While carrying my grocery yesterday I had a thought flash in mind. How would I like Lil Helper Cloth Diapers to be known?
Lil Helper can certainly not be a company that manufactures the best cloth diaper. Like pizza or clothes, cloth diapers are highly subjective and each and every person will have a different “best diaper”.
Do we want to be the largest cloth diaper company? Large companies are sluggish and slow to react – and although I feel we have a lot of room to grow, I’d rather keep it a small, agile organization.
Then it hit me – I want Lil Helper to be known as the nicest company to deal with. We have been going along that path for a long time anyways. Just that we had not translated our actions into a plan.
All customer requests are tended to not as a task list but as an honor. Think about it, you’d only ask a favor from somebody you are close to. Most of our customers feel that they have some kind of connection to us through our website or dealings through e-mail or phone.
When we deal with a disgruntled customer who has had some difficulty in using our product or otherwise, we put ourselves in their position. We explain to them the same things that they could have found on our website or through a quick Google search. We do it so that they know that we care about them and even if we have to spend a few minutes talking to them they are not interfering with our work day – they are the reason we are at work. Also, this is something I would like from a company.
Also, we realized that people only talk about their best 1% experience and the worst 1% experience. Everything else that most people experience in dealing with businesses gets lost in between. Nothing remarkable happens 98% of the time. Like checking out from a grocery shop, the cashier who gurgles out a mechanical greeting and avoids eye contact. Being mediocre is easy and lazy. We would rather be AMAZING to 1 person than be UNREMARKABLE to a million people. We are striving to make Lil Helper Cloth Diapers a company that stays in the top stratosphere of 1%.
So tell me what kind of a business are you trying to build? What are the difficulties you are facing in building your ideal business?
That is great that customers are a priority and that is the focus!!
I agree Kelsey. I think many people use the word customer service without really thinking of what it means.
Trying to get my blog out there feels like a business venture! I love the author’s story though, on how he built the diaper company…
You made a great point. Your blog is a business. We are trying to shift our focus here on this blog to reflect that.
I absolutely love that philosophy and I think that’s what missing in a lot of businesses. Keep on doing what you’re doing. I’m much more likely to go to someone with better service than someone without.
Thanks for the comment Katherine, Mohammed is building a fantastic company and continues to put customers first!
I have a business mindset, but I feel like I need a partner!
very interesting post!
Two of the businesses I started, including TOTS, I started with a partner. Also, the partner I started them with I had never met in person, only online! Finding someone who is likeminded, but has different qualities can help a business immensely.
Great advice to pick one focus. Build your brand and concentrate on that. I was just talking about this the other day and trying to get back to that.
It feels like a spiral though once it gets out of hand, doesn’t it?
There is so much to this business. Some days I’m not sure what to focus on! Beautiful site, by the way!
Thank you. I always ask myself what is most important to me and if I were my customer/client/reader what they would want. It is a start.