Caroline Kennedy - The Power of Wow! Why Thank You Makes Dollars & Sense: 7-Step Method to Increase Sales Retain Staff & Have Clients Rave about You!

The Power of WOW Why Thank You Makes Dollars and Sense

First published in Australia in 2013

Gift Wrapped Up Pty Limited

PO Box 21

Dingley Village VIC 3172

Editors: Stacey Dobis & Melissa Deerson

Author photo: Peter Van Vliet

Cover and internal design: LiNWEE Creative

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry (pbk)

Author: Kennedy, Caroline E., author.

Title: The Power of WOW Why Thank You Makes Dollars and Sense / Caroline Kennedy.

ISBN: 978-0-9875687-0-0 (paperback)
978-0-9875687-1-7 (ebook : epub)
978-0-9875687-2-4 (ebook : kindle)

Subjects: Success in business.
Customer relations.
Relationship marketing.
Internet marketing.

Dewey Number: 650.1

Copyright Caroline Kennedy 2013

The information contained in this book is provided in good faith and for general information purposes only; it is not intended to provide personalised legal, financial or business advice. The author and the publisher specifically disclaim any liability, loss or risk which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and applications of any contents of this work.

Chapter 13Step 7 In your Facebook!
The secrets of social media engagement

• Do you run a business and find it difficult to stand out from your competitors?
• Do you feel frustrated when a client buys from a competitor based on price?
• Do you have the headache of high staff turnover?
• Do you want customers coming back, or better yet, recommending you to others?
• Would you like to increase sales?

Now is the time to make lasting improvements for your business, and The Power of WOW Why Thank You Makes Dollars and Sense, will help to guide you along the way. By implementing the 7-step method outlined in this book you will start to experience an increase in repeat clients, less competitive buying patterns and improved revenue, with more clients wanting to work with you -or buy from you.

My knowledge can be your knowledge - my objective with this book is to share with you the insights Ive learned over the years. Most of these insights have come from necessity or through learning the hard way. Simply put, and not to sound arrogant, I get things done, and most importantly - I get results. I have a passion and commitment to helping businesses grow while adding an element of fun.

I have worked for 17 years in the demanding corporate world heading sales and marketing departments using my roles to deliver multi-million dollar results. I was responsible for generating revenue for businesses such as Cox & Kings Australia (incorporating four multi-million dollar brands), Rydges Hotels & Resorts and the iconic Cable Beach Club Resort, to name a few.

I have observed a high percentage of people feeling under-appreciated throughout my career, and numerous businesses finding it challenging to not only reward staff and retain their clients but to stand out from their competitors. I believe, quite simply, that people want to do business and work for companies that recognise and value them.

My forte is helping passionate organisations develop lasting connections by creating Wow Moments that people remember. This book provides profound insights into how to build a better business. There is a powerful intersection between building loyalty and recognising people with Wow Moments. However, most businesses simply dont understand this they are time-poor, concentrating only on the bottom line, and they dont realise that the overall business can improve merely by adding some focus to saying thank you to customers and staff.

Our business climate is evolving rapidly and what was successful in the past does not necessarily work today. The days of golf and liquid lunches are over - theyre expensive, one-offs and not overly effective in this new world. And anyway, no one has the time!

Relationships, careers, and family life leave us time-poor, frazzled and more inclined to forget to say thank you. While general courtesy and a simple smile can go a long way, you can do more to meet - and exceed - customer expectations and boost your business in the process. Throughout this guide, we will address the emotional and commercial reality of consumer buying patterns, and how the precision of your data can give you guidance on where to focus your efforts.

You can achieve better results for your business, and its easier than you might think!

Do you quantify your existing assets? If I asked you about your businesss turnover and profitability, would you be able to provide me with your profit and loss statements and your quarterly tax statement? These are standard commercial reports that are necessary to understand how your business is performing. If I asked you to identify who your best customers are, could you do that? Could you back up the answer with quantitative data? As a small-business owner, this is one of the most fundamental questions you face. Once you understand who your customer is, you are better able to build loyalty through recognition and personalised gifts, which make your customer feel like the individual they are.

Companies today struggle to understand how loyal their customers are in this increasingly competitive and commoditised market. I run a business and lead a multi-million dollar organisation and we are dedicated to understanding exactly who our true clients are and how we can leverage these relationships for revenue growth. As you read this book, you will gain insights via a step-by-step guide on how to leverage your existing assets. My aim is to help you build a platform for analysing the revenue your clients produce and to understand the importance of the vital few and trivial many. We will uncover how to build stronger, more connected moments with your current clients than you previously had. This ongoing engagement will lead to more repeat business, increased word of mouth, happier staff and consequently, more money.

In this book, well talk about how to discover what your clients think of you - and why they buy from you. Do you currently know how happy your clients are with your product or service? If so, is this based on your opinion or have you asked the question? Early in my career, I learned the importance of understanding what clients think about you and your companys service standards. What is their overall perception of your business? What is most valuable to your clients? What improvement, if any, would they like to see? By having the answers to these questions, you are more able to meet market expectations and remain relevant in an ever-changing economic climate.

Let me tell you about a time that really brought home the phrase knowledge is power for me. I commenced work with an organisation, and suddenly their revenue started to decline, rapidly. As you can imagine, this was quite concerning for me as the individual responsible for delivering the revenue targets. My first response was: why is this decline happening now? I decided that I needed to drill down on the reasons why this was happening and see if there were any trends that I could identify. I quickly collated a very comprehensive survey which I distributed to the market. I also went to visit our valued clients to obtain their feedback, and the results provided a lot of clarity about the businesss relevance in the marketplace. It became evident that the companys relevance had actually been declining over a long period of time; however, it went unnoticed until a thorough analysis of the forward revenue forecast occurred. Once I identified the serious impact this had on the business, I gathered even more data to gain a more detailed perspective on the situation. It became apparent to me that a major shift in buying patterns was affecting how the industry and consumers purchased - we were now operating in a dynamic and commoditised space. From that knowledge, we could work out a plan of action to combat the shift in how our products were purchased.