Perhaps the most important element of the inbound methodology is the final stage: Delight. This is what truly sets the inbound approach apart from traditional sales tactics. Delighting your customer goes a long way for an inbound marketing company’s reputation. Delighting your customer builds trust, which is vital to developing a meaningful, helpful relationship with them.

You’re the successful small business owner of a handyman company. You started out as a jack of all trades and master of none, but over the years you’ve been wise about hiring the right people for the right positions, and now you can focus on managing the business and building relationships.

You’ve grown your business from a small one-man service truck to a 50 employee small business that provides a number of services ranging from gutter cleaning to landscaping to painting. Over the years, your friendly customer service and positive relationships have made you one of the most trusted businesses in town. So trusted in fact, that business is booming. Or so it seems. Service request are rolling in faster than your employees can keep up with them.

Losing credibility of your business, your brand, and even in your name can happen over a long period of time, but with these four ways, your brand will lose credibility fast!

Here’s how:

1. Don’t do what you say you are going to do. Promise the moon but don’t even get your customer out of the stratosphere.

I don’t quite remember how old I was when I first looked through a telescope. It was before I donned a jumper in kindergarten and before I understood how small I was compared to the grander scheme of things. I remember stepping on a stool to get me closer to the lens but couldn’t reach. My dad picked me up so that I could finally see the moon that was thousands of miles away.

Do you know how to truly motivate people to buy your product or service? The key is to speak their language. In order to do this, you need to understand who you are communicating to and how to communicate better. It’s not about them, it’s about you, and what you need to learn to help the consumer find the product or service they want or need – your product or service. The catch is, sometimes they aren’t aware they can get what you have to offer because you aren’t speaking to them.

When it comes to having a successful business where customers are happy, having good customer service is vital. Delighting customers is nothing new to the business world and will never go away. No business is perfect and can always be working on improving its customer service. 

Making all the green lights and getting to work early. An uncluttered inbox. Noticing a coupon in your email for a free cup of coffee because you have an uncluttered inbox. An unexpected positive review from a customer. These are all delightful things. Hitting all the red lights on your way to work. Wasting an hour sifting through spam in your inbox. Realizing your free cup of coffee coupon expired. A customer complaint on social media. These are un-delightful things. If you’re a small business owner who strives to have a company full of passion and provision, you need to start using inbound marketing to delight your customers. In fact, you can quickly and easily start planning how to do that today on your lunch break.