Seven New Year's Resolutions to Become Indispensable to Your Customers

In today’s challenging economic landscape, certainties are few and far between. However, one aspect of business growth that will never change is the importance of maintaining strong relationships with your customers and clients. Even as technology evolves at lightning speed, there’s no device or platform that can take the place of the human element. When you invest time and hard work into demonstrating your trustworthiness and providing value beyond compare, your clients will realize that you’re not just another vendor but an integral element of their success. Here are seven new year’s resolutions you should make today to ensure that you’ll be indispensable to your customers in 2012.

1. Be early.

Being on time is good and well. But being early – whether it’s arriving at a meeting a few minutes before it’s scheduled to begin or finishing a project ahead of the deadline – speaks volumes to your customers about where they stand in the order of your priorities.

2. Be prepared.

An impromptu phone conference with your client, an unanticipated sales opportunity, an unforeseen emergency or technical glitch…the rule of business is to expect the unexpected. By staying well organized and on top of your game, you can approach any situation with a sense of self-assuredness that inspires confidence and builds trust.

3. Be agile.

The ability to adapt and evolve is a critical element to maintaining your competitive edge. For example, let’s say your client asks for your help with a project that falls outside your core capabilities. Do you turn them away, or do you draw upon your team’s creativity and technical expertise to provide an innovative solution? No matter your background or past experience, if you can readily adapt to new challenges and respond to new opportunities, you’ll become the go-to resource for your customers whenever a need arises.

4. Be curious.

Being curious goes hand-in-hand with being agile. You should be a perpetual student of your field. By staying on top of the news, trends and ideas that are shaping your industry, you’ll always be ready with an answer or solution when a client needs your help. Developing your own knowledge and skills translates directly to increasing your perceived value to your customers.

5. Be responsible.

How hard is it to simply admit that you’re wrong? Based on the number of celebrities and politicians who issue vehement denial after denial only to get caught red-handed, apparently it’s really tough. But if you can willingly admit your mistakes and take ownership for making them right, you will gain respect as someone who is always dependable and accountable, even when the chips are down.

6. Be creative.

Some say, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” but in reality, there’s always room for improvement. Don’t let your business get stuck in a rut. Every now and then, allow yourself time to step out of the daily grind and examine the big picture with fresh eyes. Sometimes a break in routine is all that’s needed to discover solutions that will help you and your team serve your customers better, faster and more efficiently.

7. Be humble.

Above all, be humble. All the talent and skills in the world don’t mean jack if you’re a jerk. Be confident in your abilities but realistic in your promises. Work hard without stopping at every milepost along the way to blow your own horn. Deliver consistently and let your record speak for itself. Remember: you’re nothing without your customers. If you put their success first, your own success will be multiplied exponentially by their lasting loyalty.

Here’s to your best year yet.

Certainly, in the world of business there are no guarantees, and sometimes you’ll lose a customer for reasons that are beyond your control. However, there’s no better way to stack the deck in your favor than by honing the skills and traits that make you and your company an invaluable asset to your clients. Commit to these resolutions now, and no matter where you stand today, you’ll be ringing in 2013 with happier customers and a brighter outlook.

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The Trust Manifesto

For far too long, our economy and culture have been decayed by the cancer that is mass marketing. The marketing industry has over time lost respect for its role as the guardian of the relationship between a company and its customers. A practice once based in earning and protecting trust has eroded into the habit of obtaining the most promotion for the least amount of effort. Marketing no longer sees people but rather numbers and dollars. Simultaneously, just as marketing has dissociated the human element from its public, the industry has likewise stripped the lifeblood of creativity away from the artist. As this trend has continued unabated, innovation, inspiration and passion for the craft, once entrusted to the artist, have been sacrificed in the quest for easy gain. As we enter an age in which the methods of communication have been revolutionized, the old systems of mass marketing have been rendered ineffectual. In a marketplace founded by, built by and existing for the people, trust is the only fundamental currency. Therefore, the following maxims are hereby set forth as necessary elements to earning and keeping trust in the marketplace:

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• 1.

  All must be rooted in building trust. Any and all resources dedicated to the promotion of business must directly or indirectly be founded in trust. There are no shortcuts to developing an authentic relationship between company and customer.

• 2.

  Earned trust is the result of a personal investment. Customers must be seen as people, not statistics.

• 3.

  Passion for the work comes first. For marketers, the quality of work supersedes all measure of profit. The task of building trust demands time, money and sacrifice.

• 4.

  Creativity is not a fixed commodity. Creative ideas are the foundation of good marketing. As such, an ongoing investment must be made in cultivating an environment that breeds creativity.

• 5.

  The artist must be respected. Artists are the architects and guardians of trust. Marketing must respect its designers, writers, illustrators, photographers, engineers and all that create the element of trust.

• 6.

  Nothing must come between the artist and the client. Companies must have direct access to the artists that are charged with forging trust. Likewise artists must be able to engage in clear and open communication.

• 7.

  Only one owns the spirit of the work. While there may be many involved in the process, one person must assume ownership of the task. Creativity by committee will always fail.

• 8.

  The marketing firm that adheres to the principles of building trust must always defend and protect its own industry from practices that remove the human element from the marketplace. All entities in the business of earning trust are obligated to illuminate what is wrong and fight for what is right.

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