Don't just survive��thrive! By continuously improving your marketing and customer service methods, you can thrive even when the economic outlook turns stormy - management

It's no secret that the economy has slowed considerably in recent months. To thrive, not just survive, in today's uncertain economy, you need a continuous improvement plan--one that challenges you to keep your business on the cutting edge in terms of customer service, management and marketing.

"Continuous improvement" refers to the concept of continually evolving your business, operations for maximum efficiency.

The concept originally applied to marketing efforts practiced by manufacturing and industrial organizations with new products that weren't selling well. Many of these firms suddenly "got the faith" when they realized that their marketing hype had to be supported by customer service. Many of the continuous improvement concepts and principles eventually used in these organizations can be applied to service, retail and pool construction companies in their marketing and customer service improvement efforts--and they work in any type of economy, good or bad.

To successfully apply continuous improvement concepts to your business, you need a marketing strategy that details how individual marketing objectives will be met. Developing an effective marketing strategy requires that you:

* review marketing objectives

* differentiate your products and services

* link your customer service objectives to your marketing strategy.

Continuous improvement in action

Many small businesses don't look beyond the next quarter or even the next month in planning. Others have more grandiose plans such as "destroying the competition." Both are mistakes. But continuous improvement in three important areas will help increase your sales and profits. Here's how to do it:

1. Set sales and profit goals that determine the guidelines for your marketing, planning and implementation activities. Marketing is warfare. One way to win the war is to differentiate with market positioning, which refers to creating an image or perception about your products, services or company in present and potential customers' minds. Positioning tries to match your offerings' benefits to the needs of your target market: your customers. It means identifying your customers and becoming more customer-oriented.

2. Devise marketing strategies that help you reach your sales and profit goals. Successful pool businesses are customer-oriented and link their customer-service objectives to their marketing objectives. In essence, the goal is to find out what your customers demand, and position your products and services to meet those demands.

Make no mistake about it: Today's time-pressed, fast-running and finicky customers demand more. They look for the right value-price-convenience combination to help them make smart purchases. They always seek continuous improvement in products and services.

Today, you'd better tell it like it is. Customers demand to know which products and services offer the best value for the price--and they want in-your-face guidance. Look in your local movie theaters and fast-food restaurants. You will see arrows pointing to the best soft-drink or value.

What's the best value in a pool, spa or service offering? It depends on what your customer wants. Value is based on what's most suitable for each customer's individual need and situation. How you meet those needs is the key. Consumers demand continuing improvement in value, service and convenience.

Ask yourself these questions: Why do customers buy from you vs. your competition? Is it because of price, personalized service, unusual product features and benefits, or all of the above? Is your business goal to give exceptional value to justify price? Is value being given? Is excellent customer service demanded? Are you giving it?

3. Identify the marketing objectives required to implement marketing strategies. You get answers to those questions through market research and by measuring performance. Much of the raw data needed to know your customers already is available in the form of sales records, demographic information and industry data. Questionnaires or focus groups identify the key services or products you must continuously improve. This data can help you create customer-service excellence.

Customer-service excellence

Customer-service excellence means having products in stock and having enough proficient people to do the things that show customers you care. It means training employees to knowledgeably explain products and to know the services and products your business offers. Customer-service excellence can be created with convenience and value.

* Convenience:

Time is money and many consumers put a premium on convenience that saves time. Here are several ways to make it convenient to buy from your firm:

* Have knowledgeable salespeople to help time-pressed customers. Thoroughly educate your staff about the products and services you sell.

* Tell employees which kinds of questions to ask customers, when to prompt a customer to ask questions, and when to make recommendations.

* Make refund and exchange policies simple and easy for employees and customers to interpret.

* Give employees the authority to make customer-satisfying decisions, such as handling complaints, revising an estimate or making price concessions without having to track management down to judge each situation.

* Value:

In addition to convenience, today's consumers demand value--and they will switch to companies that provide it.

Value is the relationship between the perceived quality of the service a company offers, and the quality of its products. Customers who feel they get superior service at a pool store or construction company expect it to sell high-quality products or to do an outstanding installation job. A company also must be perceived to have competitive prices and a knowledgeable staff.

All this translates to value, and this "value-added" perception is what customers need to rationalize spending their money at your place of business.

Here's a short list of features that could enhance the perceived value of your products and services:

* Have written return and warranty policies that make customers feel confident about the quality of your products and services, ranging from pool toys to pools.

* Provide personal, customized service, such as service times, inspection schedules and credit terms, based on each customer's unique needs.

* Offer specialized, technical knowledge for certain types of equipment, service and installation offerings.

Stores, service firms and construction companies that deliver personalized service and offer the convenience of specialized knowledge can offer tremendous value to many consumers. In the pool and spa industry, customer satisfaction has to be a strategic priority. All employees, not just front-line staff, must be given the knowledge and skills to keep customers satisfied and loyal.

The twofold goal

So your goal is twofold: Use information that will heighten your company's ability to identify and exploit new opportunities in changing markets, and have performance expectations that employees will develop close relationships with customers.

As information moves to and from the front line, your organization can stay in tune with a changing environment. At the same time, employees have information they need to continually improve down-the-line help they give customers. That leads to greater job satisfaction, which translates into better customer satisfaction. And that ultimately translates into increased profits.

Remember that customer-driven strategies always should guide your marketing and customer-service activities. But you'll need more than just the right marketing knowledge and customer-service dynamics to thrive in this turbulent, competitive, and fast-changing year. You'll need continuous improvement.

Andrews, a former certified trainer with the American Management Associa-tion, has been a financial and operations management consultant in the pool and spa industry for 15 years. He is the author of two training manuals, Managing Personnel in the 1990s and Store Operations in the 1990s, for the 25,000-member National Retail Hardware Association. If you have questions about how to improve your company's profit, He can be reached at dandrews@andrews consultinginc.com or www.andrews consulting-inc.com.

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