Many (tourism) businesses are using Instagram to promote their products. Great images and short video clips are a powerful way to get your message across.
But did you know you can also advertise on Instagram? Just like on Facebook, you can target specific audiences with relevant ads.

The key is to learn how to do this yourself. Even if you outsource it, it's still important you know how it works.
Thankfully, Instagram has created some fantastic resources and tutorials.
Go to: https://business.instagram.com/getting-started/#why-instagram

Set some time aside every day for a week or so to learn a valuable new skill that could be of great benefit to your business!

Till next week, Marijke

Four years ago, I published the article below. Over the years, it has received thousands of views worldwide. Here's the article once more with a few updates!

It is no secret: I am passionate about customer service. I get a real kick out of providing the best possible service to my clients and as a customer favour businesses that provide great service too. 

Businesses that provide great service benefit as their customers will keep coming back for more. What restaurants or cafes do you like to go to and why do you go there? It’s usually the friendly service and great  food that do the trick. Oh, and they probably know your name too! You have an 'emotional connection' with them.

One thing that businesses with great service have in common is that they also have great internal customer service.

What is internal customer service? 
Internal customer service is the service we provide fellow employees and other departments within our own businesses, as well as our suppliers or members and anyone else with whom we work to get our jobs done. 
 
It is what we do when a colleague asks for information he or she needs to complete her main task for the day; it is what we say when the marketing person asks for the addresses of good contacts; it is how we greet the front line manager when he walks into our office with an "I need something from you" expression on his face.

Why is internal customer service so important? 
In helping others at work, you help your company succeed. Superior internal customer service improves morale,   productivity, employee retention, external customer service and, ultimately, profitability. 
I see businesses with happy staff that do this very well, and sadly, I also see businesses where it's the opposite.

Below are some tips to improve your internal  customer service:

1. Set customer service standards.  
With your team, create customer service standards (both internal and external). Thinking through the process and setting standards for response times for things like emails, phone calls or internal requests help to set expectations for employees. Employees should be held accountable for responding to a co-worker’s request within a predetermined period of time.

2. Lead by example
Lead by example: treat others like you want to be treated. Be friendly, compliment staff where possible (catch them doing something good!!), encourage them and show your appreciation. Don’t EVER criticize them in public. It is humiliating for them and reflects badly on you.

3. Regard your co-workers as customers 
Treat your co-workers with respect: regard them as your customers. Understand that helping your colleagues do their jobs more successfully helps your organization and you. Therefore they are your customers. Treat them like VIPs!

4.  Exceed your internal customers' expectations. 
When someone exceeds your expectations, how do you feel? Most people feel delighted, excited, upbeat and very, very positive about that person and his or her organisation. Think what you can accomplish in your organisation by exceeding the expectations of fellow employees. 
 
5. Say thank you. 
A simple, genuine "thank you" goes much farther to create an atmosphere of sharing and helping than two such small words would suggest. Even when it is a person's job to provide information 
or a product to you, tell them "thank you" when they have done it. Express your appreciation of their timeliness in providing it. Explain how it has made your job much easier. Show them your delight when they exceed your expectations.

6. Train your staff
Train your staff the importance of customer service, both internal and external. It can be a useful to hire someone to help you. (Note: at SMARTtraining, we offer these services and have helped many businesses improve their external and internal customer service). 

7. Manage performance
Standards and training are important, but unless employees are held accountable for expected behaviour, these are pointless. This is why it’s important to have a performance review process that incorporates employee expectations with goals that are tied to pay and reward systems.


So, if you have great internal customer service systems in place, your staff will be happier and will be able to provide better service both internally and externally. This will ultimately lead to better profitability! 

If you need help improving customer service, let us know!

Till next week, Marijke

PS: if you have any comments to this tip, please click the add comment box below!

A few years ago, a business owner, we’ll call him John, came to see me. He was desperate and needed my help. Up to then, he had a good running tourism business which he had grown nicely over the years. He had a steady stream of customers and he wasn’t too worried as it all seemed to happen quite easily.

Suddenly – shock, horror! - John’s business dropped by 40%. What happened?

Well, his biggest supplier of customers stopped using him. And as he received over 40% of his business through this supplier, he suddenly had a big problem. This supplier decided to start competing with them. John had never looked at his distribution strategically, i.e. analyse where his bookings were coming from and how he could work smarter. It was time he did.

Distributing your product more strategically could include the following;

• Ensure you have spread your risk. If you have one very large supplier, like John had, you can see that this poses a big risk to your business. So, have a look at how you can increase your business from a range of distribution channels.
• With the rapid rise of OTA’s (online travel agencies) and their market share of your bookings, it’s important to also focus also on getting more direct bookings. A great way to do this is through keeping in touch with existing customers.
• Set clear goals of where you want your business to come from, through what distribution channels and decide what you need to do to achieve these goals.

Oh, and John is ok. He managed to get his business back on track again through strategic distribution planning and runs a successful tourism business.

Till next week, Marijke

Most businesses operate in a competitive environment. With review sites such as Tripadvisor and Google Reviews giving customers an opportunity to share their experiences, it has become more and more important to focus on delivering an exceptional experience.

Set some time aside to work on this and your customer experience will improve considerably! (Along with great reviews!) Here are some ideas:

1. Experience your own product, from start to finish (how easy is it to book, what is the experience like, what could be improved). For example, if you run an accommodation business, book a room online and stay in your own accommodation. And do bring a suitcase! I recommend this to clients as this will make you look at the details (for example: are there enough hangers, is there somewhere to put your toilet bag in the bathroom etc).
   Or even better: get someone to do it for you – a mystery shopper. Write a list of things you’d like their feedback on.
2. Find out from your customers what they particularly like about your business/products and what could be improved. Survey them (open questions work best for this!) and read reviews on sites like Tripadvisor. Make a list of positives and negatives.
3. Find out what your competitors are doing well and not so well. Try to come up with different ways to 'delight' your customers and have a point of difference.
   
   For example, I stayed in Hong Kong recently and the hotel had a smartphone (with extra battery charger) for their guest to use free of charge. You could use it make free calls anywhere in the world and it also had an app loaded with local information. It was great! Another nice surprise was that this hotel had a free minibar! It was stocked with beer, soft drinks and snacks.

So, have a look at how your customers experience your business, products, staff, booking or buying procedure and find ways to improve!

Till next week, Marijke