Author Archives: Cheryl Sucharski

Remember, it’s easier to keep clients than find new ones

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Finding and securing new customers takes a tremendous amount of time and energy. When looking for new business, remember to take good care of the business you currently have (and have already invested the time and energy to obtain). You know these customers and they know you — and if you are doing your job right, they also like you and what you deliver.

NurtureWe are sharing an excerpt from a great blog post made by Brad Smith, CEO at BARQAR & Director of SEO & Social Media Marketing at Haley Marketing on LinkedIn. Brad’s 10 tips for keeping customers offer really great advice! To read Brad’s full blog post click here >>>10 Secrets to Keeping Customers

  1. Deepen relationships 
    Nurture your customers; focus on building emotional bonds. Make relationships personal, so customers have a hard time letting go.
  2. Broaden relationships 
    Network within your client’s company; limit your dependence on single points of contact.
  3. Outrageous service 
    Blow customers away with your attention to detail. Truly exceed expectations.
  4. Consistency 
    Demand a high level of performance in all aspects of your service. Develop procedures to ensure it’s consistently delivered. Turn every process into a checklist and inspect regularly.
  5. Limit staff turnover 
    People like to deal with the same people; turnover (especially in your service department) makes clients nervous and often leads to attrition.
  6. Customer intelligence 
    Know more about your customers business than they do (be a consultant not just a supplier). Anticipate their needs, and help them realize their objectives.
  7. Your corporate culture 
    Having the right attitude throughout your organization is critical. Reward excellent service and great attitudes. Quickly address and resolve problems.
  8. Flexibility
    Empower front-line personnel so they can quickly accommodate customer requirements. But, don’t abandon them! Give them lots of training and coaching.
  9. Reactivity
    How quickly can you react to customer needs and opportunities? Practice your reaction skills through training exercises-develop scenarios and plan your reactions.
  10. Combat indifference
    According to a recent study, the biggest cause of customer defection is indifference-when customers don’t think you care. Make sure you never create this perception by going to great lengths to constantly remind customers just how important they are to you.
  11. Mistake recovery programs
    Mistakes will happen. How you deal with them determines if you keep or lose clients. Create a process to handle problems quickly and efficiently. Go beyond what the customer was expecting (give them the second quart of eggnog!).
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My Top Five Proofreading Edits

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Cheryl Sucharski, guest blogger

ProoreadersProofreading is one of my favorite tasks. I’m not sure why I love it. Perhaps because it feels like finding Waldo, I don’t know. But I do a lot of it. I have found that no matter the client, I seem to see the same five errors more than any others.

  1. Incorrect name spelling – Spelling a name wrong is a big, bad error. Always look up the proper spelling of names. Company names can be especially tricky; sometimes they have capital letters in the middle, they may be two words joined with or without a space or hyphen, and they may be all lowercase or a combination of upper and lowercase. Never, ever assume you have it correct (or someone has given it to you correctly) and remember — spell check won’t save you on this.
  2. Capitalization – There are basic rules for capitalization and if you follow them, you’ll do just fine (generally, proper nouns and the first word in a sentence). I see a lot of overcapitalization and the incorrect capitalization of job titles (more on this in a minute). Capitalizing words won’t automatically give them more power or emphasis. If you need to add emphasis, you can use italics or underlining — and that should be done sparingly. Stick to the rules. Job titles should be capitalized when they are used as a form of address and precede a name, but not when they follow a name or when they appear on their own in a sentence.
  3. Punctuation with quotation marks – The rule here is simple, place commas and periods inside the quotation mark and place colons and semicolons on the outside.
  4. Number representation – When using numbers, spell out numbers one through nine and use digits for anything higher.
  5. Using two spaces in between sentences – Double spacing in between sentences goes back to the days of using typewriters, when every character occupied the same amount of space and that extra separation was needed. Simply said, it’s outdated. And if you use two spaces in between sentences in certain justifications, you may end up with an errant space at the beginning of a line.

There are always exceptions, but if you follow the basic rules, most people won’t notice those rare exceptions. And it only takes a moment to look up the rule if you aren’t sure (and you’ll benefit by learning something new in the process). And another tip — it’s difficult to proofread your own work. Even the best of us will miss something (the mind does tend to skim) so if you have a friend who can give the piece a quick once over, it’s worth it.

Cheryl Sucharski provides professional marketing services and project assistance to Why Not Marketing and other agencies and organizations.

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What’s your thing?

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Cheryl Sucharski, guest blogger

We often find that it’s difficult for businesses to determine what their ‘thing’ is. We always ask — what makes you unique? What do you want people to know you for? The answers to these questions are critical for branding.

Sock ManNow, if you haven’t known Marc Adler for long, you might think he is known for a few things, his quirky socks for one. If you have known him for a while, you might say it’s his ties — he must own hundreds of them. But they aren’t his brand, they are just his style — there to express a little of his creative side.

Marc Adler is known for his customer service — hands down. And as far as Why Not Marketing is concerned, he is the brand. Knowing and developing a solid relationship with each client and making use of a well-developed network, are the keys to his modus operandi for customer service.

Relationships. Why Not Marketing clients are visited on a regular basis. We make it a point to know our clients and their businesses inside and out. The most direct route to this knowledge is through listening and talking to clients regularly — and we prefer to do this in person, face-to-face. The more important word here, is listening. Through astute listening, we learn about clients, and that helps us determine what each client wants or needs. And this regular contact, coupled with the developed knowledge and understanding, helps us build and strengthen client relationships.

Networks. Building a network doesn’t happen overnight, it takes years. Every person you connect with can become part of your network. You just need to take the time to listen (there’s that word again) and learn about them, and then take it just one step further. Think about how you can connect that person to someone else. Networking isn’t just about knowing people; it’s also about connecting them to someone else, who can provide value. Every client becomes part of the Why Not Marketing network, which means they can be connected with other businesses that may be in need of their products and services. Networking is key; it’s about people connecting with people, and it’s part of Why Not Marketing’s client services.

Companies aren’t the only ones in need of branding or rebranding; that also extends to people. Everyone should create his or her own brand. Why are you special? What do you want people to know you for? The answers to those questions aren’t always easy to find. However, they are important. So, what’s your thing?

Cheryl Sucharski provides professional marketing services and project assistance to Why Not Marketing and other agencies and organizations. 

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