Business Customer Success

Take your passion for event planning to the next level with in-the-trenches advice and tools you need to start, run, and grow a successful business. From writing a solid contract to finding reliable vendors, our experts help you identify your niche, teach you how to scout potential clients, evaluate the competition, market your business, and more.

In The Relationship Economy, author John DiJulius teaches business leaders about the importance of relationship building in the digital age. He argues that in spite of (and because of) the advances in tech, we've become a less connected society. We have dramatically evolved away from face-to-face communication, and the skill of building rapport is evaporating. This means that customer personalization and relationships are more important now than ever - and they will be the key to success for businesses moving forward.

Many companies have let their sales people devolve into an order-taking, customer “farming” team where the focus is following up on inbound leads or just trying to upsell current customers. Conversely, this is the critical time in the life of a business when organizations with a team trained to sell outbound successfully will rise above the rest. Outbound selling can be intimidating even to the most senior rep, yet that same intimidation around cold calling and outbound sales can be transformed into confident success with the right tools at your disposal.

Every businessman and entrepreneur worth his salt knows that the most important element for every business is the people. It's not your products or the revenue but the people. An ideal situation would be that all of your customers are 100% happy all the time, but this is impossible. At some point, some of them would be unsatisfied. It is important to understand what to expect from your customers and what your customers expect of you so you can provide great customer service that would leave both parties happy and satisfied.

Being a server--well, a good server--is so much more than taking an order and dropping food off at a table. Serving with hospitality can open doors to meaningful interactions with strangers, long-term relationships with regulars, and, ultimately, consistent financial success. If you’re new to the restaurant industry, want to improve your skills, or just curious about how to succeed as a server, look no further. As an eight-year veteran and single mom who has been able to raise two kids on server income alone, you can trust me when I say I know what I’m talking about.

The fact is, product-centered pitching simply doesn’t cut it anymore. Buyers don’t want to hear about your product’s features—they want to hear about how it can solve their problems or help them reach their goals. In The Revenue Acceleration Playbook, sales and marketing expert Brent Keltner introduces a proven go-to-market framework to increase personalization and authenticity across every step of the buyer journey—from initial buyer engagement and prospecting, to closing new deals and expanding customer relationships, to growing target market segments.

Andrew Sobel offers a proven, 100-day plan for conquering 14 tough client development challenges and growing your client base. He's encapsulated 25 years of unique research, including personal interviews with over 3,000 top executives, into a practical road map for winning more new clients and growing your existing relationships. You'll learn specific strategies to move confidently and predictably from a first meeting to a signed contract, and discover the agenda-setting techniques that create a steady stream of sole-source business.

Every day, most working professionals entrust their most important messages to a form of communication that doesn't build trust, provide differentiation, or communicate clearly enough. It's easy to point to the sheer volume of emails, text messages, voicemails, and even social messaging as the problem that reduces our reply rates and diminishes our effectiveness. But the faceless nature of that communication is also to blame.

Customers can be a mystery. Despite the availability of more data than ever before, everyone, from the CEO to salespeople in the field, struggles to understand who their customers really are, what they want, why they lose them, and how to regain them. To crack the case, start thinking like a market detective. David Scott Duncan shows how in his entertaining story of Tazza, a fictional chain of cafes with declining sales and leaders urgently seeking to understand why.

Every day outstanding organizations do things and promote values that ensure they will retain customers, grow revenues, increase market share, and build their reputations. Informed by his own commitment to the concept of personal accountability and enlivened by compelling true stories from exceptional organizations, in this insightful and accessible audiobook John Miller identifies the principles and behaviors that distinguish such organizations from the pack and provides listeners with ways to integrate them into their own work.

Jobs to Be Done gives you a clear-cut framework for thinking about your business, outlines a road map for discovering new markets, new products, and new services, and helps you generate creative opportunities to innovate your way to success.

What makes the world's most successful individuals so good at their jobs? What do they do that others don't? The Connectors answers those questions with the kind of straightforward wisdom that business strategists so often overlook. Forget marketing tactics or business school best practices. Those are handy, but it's really people - and the relationships you build with them - that form the cornerstone of long-term success, sales growth, and excellence.

The ever-changing world of social media marketing means that you need to constantly find new tactics to stay ahead of your competition. And when it comes to building brand awareness, video marketing dominates as the premium way to get your message out to your potential customers. With Social Media Marketing Live, you will have everything you need to begin taking advantage of live-streaming video - which can help you bring in extra sales, generate more leads, and really push your brand to win big online.

This practical, step-by-step book is designed specifically for selling teams committed to high achievement in the enterprise environment. You'll learn how to master 13 selling tools integral to your SES success - like the KARE Account Planning Tool, Growth Account Booster Tool, LinkedIn Levers Tool, and Client-Centric Satisfaction Tool. You'll discover practical solutions to the vastly complex challenges in enterprise organizations - extended sales cycles, wide buyer networks, or significant investments in pursuits.

From turf wars to low morale, most companies attempt to cure what ails them with the latest management fad - and fail. They are treating the symptoms while ignoring the true problem. Success starts with knowing the kind of business you're really in.

Companies have invested thousands and even millions of dollars in CRM technology over the past decade, but frontline salespeople and sales executives alike are still groping for solutions. The problem of drift - a common phenomenon in which a prospect simply forgets about the product offering and goes dark - is persistent and rampant. Technology doesn't change behavior on its own. Behavior is changed by adopting better habits. The fact is, 44 percent of salespeople give up after one follow-up attempt. That sad reality presents a genuine opportunity.

Great companies distinguish themselves from the competition by providing their customers with something truly special, something beyond price point that can't be duplicated: unique, outstanding customer service experiences.

Charm is good business. It can increase your income, boost your status, and establish and maintain your reputation. Most businesspeople don't fully understand the concept of charm. It ought to be a reflex, a conditioned response, to "turn on the charm" when dealing with customers, clients, associates, and employees, but it isn't. Charm draws customers. Charm gets noticed. But charm is only partly innate. Much of it is learned.

Customer service may soon be a thing of the past except for a few companies and organizations that pride themselves on providing their customers with extraordinary service. The U.S. is becoming a rude society. Fewer people care about or expect good customer service. Too many companies are living on past reputations. A new generation of senior executives has no idea what customer service is all about.

Conversation Marketing will help you connect your brands, not just to the minds of your consumers, but to their hearts. Slick slogans and catchy ads may still work in some instances, but today's discerning consumers demand more. They want information and a reason to connect with a brand before they act. They want a conversation.