Delighting Your Customer

Alec Stern, one of the founders of Constant Contact, the email marketing company for small businesses, is on campus today and speaking in three different entrepreneurship classes. Having just had lunch with Alec and after sitting in on his first class of the day, I know that our students are having a wonderful experience. Some of the lessons learned that he pointed out: 1. Think of the “why” of your business, rather than just the “what.” He specifically mentioned the Simon Sinek TED talks lecture on that topic. 2. Keep your business within the guardrails. When you’re growing your business, you’ll find people and money sources who are interested in moving your business…think of what’s important to your business and stay focused on it. 3. Delight the customer…Constant Contact’s attrition rate is amazingly small, even though many of their competitors are giving away something that CC charges for. They keep these customers because they are so good on customer service and by helping the entrepreneur learn how to really use their product. Plus, you can actually…and this is just amazing…talk to a real customer service person when you need help. New customers get a phone call from CC within the first 48 hours after signing up to make sure they really know how to take advantage of the full suite of product. 4. Give back. I was particularly pleased to hear Alec talk to our students about the importance of giving back to your school, your community and your country.