content is imperative. This is the case for many reasons, including the fact that written content is the primary source to which online audiences will refer when they want to learn more about your brand.

There are numerous techniques you can use to ensure that your content is engaging and informative. One strategy is ensuring that your content is scannable. As noted in our article “The Importance of Quality in Blog Posts,”  even the way a page is constructed reflects a commitment to quality. Online readers scan through documents to find the information they want. You can make your content more scannable by incorporating some or all of the following textual components into it:

  • clear, meaningful headings and subheadings
  • bullet points
  • numbered lists
  • infographics

2. The Right to Ongoing Engagement

In addition to putting together incredible content, make sure that you regularly engage your customers. This contributes to the relationship-building process and facilitates rust. When you regularly interact with customers, they begin to actually know you. They will also start counting on your updates to keep them informed about news, discounts, new products and other important brand-related data that could help save them money or provide some other convenience.

The internet makes it a lot easier than old-school mass marketing to remain in constant dialogue with your customers. Consider the rise of social media. By creating a cutting edge, professional profile on channels like Twitter and Facebook, you can provide your audience with constant updates. And make sure you do! It is so noticeable when an organization does not keep their social media feeds fresh. It hollers, “These people don’t pay attention to details, they don’t care about engaging me. If they can’t update their feeds, how will they deliver on adequate customer service?”

3. The Right to Quick Resolutions

If you're serious about keeping your current customer base and attaining new clients, remember that quick customer service resolutions are a must. When customers become disgruntled about something like poor product quality or bad customer service, they want the issue to be resolved quickly and correctly and by one person. Long hold times on the phone or a delayed refund can cause you to lose what would have been a life-long, loyal customer. As such, be sure that you're implementing policies and procedures which ensure that customer complaints are handled with skill and speed.

Many, many companies have jumped on the opportunity to use goofs as positive PR. Seamless is an online service that allows users to order takeout from various local restaurants, which can be a nightmare of complexity and rife with little mistakes- some by customers and some by providers.

To provide backup, Seamless has an active, dynamic Twitter-based customer service channel. Even something that’s not a big hairy mistake get quick attention, like this tweet from a customer:

Hi. I ordered Chinese last night, got white rice instead of brown. Don’t mind terribly, just FYI.

After the Twitter team looked into it based on an order number, the happy customer publicly thanked them and wished them all a happy Thanksgiving.

Even big mistakes can turn into gold- if they are handled quickly, honestly and with a firm commitment to exceed customers’ expectations. It’s also a great way to surprise and delight current customers with a little something, that when posted and shared can return handsomely the investment, like this viral reputation-builder:

After numerous stays at Nashville’s Opryland Resort, Christina McMenemy wanted her own spa-sound clock radio that comes standard in each room. The sound helped her sleep better than ever, and she couldn’t find that model anywhere. So the next time she stayed there, she asked the hotel for help finding it.

Her tweet:

Where can I buy the Sharper Image clock radio in my room? None in the stores have the ‘spa’ sounds & I’ve never slept better!

Turns out, that model was exclusive to the Gaylord hotels. She thought that was the end of it, and went to her conference at the Gaylord Opryland.

Upon returning to her room that evening, she found a gift waiting: the spa clock and a handwritten card. The staff had given her the product she was unable to find. Not only did they make a long term customer very happy, they also received significant media coverage for their act of kindness.

Source: https://blog.bufferapp.com/social-media-customer-service

4. The Right to An Optimized, Cutting Edge Experience

In a world where technological advancements emerge with lightning speed, the savvy small business owner must respond by keeping the company's approach out in front of competitors as much as possible. Doing so ensures that your brand is relevant to your contemporary client base.

It goes without saying that things like offering digital signature options for payments or optimizing your website with responsive design so it looks great on a laptop or a phone must be a normal part of doing business. Remember that customers respect and prefer companies that actually use the latest methodologies and efficiency technologies because they know that by doing so, your business is paying attention to real-world communication and it feels way more efficient and convenient

With all of this in mind, make sure that you constantly update your company image and revamp your approach to things like internet marketing and use of technology!

So pledge your allegiance to a best practice that includes a short list of what rights you’ll extend to your customers no matter what. Repeat after us:

We the people of [your company]

In order to form a more perfect relationship with our customer

Establish great customer service

And to secure the blessings of commercial success

Do ordain and establish this Bill of Customer Rights.

Long live your enterprise!