Beat the Competition by “Hugging” Your Customers
Stanford, CA (July 2011)—For many small business owners, business isn’t exactly booming. Forced to do more with much less, the small businesses that have managed to survive and even thrive have recognized one important factor: You can’t always compete on price, but you can compete on service. And the best thing about great customer service is that providing it doesn’t cost you an extra penny. Ed Hess explains that when your competition is scrounging for customers, you have to hold yours close, and that starts with great customer service. “Today’s small business owners need to understand that cutting costs will not save their business,” says Hess, author of the new book Growing an Entrepreneurial Business: Concepts & Cases (Stanford University Press, 2011, ISBN: 978-0-8047714-1-2, $75.00, www.EDHLTD.com ) and professor at the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business. ...