customer service

5 C’s of Service Success with guest John McClung, Jr.

My Fast Action Friday’s guest today is John McClung Jr. One topic John’s passionate about is doing the right thing for the right reasons. That includes making practical choices about displaying common courtesy, taking responsibility for one’s actions, and helping your fellow human beings.

What John shared during our interview, in his charming, high-energy way is not new. It’s centuries-old down-to-earth advice that far too many individuals these days dismiss the importance and benefit it can be to their success. It’s about showing up in our lives, being kind, and accepting responsibilities for our choices.

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How To Build Relationships With Clients During Your Business Makeover with guest Yvonne A Jones

By Kat Sturtz 2 Comments

Yvonne A Jones aimed a big spotlight on the importance of building … and keeping … a good relationship with customers and clients on this week’s episode of Fast Action Fridays.

Stop focusing so much on finding new buyers and start deepening the bonds of know, like, and trust with your current ones. Yvonne’s helpful tips included taking a objective look at your current business and branding. Is it in need of a makeover?

Listen to the replay to see if that applies to you and your business. And for the keys about focusing on relationship building during your business makeover planning and execution.

Watch the replay below.

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What happens when a Complete Flake makes love for 28 days straight?

By Kat Sturtz Leave a Comment

Fast Action Fridays

What happens when a Complete Flake makes love for 28 days straight?

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Fast Action Fridays show – LaVonne’s book is FREE on Amazon until July 5th!

What a treat it was to have LaVonne Ellis, of The Complete Flake, back for another episode of Fast Action Fridays.

We discussed how her new book, Make Customers Love You, A 28-Day Challenge for Your Tiny Business, came into being, including:

the initial challenge that sparked her journey to just engage more with her prospects and see what happened
why what happened to her 5 years ago created something that she was ripe for harvesting for the this new book
how, to her surprise, 100 people jumped at the chance to participate, most of whom LaVonne didn’t know, with each participant starting their own “Customer Love” campaign, some to amazing success
how David Crandall, one of the participants she hadn’t previously met (virtually or face-to-face), volunteered to help co-host the challenge just when LaVonne’s initial zeal and confidence was fading fast
plus, of course, some Fast Action takeaway tips that you can start implementing them today in your business

Read more about LaVonne Ellis and my recap of her book here. And share your own customer love advice, tips and questions in the comments below.

By the way, you can get it FREE … July 1st – 5th … on Amazon here.
Don’t wait.

If you miss the freebie, the regular price is a customer love friendly $2.99.

Disclosure: Some of the links within this site are affiliate links, which means that should you decide to buy something I may receive a small commission in return.

What LaVonne Ellis did to make me love her…and her new book

By Kat Sturtz 2 Comments

Don’t quite recall when I first crossed paths with LaVonne Ellis, but I liked her from the start. Unlike me, she’s inherently shy with streaks of boldness and brashness that I find endearing and inspiring.

I think it’s because she knows herself well, viewing the ups and downs of her life’s journey with keen, witty, observant eyes.

While I’m not sure she’d admit this, I see in her actions an acknowledgement that she owns both the ability and privilege to accept responsibility for each new step she takes. Stumbles and flourishes and all in between. That’s the rocking your unique path way in action, for sure.

She’s also a talented wordsmith and editor whose way with weaving experiences into stories draws you in with their open frankness. They are delightfully descriptive. Heart-felt and unassuming.

Slices of life to laugh with, cry with. Even cringe with on occasion. Yet, not to be missed. Because they encourage me to view my own life’s journey with more depth and passion. To see what I missed or ignored or was too afraid to acknowledge when I peek back in times before. You can judge for yourself by reading through some of the posts on her website.

What I do remember is meeting LaVonne virtually before she launched her new site, The Complete Flake (but after she’d grown comfortable with the moniker). It was on Facebook, and likely via mutual business (and talented!) FB friends, Rhiannon Cahours and Larah Ritchie. It’s an honor and privilege to share my imperfect self with them and others within a private FB group that LaVonne started after she published her book, Get Sh*t Done. You can check it out on Amazon here.

The challenge that sparked Make Customers Love You

However, this post isn’t just about LaVonne. It’s about her and the 27 collaborators (plus others unnamed) who contributed to Make Customers Love You, A 28-Day Challenge for Your Tiny Business.

A quick glance through the Table of Contents is evidence of the many heart and soul connecting experiences shared throughout this book. It’s not a book everyone will get or appreciate. Hard-selling sales folk and many small business owners, especially those focused only on the bottom line, won’t … and that’s okay. This book isn’t meant for them.

It speaks directly to the growing number of Tiny Biz owners, solopreneurs, often home-based biz folks (me included) who find it stressful navigating the barrier that divides the desire to attract and serve ideal clients and customers from the need to ask for the sale.

You can’t pay bills with good intentions

After all, just as any other business owner, we need to make money to keep the business afloat, pay our bills, feed our families. I’ve yet been able to pay my electric bill with good intentions.

Make Your Customers Love You is not a typical “how to make sales” book. It’s a guidebook aimed at helping you off that tough fence and onto building a gate through which both you and your ideal customers can easily meet and converse on friendly terms.

Day 1 of the journey couldn’t be more inviting. Following Ellis’ action plan “We are going to make customers love us — by loving them.” [It’s adapted from a system she credits learning from Naomi Dunford, of IttyBiz.]

Each day following brings a variety of insight and challenge tasks from 27 additional contributors. The experiences they share are real…giving us glimpses into their situations, fears, triumphs. Easy to relate to. Enjoyable to read.

The challenge is real, too.

There are no big promises that it will be easy and successful for you. But the potential is there. It’s up to you to commit or not. To take responsibility or not. To stay stuck on that sharp, rusty, iron finial … or not.

A favorite quote from the book is this from David Crandall (Day 2):

“They won’t buy your shit until they know you give a shit.”

– David Crandall

Yes, it’s a bit crass in its wording, but the truth is undeniable.

My only gribble with the book is that I don’t think “edited by LaVonne Ellis” does justice to LaVonne Ellis and the many contributors, therefore it doesn’t leverage them enough for promotion and marketing. (My marketing critique for today! 🙂 )

Grab your copy and share your experiences

I encourage your to go grab your copy today. Then share your review and related experiences below.

By the way, you can get it FREE … July 1st – 5th … on Amazon here. Don’t wait.

Disclosure: Some of the links within this site are affiliate links, which means that should you decide to buy something I may receive a small commission in return.