CustomerCradle is in business because we believe that business operators should not have to guess whether their radio ads, flyers and TV spots are working.
CustomerCradle is in business because we believe that brick and mortar business, the kind of businesses that answer the phone and deal with walk-in customers, deserve just as good business insight and analytical software as online businesses.
CustomerCradle is in business because we believe that as business operators become more familiar with website metrics and online advertising analytics they will come to expect similar fact based management tools for all aspects of their business.
One of the biggest challenges in growing a business is the unsettling uncertainty.
It’s like being the captain of a ship in the middle of the ocean. You haven’t arrived at the destination yet and two possibilities exist. Either you are heading in the wrong direction or you are heading the right direction you just haven’t gone far enough yet.
One way to check whether you are taking the correct action to grow your business is to look at other more successful businesses. Have they done what you are doing ? Have they done a lot more of it ? If so that would seem to be a strong indication that you need to double down, you need to keep pushing forward, you need to raise the main sail. (How’s that for a metaphor rich sentence ).
Another way to know whether you are on the right course is to know in detail how your business is preforming this week as compared to last week. That was a large part of the reason that we made CustomerCradle.
We got some great feedback and I was happy with how the pitch went. The video below will start at our pitch, 31 minutes in.
In case other people might get some value out of it here are some of what I did to prepare for the pitch.
Google Image Search for “Funny”
I knew I had at least twenty minutes until I would be on so I was watching the streaming show live. I noticed I was getting more and more nervous and so I closed the browser tab with the show and instead went to Google Image Search and typed in ‘funny’. This totally loosened me up. When the skype call came through for my pitch on the show it felt more like a one on one call rather than me appearing in front of lots of people.
Kill You Darlings
It was really difficult to cut the pitch down to 60 seconds. There were so many things I wanted to talk about but when you have only sixty seconds you have only sixty seconds. I believe there is a saying in creative writing that you have to “kill your darlings”, meaning sometimes you have to remove characters and plot elements that you really like in order to make the core story more clear.
Repetition, Repetition, Repetition
I practiced the pitch a lot in the two days preceding the show.
Creating the pitch was valuable in itself
My CustomerCradle partner Ryan pointed out that the very act of creating the 60 second pitch provided a valuable opportunity to focus on what we see as the opportunities and benefits of CustomerCradle. One word that was emphasized in the pitch that we don’t use enough when marketing CustomerCradle and talking to potential users is ‘workflow’.
Thinking back to all our discussions with business operators they haven’t been using the word but it’s a large part of what they have been talking about. It’s not enough to do what they need, we have to do what they need in a way that can easily be inserted into their current patterns of behavior. This is an area we have a real advantage over some of the other available options, we should make it more clear.
CustomerCradle can help you get more customers and convert more enquiries into sales.
It can do this by giving you a simple and easy tool to record and report on the information you need to grow your business.
Do we need to pay for a bigger listing in the phone directory ?
How effective is the radio ad at bringing in customers ?
Which staff member is most effective at converting enquiries into a sales ?
Is the new employee up to speed yet ?
Are this year’s flyers more or less effective than last year’s ?
Are our customers happy with our service and recommending us to their friends ?
Have existing customer referrals increased or decreased in the last year ?
Gut feel isn’t enough, you need to record and report the real numbers. Don’t guess if you want success. Get the facts.
CustomerCradle makes recording customer information really easy
Using CustomerCradle you and your staff can record :
the source of a customer (how they heard about your business)
the action your took (how you responded to their enquiry)
the outcome (did they become a paying customer).
and be back to work in 3 seconds!
Since recording this information is so easy you can make sure it’s part of your every-day standard workflow, so everyday you are learning more about your business and getting a better insight into what you should be focusing on to grow.
CustomerCradle makes analysing your business really easy
Where are my customers coming from ? Find out with a single click
Which staff members convert enquiries into paying customer most efficiently ? Once you know you can model their behavior and use them to train other staff members. Find out with a couple of clicks.
Which customer sources convert into paying customers ?
How can I give CustomerCradle a try ?
You can sign up at www.customercradle.com, provide your billing details and you are ready to go.
14 day free trial (cancel in the first 14 days and you won’t be charged a cent)
No big upfront costs. One low monthly fee
Fast no-nonsense support
All data is free (you can download your data there is no lock-in)
CustomerCradle is a new service and we would love to hear your feedback on how to make it more useful for you!
CustomerCradle is an easy way for
businesses to record and report on their inquiries and customers so they can measure
their advertising and staff effectiveness.
Please take a moment
to check it out.
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