Listen! Marketing is great and all, but if your business is boring, no amount of marketing will make them like you.

Early in the planning phases of business, you have to evaluate your coolness. Even if your product or service is in high demand, the need to be enjoyed and not just needed is huge! When it comes to word-of-mouth advertising, nothing works faster than working on increasing your cool factor.

6 Ways to Boost Your Business’s Cool Factor

 

 

 1)     Make your customers happy

Happiness is contagious! We all love feeling great both about ourselves, and our purchase decisions. If a customer steps into a business and you greet them with a smile, a compliment and acknowledge them by name, they’ll leave feeling accepted. Their joy will spread throughout the workplace and they will be sure to tell the story of your amazing greeting. Through osmosis, others will become contaminated with happiness, and soon look to your business for a quick shot of euphoria.

2) Make it easy to do business with you

If the process a customer endures in order to do business with you, leaves them wishing that they had stayed in bed, you will quickly lose their attention. Make it insanely easy to buy something! Don’t inject any crazy sales jargon or additional steps. When a customer is ready to spend money, the last thing you want to do is insert a third or fourth step. In that short amount of time, they may decide that their impending expense is not worth it. Think of amazon.com‘s Buy Now with a single click option. Very easy, and the shopper is completely void of any delay that could influence their decision.

 3) Ask them what they want

The coolest companies engage with their buyers, and get information straight from the source. Who better to ask which products to sell than those that are going to spend the money buying them? Everyday businesses sling darts in the dark, and miss out on an awesome opportunity to obtain key insider information. Once you’ve established what type of business you are going to have, the next step is to always research the demand. If the demand exists, the next step is to narrow down your service or product offerings. Only keep those that are requested.

 4) Provide an incentive for referrals

Reward your advocates! Businesses are built on popularity, and popularity is earned through word-of-mouth referrals. By throwing a small gift in the direction of those which vocalized your coolness, you are ensuring that their efforts are repeated. It doesn’t have to be anything expensive, just something that says Thank You. A positive experience will  spread quickly, but a negative experience will spread faster!

5) Engage with the community

Join the Chamber of Commerce, Lions Club, Kiwanis, Rotary or any other organization who request time from volunteers. By getting involved in the community in which you operate, you are letting the citizens know that you aren’t solely in search of their money. No amount of money can buy trust. And trust is what builds empires! Without it, you will be forced to pound the pavement, and beg passerby’s to visit your store. Enough clout within the community will earn you a lifetime of dedicated shoppers.

6) Build a family NOT a business

You don’t have to be a trendsetter to be cool. Family is what makes the world spin. Love, support and passion are all derived from tightly knit groups who sell a product or service. Anyone who as any business sense, knows that you will only grow if you operate as a cohesive unit. You will experience emotions that are followed by arguments. Arguments spark debate, and debate brings to light new opportunities. Embrace these struggles, and learn from them. Grow together as a family, and develop unbreakable bonds. Only then will you truly be successful!

The way I see it, any business that understands the importance of putting the customer first, is already pretty cool. No matter what it is you sell or do, stay true to your beliefs.

Define your business the way in which you want others to define it.

 

 

 

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