Day 21: Customer Focus is King in the #Customerlove Challenge

I signed up late for the first #customerlove challenge. Five days in, I heard about the challenge from another blogger, visited LaVonne’s site, The Complete Flake, and liking what I saw, took up the challenge.

But what could I do?

I could write an Ebook, but ideas were flowing slowly and I did not want to produce a hastily written, sub-standard product. I cast around for thoughts on how to challenge myself and also how to love my customers more. My blog came to mind. I had set it up to showcase my writing talents, but updated it when I felt like it rather than sticking to a rigorous timetable. I decided that it was time to change and that I needed to increase my blogging frequency.

I am a freelance copywriter. I can write SEO articles, web content, brochures, leaflets – you name it and I can write it. I have a creepy knack of knowing instinctively when a spelling is wrong and have been known to rewrite whole sentences to avoid a strange grammatical error.

My blog had been based on my experiences as a writer, my creative writing class, and mostly on encouraging other writers to look at what they had written and consider it analytically. I was trying to encourage people like me. Then I would add in the odd business post, making the blog appear muddled and directionless.

Because of #customerlove, I decided to change the focus of my blog. I chose to aim my posts at businesses rather than other writers. I updated my portfolio, I made sure that I could be contacted, and I improved the pages, explaining what I did.

Focusing my blog on my business ensured that anyone who found my blog would be able to understand what I do and what my business is.

I focused on my potential customers.

I found that it was easier to write as though I was helping someone. I imagined someone asking me a question and I wrote the answer. I took aspects of writing and explained them as though I were talking to someone who had no knowledge of what I was talking about and were starting at the beginning. There are a lot of businesses out there that are barely dipping a toe into the Internet waters and I was offering help to them should they wish to take it.

Solving your customers’ problems is another way of showing #customerlove.

The focus should never be on ourselves as small business owners, but it should be on our customers and how we can solve their problems. Talking to potential customers about what they need is a good way to open dialogue about what you can do for them. It also checks that you will be able to work together well.

I have found this second #customerlove challenge to be well, a little more challenging! Some real life stuff has got in the way a bit and I have not been able to give it the attention that I would have liked to. I am still enjoying meeting some great people and enjoying exploring what they do.

The lessons I learned from the first #customerlove challenge are invaluable, however, and just to sum up, here they are again:

• Customer focus is King.
• Make your blog about your business and ensure that your visitors to your blog are in no doubt as what you do and how knowledgeable you are about it.
• Solve your customers’ problems and you will be taking full part in the #customerlove challenge.

What have you learned during the first or second #customerlove challenges? Share in the comments below and show us all #customerlove!

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