Customer Service in Growing Small Businesses
For most of us, growing our business is almost always at the top of our mind. We track metrics like number of clients served, projects completed, and most often, revenue. One thing that's a little harder to measure is the customer service we provide in our small business. While growth is almost always the goal, I think the way in which we go about it truly matters, because growth can often draw us further away from the clients we set out to serve. So I find myself asking the question, "When is a business too big?"
I've been thinking about this concept for a long time. The entire 7+ years I worked at a mega-church, our entire ministry was built around creating smaller communities from our thousands of congregants. Research has shown that one person can only manage so many relationships... meaning, at some point, if you're growing, you'll have to duplicate yourself or your efforts in a way that still serves your people effectively.
This is the rub for small business owners, isn't it?
How do I grow (or even sustain) a successful business when I'm wearing all the hats alone?
Busting up the Monopolies
In recent years, the DOJ has begun to challenge some of the largest companies that we all know and love… Google, Apple, LiveNation (TicketMaster), etc. and I am HERE FOR IT.
You may be thinking… “But Cassie, aren't you pro-business?”
Yes, which is why I am for these challenges. My combined work at the mega-church and my experience as an adult consumer for over 2 decades leads me to this conclusion:
There is a point at which an organization can simply become TOO BIG.
Think about it: there's a correlation between how large a business becomes and how well it can care for its customers.
The larger we get, the further removed from our people we are… and if we don't have good people and systems in place to ensure feedback gets to the decision-makers, we're doomed to fail. Our profits may increase, but the product or service we can provide to our customers drops significantly.
Companies that have gotten TOO big
Let's take a look at a few examples.
Comcast / Xfinity - we recently had issues with our internet dropping. It was nearly impossible to speak to a person. I was stuck in an endless loop with their app, which sent me to text message, which sent me back to the app.... It took 2 weeks, 2 new modems, and 2 tech visits to finally get the problem fixed. (By the way, one of the techs was OUTSOURCED… he barely spoke English, couldn't understand my questions, and didn't have access to our account. The woman on the phone made the excuse that she worked in Pennsylvania... as if that excused her from responsibility. We all know this is not an excuse in our online economy.)
Google - as much as I LOVE their product, trying to get support from a real human is equally difficult. With the number of people they employ (even after their recent layoffs) you'd think they'd have at least some of those designated to helping people troubleshoot issues. (Since getting direct support is a common issue with my clients, I recently created a video on the best way to get direct support. You can watch it here.)
Think of any company that forces you to chat into a bot, which generates help articles that may or may not actually solve your problem, and that oftentimes are outdated. The company is changing (or in their minds, improving) their product more quickly than their Support team can update articles or push info out to their users. And that, my friends, is a recipe for disaster.
Businesses Getting Customer Service RIGHT
Let's contrast this with one of my favorite companies… Honeybook!
Honeybook was created specifically with small business owners in mind. Unlike other companies that are chasing after more enterprise organizations (I see you Airtable & Canva), Honeybook is, in some ways, working AGAINST the type of growth that would make them amenable to enterprise-size organizations. That means they create solutions and new features with solopreneurs, creatives, or small business owners in mind.
They have features that work with teams but are geared towards small teams, not large ones.
They have a chat feature and a (pretty intelligent bot) that shares help articles, but if that initial interaction doesn't yield the results you want, you can choose "Talk to a person" and be connected to a live human who can guide you in the right direction, including putting in a Support ticket for you.
These are the kinds of businesses I'm increasingly drawn to.
The ones that allow a direct line to a human being.
The ones that focus on building relationships.
The ones that allow you to give suggestions and make feature requests.
The ones that have a transparent Roadmap of upcoming features.
The ones that have Account Managers, Educators, or Support Specialists available to help you.
How Honeybook Helps You Provide Consistent Customer Service
Honeybook is a Client Management system that allows you to automate the necessary steps in signing and onboarding new clients, and communicating with existing ones - WITHOUT automating the personal touch.
What can Honeybook do for you? Here's a quick list:
Collect Leads through a Contact Form (embeddable on your website)
Send automated emails in a nurture sequence
Send a link to book a call
Move leads or clients throughout a Pipeline
Send an ALL IN ONE File inviting clients to
Learn about your Company and Services
View & interact with a Proposal
E-sign a contract
Pay an Invoice
Send an Onboarding Questionnaire
Upload and share files in a Client Portal
Write & Share notes and important links
Create tasks
Request Feedback & Reviews
When you have a system that encompasses all these touchpoints with your clients, it frees you up to focus on building relationships, improving your craft, and delivering the best service possible to your clients.
Growing without Alienating
I sometimes long for the days before we had a global economy…
When all that we needed was right in our own neighborhood.
We knew the butcher.
There was a general store.
Going to get specialty items from out of town was a really a special treat, because those things weren't readily available to us through online ordering.
We had communities and neighborhoods that were, for the most part, self-sufficient.
While most of us aren't close to becoming the next Walmart or Amazon, this question is still worth asking: in our online economy, how can we grow without alienating our client base?
Here are just a few practical ways I'm working to ensure we're able to serve clients at a high touchpoint for many years to come.
Create a Culture - We have a highly relational team and I'm highly relational with our clients - unapologetically. I want to know what's going on in our clients' personal lives. It's not just a business transaction to me. Tactically, this means asking "how are you?", remembering family members' names, and remembering what's going on in my team member or clients' lives.
Create Systems - We have communication tools for clients to reach us no matter what their issue is. While I have boundaries around office hours, I still want clients to have a direct line when they need something. We also have SOP and templates that allow us to expedite the tasks required to serve clients, freeing up time that can be used in other ways.
Serving with Excellence - we've recently added a Satisfaction Guarantee - I don't even want clients to walk away from a service, project, or interaction feeling they didn't get what they paid for. Therefore, we clearly outline the expected deliverables at the beginning of the contract, and have several checkpoints throughout our time together to ensure the client is happy with the work. We promise that we won't deliver a half-completed job! When providing this level of service, it allows us to evaluate prices and occasionally raise them to match the service we're providing.
I'd love to hear from you: How are you working to stay connected to your clients as you grow?
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