SimpleBiz360™ Podcast
The SimpleBiz360™ Podcast focuses on inspiring continuous improvement. Our content features "One Minute One Question" shorts, interviews, and monologues designed to ignite contemplation, and action.
Episodes
420 episodes
Do you make things happen, watch what happen, or wondered what happened? OMOQ #157
Most customers like vendors that employ sales and service personnel who make things happen. There is nothing more frustrating to customers than to watch their orders handled sluggishly. In addition, customers love vendors that can solve problem...
Are you in the habit of identifying problems along with solutions? OMOQ #156
Business issues that have no immediate solutions are rather common. What’s uncommon are vendors that meet problems with multiple solutions that are ready to plug and play. No one likes to hear about problems unless they can also hear about reme...
How much value does your company place on providing customers with voluntary updates? OMOQ #155
Often times we overlook the significance of providing customers with voluntary updates. Information is KING. Information is powerful. The value of putting customers at ease is hard to quantify, because it is almost priceless! Demonstrating good...
Is it finally time to stop telling customers what they want to hear? OMOQ #154
“Tell them what they want to hear to shut them up!” “Keep the deal rolling…tell them what they want to hear.” “Don’t lose the deal…tell them whatever you want…just don’t lose the deal.” “I don’t care what you tell them…they better not cancel th...
Is authenticity part of your customer facing business model? OMOQ #153
If you want to win over millennial and and Gen Z buyers, being authentic is essential for vendors. Be real. Be genuine. Be transparent Be honest. Be humble.
Are your customer facing personnel made up of doers, talkers, feelers, or thinkers? OMOQ #152
Customers want vendors who are primarily classified as doers. Customers want orders to flow seamlessly. They want action. They don’t want lip service, they don’t want clever schemes, they don’t want blame shifting… They just want vendors who do...
When was the last time you read a book about improving business skills? OMOQ #151
Imagine reading one business skill-building book with a goal of obtaining three take-aways? Imagine doing this once a month for 12 months? With 36 new skills sets in one year, imagine the goals you could achieve, the raise you could get, or the...
How often do you talk to your customers? OMOQ #150
Our fast-paced business world is moving further away from this principle. What would happen if we made a deliberate effort to talk with our customers? It's a simple question about a lost art! We encourage you to carve out some time to bond with...
Is role playing a significant part of your customer service training? OMOQ #149
Imagine a high school football team that never practices, and only shows up to the games. They would be a disaster. Now replace the football team with your customer service team. Why do we let customer service reps play the game, without practi...
Are you managing customer experiences for your products and services? OMOQ #148
Business is a two sided coin. One side is what you sell. The other side is how you sell it. Each side of that coin creates customer experiences. Is your company actively dissecting all of the experiences you create? Are you sometimes overlookin...
Do you identify and manage customer touch points? OMOQ #147
Transactions have routine components that are common with most every sale. Many of these components involve interaction with the customer. These are commonly called touch points. Do you know how many touch points are in your routine selling pro...
Does your company aim at exceeding customer expectations? OMOQ #146
Customers can sense when companies are setting the service bar at a bare minimum. The companies that aim higher elevate the customer experience, and will benefit from an abundance of repeat and referral business. Avoid being “run of the mill” a...
Do you make changes to your company before, or after hearing customer complains? OMOQ #145
One of the hallmarks of top tier companies is to anticipate the wants, and needs of customers. if your company routinely assesses the necessary components of customer success, you will always be one step ahead of creating bad experiences. Antic...
What are 1% multipliers, and how do they work? OMOQ #144
Sometimes a series of small changes help you deliver better customer satisfaction , rather than making wholesale, sweeping changes. When was the last time you sat down to identify 10 or 15 improvements you could make on your website? When...
How can they use of courtesy communication improve the health of your business? OMOQ #143
Voluntary communication from the vendor is a display of good stewardship in action. Customers want to know that their money is being spent wisely. Vendors demonstrate good stewardship by sending voluntary information designed to educate, inform...
Do you confirm verbal conversations with written confirmations? OMOQ #142
After decades of consistently baking up conversations in writing, I let my guard down one time in December. The lack of written confirmation came back to cause me painful issues in February. Do you confirm the details of critical conversations ...
Do you ever pursue quiet time to reflect on business? OMOQ #141
Turn the noise off, leave the electronics home, find a place to think… and continuous improvement ideas will pop up everywhere. You just need to quiet the noise, search your mind, reflect on possible improvements, and then write them down. It c...
Are you an effective room reader? OMOQ #140
Football quarterbacks often call audibles because they read the playing field and see something that could damage their play calling. We are no different in business. Sometimes we need to call an audible in order to reshape our approach to some...
Why do 91% of bad buying experiences result in the permanent loss of that customer? OMOQ #139
The short answer is customer feelings. The day has come and gone, where product and services stand on their own merits. In today’s economy, businesses must be keenly aware of how they are making their customers feel. If you’re not managing this...
Are you saving customers time, or are you wasting their time? OMOQ #138
Time is money. Time is short. Time is a precious commodity to a business. What are you doing to reduce the time and toil customers have to spend doing business with you? Maybe it’s time to look for ways to save your customers more of their prec...
Is your company majoring in the minors? OMOQ #137
Mature companies often find themselves saddled with internal squabbling about issues that are actually quite insignificant. If this is happening to your company, you are inadvertently taking your eye off the customer ball. Maybe it’s time to re...
What are business black holes, and why do customers hate them? OMOQ #136
Black holes are unanswered communication. As time ticks by, the inquiring party becomes increasingly agitated because their inquiry has gone unacknowledged, and unanswered. Many deals have been lost, and many customers have defected becau...
Are you protecting your hard-earned profitability? OMOQ #135
Margin erosion is a sneaky business killer that can unnecessarily send a company to the boneyard. Becoming a doctor of details is essential to protecting the precious pennies of profitability. If you are not willing to get into your company wee...
Are you consistently following up and following through? OMOQ #134
After 35 years of tracking bad customer experiences, the lack of these two actions are the bedrock of buyer dissatisfaction. Period. End of Story. You want a more profitable bottom line? Do you want to stay in business for the long haul? Do you...
How do you get the best return on continuous improvement investments? OMOQ #133
The best return happens when companies aim their improvements at customers. Buyers have a keen awareness of which companies prioritize customer satisfaction over company profitability. The best companies know that happy customers will lead to h...