Crafted To Thrive

How to Increase Client Retention and Get Referrals on Repeat

September 27, 2019 Nikita Williams Episode 30
Crafted To Thrive
How to Increase Client Retention and Get Referrals on Repeat
Show Notes Transcript

And we’re back! In this new episode find out what I’ve been up to and learn how life reminded me of these 3 very important steps to help any creative business stand out and create more consistent income. We hear a lot how as small businesses we have a lot of disadvantages but why not look at some of the big boxes' disadvantages and turn those into our strengths. These three steps are a no brainer but can easily get away from us if we are not paying attention. I share some examples and tips on how to increase customers by going back to the basics. 

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welcome to She's crafted a thriving I'm your host, Nikita Williams, and this show is from all the ladies who are making creating things. You will hear conversations about the real everyday struggles juggling life, and this is trying to maintain passion and harmony. As women, we have the skill of getting things done, but sometimes we get in our own way. It's here. Well, you'll see that you're now alone. You'll discover that success does not mean perfection. Fear and negative thoughts and challenges are all a part of the journey on this podcast. So find the inspiration and told You need to have a life and business death arise. Hey, guys, welcome back to she's crafted to thrive. I am super excited to be back on the air and being back, recording these episodes and sharing interviews and things like that because I really have missed it for the last, like a month and 1/2. I know some of the listeners are like, Where were you what happened? And I hope it give you some time to catch up on some of the past episodes. We have a total of 23 episodes, so I hope you guys were able to go back and listen to all of them and catch some gems from I'm the legacy. I have been on the show as well as some of the things that I've shared with you to help you in your business. And if you're living and dealing with a chronic illness, So where have I been? Well, I think I talked about this quite a bit, you know, Um, my husband and I were living in Florida, and then we decided to move back home to Georgia, and that's what we have been doing. And as you guys, you know, like regardless of whether or not you have chronic illness, moving to another state is like a huge undertaking, like it's seriously a big thing to be doing. And for me, um, we do it like we have always done it ourselves with the help of multiple, many, many friends that were so so grateful for and blessed to have in our lives that, um, it's just been really nice to have those friends. But it's still a lot on us physically, and you can only imagine living with Endo and Fi, bro and PCOS and I B s all things that are even more like triggered by stress and no arrests and not having enough, you know, good food and your diet. And, man, let's just say when we finally got back, um, you know, kind of into our place. My body took over and the adrenaline was gone and my body said, Time to rest. I don't care if you want to. You must. I was sick as a dog, you guys, I caught a cold. It was really that. So I know if anybody is listening, who was going through moving or have moved on and live with, you know, have you know kids and transitioning work or whatever the case may be? I and totally a true winner of you right now, because I know it can be difficult, but just don't quit. That's my biggest thing. Just don't quit. Just reschedule a lot of things, and that's what I've had to do for this month. I've really had to just reschedule and kind of gradually get back into my rhythm of things. And I'm not quite there to be honest with you guys, but I had to have tohave to get the episode up and going. So I'm super excited that I'm back. It's really nice to be back in Georgia, however, it's kind of hot. So I was hoping to be cooler. We had like to like pick Abou days of like fall, which I was super excited about. But now it's hot again. So I'm ready for fall to be in full effect cause I just love that Christmas in the air and all that. And on top of that, my husband and I celebrated our 11th anniversary are 11 year anniversary and we are super excited about it. We have such a great time went upto the Blue Mountain Georgia Mountains and you had a great time. It's so beautiful up there. Can't wait to go back s o. A lot of things have happened in, like less than four weeks, and we are just getting towards the end of the month. So with that being said, let me share some things with you and that our business related Can you glue bit? This is related. Yes. I'm talking about business now. Um, that's why I feel like I said, I feel like I've been, like, experiencing a lot of things when it comes to business. I've been like the consumer of a lot of things. We bought a house, we bought a new washer and dryer. We bought all these things. We got our pictures done. We had our anniversary at this thing. So I have been, like, fully involved with a lot of consumer kind of interactions with people. And it's just really reiterated a lot of things for me, that one or pet to use of mine and two things that I just really appreciate in that if you go the extra mile and your small business, you can really outshined some of these big box people. So that's why this episode is about three ways to ensure. Repeat emer for business for your small business. So number one Tell your story as a value proposition to your audience or your clients know. Why is this so important? You're like Nikita House. I have anything to do with, like, um, anything that you've experienced in the last you know, four or six months? Well, honestly, you guys, me and my husband have gone through so many different things with talking to different sales people, and it is still amazing to me. And I'll have another episode about this because it's just it's still mind blowing to me. How people are not wanting to, like, connect as people like it is not a conversation. It's not like sharing a little bit about them and then finding about, you know, the other person. It's a lot of I almost feel like it's changed that we are expected as the consumer to get the information that we need in order to make the decision without the person selling us. So what I mean by this, for example, we are considering about trading our car. And so we, um, are looking at cars and the last three car dealerships that we've gone to my husband and I keep being like, Is it just the time of day were going, or are these people like I don't care? I don't care, don't want to tell you anything. I am like asking questions about the car like, What's your name, like just walking in the door of these places? It's like E. I just remembered car dealerships being a lot different when you were walking the door and you would have like 20 people trying to come to you to talk to you about something but a car and get your sale. But it's so like lackadaisical like I don't know what that's about. So how does this correlate to your like your business? Well, people don't know who you are if you don't tell them who you are. Like if you don't tell them your story and how it actually relates to them, it makes it really hard for you to have a genuine connection beyond the cell. And, believe it or not, people still buy a lot of things based on emotion and feeling good about the person it builds. Trust in a sales type of situation, especially if you're buying a car, or especially if you're buying a washer and dryer were, especially if you're buying a piece of jewelry for your favorite friend. Now here's the complete different, like end of the spectrum, right? So one of the beautiful gifts that my husband gave me for our anniversary was a beautiful necklace from crystalline you guys. I've had her on the show. If you don't know who she is, you definitely have to check her out. But she is a jewelry designer, and all of her pieces have meaning behind it. And my husband got me the gratitude pendant necklace and I just love it. I find myself like tootling with it, playing with it and all that kind of stuff. I wear it every day and recent lives because I understand the story behind this pendant one. It has a story for me now because my husband gave me this great gift that I really like. It's beautiful. It's like, simple and and modern, and I like it or something I can wear every day. And it also lets anything that my husband thought of me. So then there's the other thing of I know why Crystalline made this minute. It's a gratitude. Pin it. She calls it a gratitude pennant because she's very grateful for a lot of things in her life, even though she has had a lot of things go wrong in her life. But she's grateful for things hence why it's called a gratitude pendant, and I'm grateful for things. I'm great for the people in my life. I'm grateful for my husband. I'm grateful, so it's a great reminder. It's a great gift, but there's a story behind it and it build trust in My husband bought it for me. Now these car dealer people, I don't know if I have trust with them because I had to ask them things like, What's your name? What do you like? So how long have you been here? Why do you like this car? Tell me some details about this car. Do you drive this particular brand of car like these are questions. Me and my husband are like asking just to get some kind of personal interaction with these people, and it's crazy. So just imagine in your small business, if you are telling your story and how it could relate to your clients or your customers, how it can make such a difference and building trust and growing your brand in your business. So that's number one number to customer service. We used this word so often customer service. What does it mean? What does it really need to a consumer? And what should it mean to a small business owner? Will Customer service means the customer needs service, so they need to be something that it's for their needs, right? Something that works for them. But how do you find that out if you don't talk and get to know your customer? If you don't research about your customer, you don't know where they're coming from, where they're going, what kind of things they like to do. Where else do they shot? Who else is influencing their decisions and shocking where they shot? These are all things you should know as a small business owner, because guess what? The big box people are totally doing it and have like crazy machines doing it for them. But here's here's where they fail. They have all that information, all that information, and they just take the majority of the biggest chunk of that information. That's kind of lumping everybody into it. And then they create. I'm different sales and different things for that large group of people. But not everybody. Fix fits into that little little big box if he would if he if you will. So for you, it's a small business owner. What I have found that when it comes to customer service, when I feel like an individual, or when my clients feel like they're individuals, they feel like this is custom need for me or they feel like this person really cares about me. They care about me and they're not just going after their self there, really wanting to provide a service for me, regardless of whether or not they buy or sell. Why is that such a big deal? Because whether they buy or not means that they may refer business to you. They must like we will if they felt like, really comfortable with you. Maybe you weren't the thing we were looking for, but maybe you are the person that they really liked and trusted and is willing to share it with their friends. But how you make a difference? I'm compared to the big box people. You can go to big bucks people and have horrible customer service, even the register or even at the sales line, whatever the case may be, and you're just another number. But in a small business, you're not. So keep that in my know your people get to know them, be sure that, like really treat them like gold and it will set you apart. Okay, so the last thing I wanted to bring up it's because on This is something again. The big spark Pete picks big box. The big box people are really good at is making it easy for people to shop over and over again, making it easy for people to make their first purchase right away or making it easy. You don't have to guess if you go into the website. You don't have to guess if you're going to Instagram Page to figure out, like, how do you purchase this? How do you get this? How do you go there and, like, find out where they're located? No matter how small your business is, people should know how they can get in contact with you. How they can buy from you, like that's That's just like 101 for a small business. But you guys, it doesn't happen. There are so many people I see on Instagram I see on Facebook. On that are even relatively medium size businesses where I'm confused as to how to move forward and an an arrangement to purchase by our learned more wise is important. People don't like to work that hard for something because there are so many other options. So as a small business. You have to be very smart about allowing people to find out how to get what they want and how to get it fast. So if you don't have an online shop, that's fine. We don't have an online shop. It should be an easy text message or easy email that they can get in contact with you and you respond within a very specific time frame. Don't not. Do not wait forever to respond to people because guess what? The time will be gone, right? Um, it's just this is how it works. This came up recently, and my own personal life was trying to find some doctors now that we've moved again and granted, dots are a little bit different than you know, a jury company or a candle shop or even a car dealership because they're doctors, right? But I feel like if I can't find out information about this doctor, a picture of them, at least some reviews there's reviews and stuff, but they don't have a place where I can learn about them that they own. I have a problem with that because I don't really trust that a lot in the day an inch of where we are, and so have your businesses, has been around for a long time, and you have been doing relatively well with, well, business and things like that. But you haven't actually created an online real estate that is yours. You need to do that because that allows people to find you and easily make a decision whether or not they want to connect, contact or buy from you. If they have to go through the research and calling and like reading all these reviews all over the place, you want to make it super simple for them to really reach out to you and at least start or complete some type of engagement with you. So those are my three things right. The number one has to tell your story and your value proposition as it relates to your client or customer. And number two was customer service like figure out who your customer customers are your ideal client and make a difference for them. Make them feel special, and number three was. Make it easy for them to actually connect, purchase and refer business to you. It will help your business grow. It helps it actually really competes with the big box people because in the big bucks world were all numbers. There's tend of us. But if you ever get a hand written note from a small business for, have you ever get a hand written note from you know, someone you did like a craft event with a photographer or I'm a bakery or something that said, I'm so happy that I was able to provide the service for you. You are bound to remember them, and it's gonna have a little special place in your head in your heart. So those are my three things to keep in mind. Um, I'm super excited about the next few weeks. We have an episode that I recorded way back with Rosaline Daniel's. Finally, you guys, I will have that ready for you guys next Friday. Um, she is a wonderful lady in lots of lifestyle living things, and it's a great time this time. You're getting to fall and cooking and all that kind of seven. She has lots of that so more on her next week. If you know anyone who you believe is crafting her life in a way that, um, really benefits other women on being positive and working through fear and doing the things even though it might be difficult in their small business. Please let them know about she's craft to thrive. I love to have them on the on the show. Can't promise they will be. Um but I'd love thio. Love to know more about them. So you guys, as you know, as we end the show every episode, you know, I say this and I truly believe this is that we are all crafted. Just rise. Yes, you. Our craft it to 30.