Experience this.
As small business owners, you have more than likely heard the expression 'Sell the Experience' - all well and good for companies that have megabucks and can outfit their stores and staff, but how do we give our customers the same type of experience?
Look, as small business people we have a distinct advantage... WE ARE SMALL! we can take the time to interact with the customer, to walk them through products, we remember what we sell and can give testimonials. in short - we give more that any of the big name department/ retail stores.
I was searching for a photo that would show how the customer reacts to business going a treat customers as people and note 'walking credit cards' (Customer experience) and after trolling 5 pages on Google, I came up empty handed... This is exactly why - as small business people, we need to step up and become leaders in retail - to educate both the customer AND big retail that focusing on numbers will only provide a short term gain.
- Acknowledge EVERY customer that walks through your door - EVERY customer, That 12 year old could be packing his dad's gold Amex (I've seen it happen).
- Ask the right questions and get the customer involved, get them to hold/touch/taste or use the product they are wanting to buy.
- Be open to criticism and complaint: people DO come back when they know YOU will listen and your competitors won't.
- Invite your customers back.. Who doesn't like to know they are wanted?
We can see clearly now the rain has gone.
Hi Everyone.
The last couple of days has been a triumph of strength and will by the people of Brisbane and South east Queensland.
Torrential rain has turned one of the most beautiful areas of the world into a marshland of floating debris, pontoons and brown silted water.
I would like to let all our clients know that Sean, Geoff and I are available 24 hours a day with any help or query you have with your business. If you are a new business and would like DesignLanguage to help, whether it is negotiation with insurance companies, lodging with local councils and the such, please get in touch with us theguys[AT]DesignLanguage.net.au.
Now onto a subject that make my water boil. As designers, we get our fair share of flack. with so many companies out there offering extremely cheap hosting and domain names, it is hard for us to compete, but DesignLanguage is very confident with our services, our commitment to our clients and our wonderful products.
I have the Courier Mail (our newspaper here in Brisbane) and saw a story about a Brisbane web developer cashing in on the devastation.
I am not impressed.
Read the article here
Top 5 – for week ending 15 October
The top 5 tips weekly post is always full of hints and tips for small, home & micro business owners.
- Making a small mistake often allows you to regain focus and get back on track, helping avoid bigger mistakes that might have occurred in the future.
- Use the mistake as an opportunity to learn more about yourself and your business. Examine how you reacted to the problem and whether it was the correct reaction to have.
- Some business owners have very unrealistic expectations about what they can hope to achieve. If they fail to achieve their goals, it often makes them re-examine them more sensibly.
- The fear of making a mistake is often far more damaging than the actual mistake. Experiencing failure is always the best way of overcoming fear.
- Hopefully, making a mistake will inspire you to make changes to your business. Better planning can prevent errors from happening again. If you have additional tips, please share them in the comments section below.
Marketing your business and you.
The marketing function within any business, especially small businesses, is probably one of the most important areas to pay attention to, yet it is often the most overlooked. Why is it often overlooked? In small businesses there are usually only a few people who have the responsibility for the whole business. Sometimes it is only one person, if they are the sole proprietor.
As marketing is not sales, some might focus their energies on trying to get more sales but this 
can be a costly mistake. Marketing supports sales in that its purpose is to get your message in front of those who are in the position to benefit from it. In other words, marketing serves to promote your brand to potential customers.
There are so many possible marketing avenues that one can pursue, thereby making it crucial for the small business owner to seriously consider the pros and cons of all the available options before taking the plunge into any particular marketing initiative.
As time and resources are at a premium for the small business owner, in order to organize your marketing process and stay focused, it is important to:
Analyse.
How are you currently marketing your brand? Are you attending trade shows?
Are you doing email blasts?
Are you doing direct mailing campaigns?
Are you participating in social media marketing?
Make an outline of the specific marketing techniques you are currently using in order to determine if and how you will continue to use them.
Evaluate.
The next step is to see take a look at and measure how each of your current marketing methods are working. If you are not seeing a good return of income (ROI) on these methods, you might want to consider either re-designing or re-structuring them.
Be careful not to fall into the trap of complacency. Don’t continue using a tactic that is not effective just because it is what you are accustomed to.
Designguage offers it's customers ongoing support when it comes to marketing, email advice is usually free. Why not let DesignLanguage help your small business with some BIG ideas?Lan
iBlog… Therefore iPad!
So, Allain won himself an iPad and we convinced him to install software so he could update the blog more often.
Now (as is the case at the moment) he can write in the middle of the night, in the car/bus/train etc and update from anywhere on the planet (as long as he has either wifi or 3G coverage).
It's good to keep everyone in the loop!
Post Datum
Post Datum
Post: Prefix meaning "after," as in Postwar, Postdate etc...
Datum: any proposition assumed or given, from whichconclusions may be drawn.
Post Datum is the University of Queensland's Visual Arts Club - Bringing up and coming artists together to show, build, learn and exhibit themselves.
DesignLanguage, each year Picks a community group to help build its exposure to the wider community, this year we chose Post Datum.
The new logo brings fresh ideas to the club with each 'bubble' representing the four facets Post Datum fosters and the colours chosen as they are the basic ones used in the printing industry and when combined (look at the bubbles as they pour down into the name "Post Datum") they make up the colour black.
Post Datum Logo
Letterhead
Business/Introduction Card
We love to support our community and this is just one of the ways we do it!.
DesignLanguage offers it's customers ongoing support when it comes to marketing, email advice is usually free. Why not let DesignLanguage help your small business with some BIG ideas?