Customer service is key, consultant says

It”™s a new economy and “crazy” is the new normal. The rules have changed. Your business must, too.

So advised Cindy Solomon, an internationally recognized speaker, consultant and executive coach, in a presentation to businesswomen ”“ and a few men ”“ at Key Bank”™s 2010 Key4Women forum Sept. 29 at Abigail Kirsch at Tappan Hill in Tarrytown.

“Our behaviors as consumers have changed. Our behaviors as businesses have to change.”

Customers are more demanding, Solomon said, especially in the digital age where anything is accessible 24/7. She discussed the difference between customer satisfaction ”“ no longer good enough ”“ and customer loyalty.

“Satisfaction doesn”™t keep people”™s money coming to you ”¦ satisfaction does not equal loyalty.”

Solomon, president of Solomon & Associates Inc. in San Francisco, was in Westchester as part of a national tour to promote her latest book, “The Rules of Woo: An Entrepreneur”™s Guide to Capturing the Hearts and Minds of Today”™s Customers.”

She offered tips and strategies for business owners to attract and retain customers in a post-recession, ultra-competitive environment.

“In order for us to take advantage of this, in order for us to come out of whatever this craziness is that we”™re calling a recession, in order for us to create unbelievable profitability, we have to focus on being a beginner again so we can adapt our businesses to how our customers are changing.”

Key Bank”™s Key4Women forums are designed to educate and empower women in business. The forums are part of the bank”™s Key4Women, a program to help women-owned businesses succeed through access to capital, education and networking.

Solomon noted that Key Bank has already loaned some $3 billion to women-owned businesses and has committed to lend an additional $3 billion before 2012.
“That”™s just crazy,” she said. “I love you for it, but you”™re crazy people. There is no other bank out there doing it.”