Who do we give our business to?
Social media's biggest impact is the ability of customers to engage in relationships with businesses. Doing our homework includes asking our friends and family for a recommendation, but also reading ratings and reviews. Google search weighs in as well, from travel sites to technology.
People in our networks and strangers have become believable sources thanks to blogs, and also product and service reviews. Smart businesses are part of the conversation, soliciting feedback beyond the Net Promoter Score (NPS). For example, by reaching out to customers who've made a purchase with questions others customers have asked to get a different perspective colored by direct experience.
A focus on customers is a good bet in business. It's not a contemporary or modern quest, we've been talking about service excellence for a long time. Here are 21 quotes that illustrate how relevant customer conversations can help organizations drive value in the networked age.
With a fun surprise at the end.
Enjoy.
(1)
“The way to gain a good reputation, is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.” ~ Socrates
(2)
“If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell 6 friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends.” ~ Jeff Bezos
(3)
“Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends.” ~ Walt Disney
(4)
“The purpose of a business is to create a customer who creates customers.” ~ Shiv Singh
(5)
“Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it.” ~ Peter Drucker
(6)
“Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business.” ~ Zig Ziglar
(7)
“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echos are truly endless.” ~ Mother Teresa
(8)
“In business you get what you want by giving others what they want.” ~ Alice Macdougall
(9)
“There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.” ~ Roger Staubach
(10)
“Good leaders must first become good servants.” ~ Robert Greenleaf
(11)
“We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It's our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.” ~ Jeff Bezos
(12)
“Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” ~ Mark Twain
(13)
“Profit in business comes from repeat customers, customers that boast about your project or service, and that bring friends with them.” ~ W. Edwards Deming
(14)
“Well done is better than well said.” ~ Benjamin Franklin
(15)
“Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten.” ~ Gucci Family Slogan
(16)
“Revolve your world around the customer and more customers will revolve around you.” ~ Heather Williams
(17)
“We don’t want to push our ideas on to customers, we simply want to make what they want.” ~ Laura Ashley
(18)
“Customers perceive service in their own unique, idiosyncratic, emotional, irrational, end-of-the-day, and totally human terms. Perception is all there is!” ~ Tom Peters
(19)
“Make your product easier to buy than your competition, or you will find your customers buying from them, not you.” ~ Mark Cuban
(20)
“For us, our most important stakeholder is not our stockholders, it is our customers. We’re in business to serve the needs and desires of our core customer base.” ~ John Mackey
(21)
“To do is to be.” ~ Descartes; “To be is to do.” ~ Voltaire; “Do be do be do.” ~ Sinatra