Smart Devices Make for Smart Small Business Decisions

Smart Devices Make for Smart Small Business Decisions
Frank Eliason of Citibank: The Right Customer Experience
Demystifying Management Phrases
Icahn Investment in Netflix Could Cause Conflict

Posted: 09 Nov 2012 11:00 AM PST

When it comes to the ability to create personal customer relationships, small businesses would seemingly have advantages over larger competitors. However, as consumers push the demand of smart devices, convenience and value could increasingly take precedence over store loyalty; and if small businesses don't take advantage of smart tools in place now and invest in smart devices, they may be left behind.

point of sale payment

Despite the undeniable popularity of smart devices among consumers, a recent Wells Fargo/Gallup study shows the merchant community lagging behind the trend. Fifty-seven percent of small business owners reported no plans to make capital investments in the next year and felt their businesses did not need improvements – although 80 percent of small businesses said they would be more likely to invest because of increased sales revenue.

While 60 percent of the population made purchases online in 2011 and spent in-total an average of $608 in the process, according to a CRM Associates study (PDF), the time to invest for a profitable result is now.

Today's forward-looking businesses recognize that embracing their own smart devices such as point-of -sale (POS) terminals that read contactless payments and barcodes, mobile POS, kiosks and table-based catalogs help create a consistent experience for consumers and impact the way they make purchases.

At the same time, to keep up with consumer demands, small business must understand the impact that smart devices are having on how consumers make purchases, capitalize on the anytime, anywhere ability to reach the masses with relevant communication, and ensure all means of communication provide a positive and consistent experience.

Because consumers increasingly use online shopping and mobile technologies in pursuit of greater control, small businesses need to adapt and keep up with this digital command to retain and increase loyal clients.

Beyond Traditional Commerce

Shopping in-store at local businesses is no longer the primary way customers learn about and buy products. In fact, 52 percent of consumers said accessible information and availability for questions before making a purchase would encourage them to spend more, a recent Harris Interactive study found.

Smart devices allow consumers to be fully connected, providing an integrated shopping experience regardless of location, and create new channels to influence purchasing decisions outside of traditional advertisements and offers. The use of social networks and mobile apps provide a perfect platform for merchants to present highly targeted products and promotions, directly to customers who are looking for them.

New technology such as virtual wallets and electronic promotions make it easy for consumers to track specialized promotions and deals and keep them all in one place. This simultaneously helps small businesses retain loyal customers, provide better loyalty programs and collect detailed information about their customers shopping behaviors.

For example, new technologies, like card-linked offers can electronically attach offers, eCoupons and loyalty programs to a consumer's payment card or mobile wallet enabling streamlined, automatic redemption at the merchant POS with immediate feedback from the payment terminal or smartphone instead of printing purchased online offers to physically present in stores.

While smart devices are influencing today's commerce and helping streamline loyalty programs, the overall payments landscape is evolving and small businesses are seeing more and more opportunities to utilize new technologies with payments.

As more payment options become available, moving from traditional cash payments to systems that facilitate transactions in the cloud, meeting the new demands of Universal Commerce has emerged as a vital strategic consideration of any business.

Smart Devices Adapted to Small Businesses

As smart devices continue to become a larger part of how customers function, small businesses need to understand how they are impacting the consumer decision-making process and what tools will be most effective for their businesses. Since commerce has moved beyond the in-store interaction, many businesses have an online presence, a mobile application and other internet applications, including social media, to better and more closely engage with customers through multiple channels.

The best strategy for small businesses is to ensure customers have positive and consistent experiences across each outlet. Whether a customer is using a mobile app, online, or in store, there should be no question as to which 'store' a customer will buy from, as they see the same deal offered to them online and at the physical store. Navigation and appearance should follow a parallel structure, while prices, loyalty cards, discounts and all other policies should be the same across all channels.

The appeal of using smart devices is that customers know exactly what they are getting, no matter how they receive the information and product.

Businesses should also capitalize on the anytime, anywhere ability smart devices provide, allowing customer interaction with the brand on their terms and schedules. With customer purchasing behaviors captured through loyalty programs, merchants can send specific communications to a target channel based exactly on customer preferences.

Strategic adaptation to smart devices is small business' best instrument for providing customers with a superior shopping experience, while thriving in the new world of Universal Commerce and keeping a robust and satisfied customer base.

The post Smart Devices Make for Smart Small Business Decisions appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Frank Eliason of Citibank: The Right Customer Experience

Posted: 09 Nov 2012 08:00 AM PST

Frank Eliason, Global Director of Social Media for Citibank, and author of, “At Your Service: How to Attract New Customers, Increase Sales, and Grow Your Business Using Simple Customer Service Techniques” believes customers want a pleasant experience the first time around and not necessarily social service after you’ve failed to provide that. Tune in as he joins Brent Leary for an in-depth discussion on the concept.

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social media customer service Small Business Trends: You're the Director of Global Social Media for CitiBank and you also wrote a book, "At Your Service." Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Frank Eliason: Most people probably remember me more for my work at Comcast, where I founded Comcast Cares. I view myself as a simple customer service guy. I look at social media with that hat on. That's the hat that really makes a lot of sense to work in social media with.

Small Business Trends: You started with social media from the perspective of customer service. Do you see a lot of companies starting like that today, or are they really looking at customer service over social channels -primarily through a prism of promotion?

Frank Eliason: I think they’re looking at it from a promotion. I think that what people find is that it really just doesn’t work. As customers start talking back to them and as they talk back, people said: ‘Oh, social services is what they want.’

“It is really fascinating to me because I haven't found customers that really want social service. I found that customers want the right experience, at the right time.”

Not that long ago, I did a presentation about this. I called social media customer service a complete failure and I have reasons for that. I made the point that customers don't want social service, they want it handled right the first time.

There was someone from a major pizza chain on a panel during that seminar. She said:

“Our customers, they want social service.”

I was fascinated by this. So the first thing I did was pull up their Facebook page. The first post I saw was:

“I called three times, and you still can't get it right.”

They did not want social service.

Small Business Trends: They wanted a pizza…

Small Business Trends: Do you think companies were providing the right kind of customer experiences and customer service before social media?

Frank Eliason: No. We have been in the dark ages for customer service for 20 years or more.

Look at technology and everything else. In the past 30 years, the amount of technology that has gone into customer service is amazing. New tools come out all the time, they display their gadgets – think about it as a customer. Do you think customer experience is better now – or better back then?

We try to make it all process. We try to make it a process for everything. Unfortunately, we forgot to give a copy of that process to the customer.

Small Business Trends: So customers want to have the best possible experience they can have. Whereas for companies it’s more about call reduction times and lower costs – i.e. get off the phone?

Frank Eliason: The thing is, companies do this all the time. Social media is one of these areas where companies have to learn, if you can tap into one's passion, people will praise you. They will do all kinds of different things. Instead, we tend to destroy it.

I was flying on United Airlines. When I flew back, I got to the airport early. I looked and saw a earlier flight. Instead of having to wait five hours for a flight, I can take a flight in two hours. I said:

“Ok, I would like to do this. Can I fly standby?”

The response was:

“No. Well you can – but you have to pay $75.”

The plane had tons of seats. So what are they doing? My goal is to get home. I am highly passionate about getting home. Instead of living up to my passion, you try to make money off of it.

So what did I do? I paid the $75. Then blasted the brand for doing this. It’s funny because I actually do like the brand.

Small Business Trends: Do you think that companies try to use technology to drive down cost as opposed to improving experience?

Frank Eliason: I will be blunt about it. Look at how we look at the customer. So many companies look at customers with one thing, what is the customers' life time value? That financial metric, this is one thing that drives me insane. When I hear a company talk about a customers' life time value. Because if you are doing it right, that value should be consistently increasing.

It becomes interesting to me because there is a finite number of people that can be your customers. What fascinates me about social, because social is really about relationships, it is core to what business at one time was about.

What really becomes interesting with that, when we made it about numbers, we took away people’s art form. We made everything so finite. But people have a craving when they do work to be artistic. It is a natural craving we have.

Small Business Trends: Having a human element is actually good for business because you are doing business with other humans.

Frank Eliason: That is exactly it. What’s really fascinating is, we’re hitting a time where people look at social media and find it to be all negative stuff. A lot of people blast and say all kinds of things. I don't necessarily disagree with some of that stuff and part of the reason is – we have driven people to that point.

I think it is easier not to do that when you have a human connection. When you feel very differently. These are the things that we can certainly do in social media.

Small Business Trends: Where can people find your book?

Frank Eliason: My book is available anywhere books are sold.

Frank Eliason by smallbiztrends

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Demystifying Management Phrases

Posted: 09 Nov 2012 05:00 AM PST

business cartoon

This cartoon was a great deal of fun to write because I got to exorcise some old phrases I loathed hearing before I quit to become a cartoonist:

“Are you sue that’s the best way to handle this?” Apparently not, so why don’t you just tell me what you’d rather I do.
“Why don’t you give him a call back…” So I get to give them the bad news? Super!
“You may want to have another look at those.” So there’s a problem that needs to be corrected, but first I must solve a series of puzzles…

It’s one of my more popular cartoons because I think everyone recognizes this situation.

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Icahn Investment in Netflix Could Cause Conflict

Posted: 09 Nov 2012 02:30 AM PST

Entrepreneurs know the importance of vision in any business, but sometimes when disparate visions collide, the resulting conflict can hurt the business overall. News last week that activist investor Carl Icahn had acquired about 10 percent of video streaming company Netflix aroused fears among analysts that conflicting visions between Icahn and company management might disrupt operations. From initial investment to the growth of a business, conflict is inevitable. Think about these issues from the beginning so that when conflicts arise, your vision for your business comes shining through.

Struggle for Power

The poison pill. Netflix management said they were open to Icahn’s “perspective” as a major shareholder last week, but this week management deployed a so-called “poison pill” strategy to dilute Icahn’s shares and prevent take-over. Small businesses don’t generally need to deal with activist investors, but if you take investment funds from friends, family or anyone else when starting your business, you will need to decide how much of a role they will play. CNBC

The Icahn effect. Icahn’s role at other companies has often been to unlock maximum value for investors by making management changes or even by selling off assets if he thinks it’s the best way extract value. But analysts worry this philosophy may come into conflict with management’s efforts. Maximizing profit is, of course, a consideration, even in the smallest company, but be sure to do what’s best for your business in the long term too. MarketWatch

Angling for Investment

The needs of the many. One possible source of funding for businesses that can help entrepreneurs maintain control is what’s called micro investment. This approach has entrepreneurs seeking smaller amounts of money from a larger number of investors. As blogger Ian Goddard explains, “$1 from 1001 people is better than $1000 from one person…and a lot easier to get!” It’s also a lot easier to keep control when everyone owns a smaller share. Expert Business Advice

Angels we have heard on high. The angel investors are back. According to the latest data from the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire, the angel investor seems to be on the rebound. Angel investment hit $9.2 billion over the first two quarters of 2012, an increase of 3.1 percent over the same period in 2011. Investments were made in a total of 27,280 entrepreneurial businesses, up 3.7 percent over the same time the previous year. Grow Smart Biz

From Start to Finish

Startup strategies. Control over your business’s direction has to do with who gives you startup finances. It’s also determined by the partners and co-founders you choose in the beginning and how well they fit in with your vision. Martin Zwilling shares some co-founder strategies and their pros and cons. When beginning your entrepreneurial journey, be sure to choose carefully who you want along for the ride. Startup Professionals Musings

Refresher course. From the time you start, to well into your business’s operation, maintaining the energy and passion you had in the beginning is imperative for keeping your business vision alive. Business blogger Ellen Rohr has five tips for recharging your business batteries when you feel you’ve run out of inspiration and energy. Here are some suggestions that will get back your enthusiasm. Bare Bones Biz

In the beginning. Though you will likely need to make compromises in your company as you move forward, as you face budget constraints, bring others into the business, and bring on investors, you’ll need to keep thinking about changes to make along the way. Keep your vision from straying too far by beginning with a clear idea of what kind of business you are building and where you are going. Then stick to your ideals as your business grows, and build the business you envision. Corporation Centre

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