by Nancy Ruspil, MGC
A road I often drive takes me past countless businesses and building signs. One sign in particular stands out in my mind because it is so ironic. I won’t name the company, but their business is related to home design. Amazingly, their logo looks completely uncreative and unprofessional. There it is, enlarged and prominently attached to the outside of their building – you can’t miss it. The sad thing is, if I were looking for help with home design, I’d be sure NOT to go there. I’d be afraid that my home would end up looking like their sign. This may be a business full of talented, wonderful people, but that one bad impression keeps me from walking in their door.
Things like this matter. A lot. People notice the way your sign looks. The way your staff answers the phone. The way your website feels. The way you converse with people on Twitter or Facebook. People often decide to do business with you – or not – depending on these kinds of impressions.
It all matters to customers. Does it matter to you?
Chris Reddin said
Great post Nancy. In a recent marketing class, businesses talked about the fact that we now need to think about WHEN we answer the phone, not just how. Weekends? Nights? What does it say about your company if the voice mail is on everyday at 5pm? Or, to the other extreme, what if you have business calls forwarded and answer them at the grocery store with kids in the background? One or the other is not necessarily good or bad, but it is important to make sure that however you handle your interactions with customers, that it give the correct impression.
monumentgraphics said
Yes, it’s so interesting how quickly opinions can be formed. Really critical for all of us to remember. Thanks for your input Chris.