Convincing your customers to fill out those darn feedback forms

What’s scarier: the person wearing the Michael Myers costume or the rising price of Halloween candy?

Hot off the SMB press this week:

• The art of selling products and services on social media. 
• Tips for getting your team to follow processes and procedures.
• Why you should complement your org chart with a role chart.
• How to get your customers to fill out those dang feedback surveys.

But first, here are some headlines that caught our attention this week.

TL;DR

This week's highlight reel

• We knew this day would come. If you’re getting logins for Netflix from your cousin Greg (thanks, Greg!) enjoy it while it lasts. The number one video service will start enforcing a long-awaited account crackdown in early 2023. Users will have to convert extra profiles into separate sub-accounts for $2.99 each. Guess we’ll have to find another way to save that cash.
• The 40-year-old surge in (prices). The fact that the cost of rent, gas, and groceries is higher than it’s been in four decades feels like getting hit with… a bag of sand. But here’s the good news: The IRS is raising its standard deductions and income thresholds for the 2023 tax year. AKA, every income bracket saves, almost making up for Netflix screwing us all over.
• There’s always tomorrow… for dreams to come true. That’s right — the third annual Black Entrepreneur’s Day, founded by Shark Tank’s Daymond John, is tomorrow, Oct. 27. Join the live stream to celebrate Black business success and opportunity with inspirations like Daymond, Venus Williams, and Shaq. And cry happy tears with entrepreneurs who’ll continue to inspire, educate, and thrive with over $500K in grants. 
• That’s the Spirit! Dead men tell no tales, but strip-mall-darling Spirit Halloween sure does — picturebook style. TLDR: A dress shop owner mid-sales slump went out on a limb (hopefully attached) and replaced all his merch with spooky gear. He slapped a “Nevermind, we do Halloween now!” sign over his storefront and had his most profitable year ever. The rest is history.

THE FUTURE IS HERE

8 tips for making bank with social shopping 

Ah, infomercials.
Those kitschy American TV programs selling goods and services for late-night channel surfers. We make fun of them now, but the power of these commercials was immense — the U.S. market was $170B in 2009.

Why did they work? They showcased products and services in an endearing way and made them easily accessible — your new Snuggie or Slap-Chop was only a phone call away.

Which is why social shopping is booming.
Social shopping — buying products and services directly on social media apps — is the 2020s version of infomercials. Apps like Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok feature goods and services that people just need to have immediately. All it takes is a tap of a finger and bam! Another happy customer.

In 2021, 29% of shoppers bought something off social media from the platform itself. That’s a big pool of potential customers you could be connecting with — and a huge reason why you should invest in your business’ social media shops.

Not sure how to start?
Here are eight quick tips:

1. Image is everything. Social platforms are image and video-focused. Use high-quality photos of your products and entertaining videos of your services.‍
2. Take advantage of social media marketing tools. Who doesn’t love a good hashtag? Social tools (like #hashtags) can help you reach a wider audience. Plus, there are analytics tools that will tell you what’s working and what’s not.

👉 Here are six more tips.

PROCESS MAKES PERFECT

Is your team struggling to follow processes and procedures? These 6 strategies can help.

I have processes in place, but… *crickets*
So, you’ve found a process that gets the job done right. You’ve documented it. You’ve shared your hard-won knowledge with your team. You’ve even tested them to make sure they understand your processes, and yet… no one’s following them.

In case you had any doubts: Yes — the best-laid plans will fail if no one adopts the processes and procedures to make them happen. But before you burn it all to the ground (metaphorically speaking, yeah?), there are things you can do to get your team’s buy-in.

So, you’re saying there’s hope.
Definitely. Time to start implementing some strategies that’ll help your team level up the business. Why? Because they’ll be following your company’s systems to a tee. And we’ve got six of them for you.

1. Commit to using processes yourself. As a leader, it’s crucial to show your team that you’re committed to using business systems, documenting processes and procedures, and sharing these systems. You may be surprised to find that you already have processes that you do repeatedly — now, it’s just a matter of optimizing them so they’re as efficient as possible.‍
2. Assure accessibility. Business systems need to be accessible to everyone in your company. One of the best ways to ensure documented processes and procedures are accessible is to utilize a process documentation platform (like… Trainual… ahem).

👉 Check out the other four strategies.

HUMBLE BRAG

Your small business needs a role chart. Here’s why.

What’s a role chart?
A role chart is like an org chart, but it maps out team members, reporting structure, and responsibilities by role (instead of by person).

Do I need a role chart?
If you want to give your team role clarity, hold everyone accountable for their role-based responsibilities, and fill in any gaps in your org chart, then yes! Giving your team a role chart helps them understand (and stay up to date on) what everyone is in charge of — which is especially important as you grow and change.

Bonus: When you use the right platform (cough — Trainual) you can even link each responsibility in your chart to resources that help the people in charge.

Will a role chart work for my business?
We’re so glad you asked. The beauty of the role chart is that it works for any team. In fact, it works for companies…

• In any stage. You can plan for future team structure by including roles you plan to hire next. Even if you have zero employees, you can map out all the different roles in your business and transfer them over to new hires when it’s time. ‍
• With employees who wear multiple hats. There’s a perfect spot (or sometimes a few spots) for everyone in the role chart — filling any gaps in your org chart and helping your team connect the dots of who does what and when.

👉 How to build the perfect role chart for your SMB.

PRETTY PLEASE?

How to get customers to complete feedback surveys

You know the ones.
Emails from businesses that ask for a few minutes of our time to fill out a short survey and “help them improve the customer experience.” And as much as we’re all about helping make businesses better, no lie — sometimes, we just don’t.

And we’re not alone.
Whether it’s a matter of time or energy, most people will skip that voluntary survey. But, from a business standpoint, we need to ask for this favor — these feedback surveys are a great way to get an idea of what’s working and where you can improve from the people who matter most: your customers.

So, how do we get more responses?
Here are some tips for getting customers to fill out your feedback surveys and help you collect that valuable information:

• Keep it short. The best surveys should take 10 to 20 minutes to complete. To limit the number of questions, choose a specific topic you want feedback for and focus on that.
• Time it right. According to the experts, you should send your survey during a low-peak time of day (early morning, lunch, late afternoon) to get the highest number of responses.

👉 Find more tips (including the power of incentives).

WE HAVE A PODCAST

This week on Organize Chaos: Moving beyond a transactional mindset

Highly “scientific” studies have shown that entrepreneurs who listen to “Organize Chaos” are 88.6% more awesome than those who don’t (no actual studies were harmed in the making of that statement). That’s because every weekday, founder and CEO of Trainual, Chris Ronzio, offers up entrepreneurial and small business leadership advice that covers everything from people to processes to productivity — and how to organize your life around it all.

In last week’s episode, Chris sat down with Jason Harris, best-selling author and CEO of award-winning creative advertising agency Mekanism, to chat about the art of storytelling and persuasion. And, how to build your brand with your target customer in the long term. Sure, you’ll find some marketing tactics in the episode, but it’s really a deep dive into the human psyche, persuasion, and storytelling. So give it a listen and see how “soulful persuasion” applies to your business.

Oh, and in case you missed it:

Trainual’s Chief of Staff Chelsey Krisay hopped on the “Second in Command” podcast to talk about lessons she learned from working at a start-up business, how Trainual uses their analytics to give them clarity on their growth, and why marketing is the key to spreading Trainual’s message to a wider audience.

And there’s more where that came from. So, if you want to hear top-level COOs share the insights, tactics, and strategies that made them the “Chief Behind the Chief,” check out “The Second In Command Podcast,” where host Cameron Herold tackles timely topics with COOs like 34 Strong’s Darren Virassammy, Tonal’s Shannon Crespin, and Asana’s Anne Raimondi.

(Cameron also joined Chris on “Organize Chaos” — née “Process Makes Perfect” — back in 2019 for a session on building a company mission and vision. Check it out!)