The internet enables every business to achieve its dream – the potential to reach people everywhere. Whether you’re a blue-chip multi-national, or a small business in a back bedroom, with 7.8 billion potential customers at your fingertips, the world, as they say, is your oyster. 

The reality is few will get anywhere near those figures – Facebook comes closest with 2.7 billion active monthly users. But, what’s stopping someone making handmade soaps and candles at their home looking beyond their friends and neighbourhood and selling to customers in Singapore?

The internet is like shopping in TK Maxx. You know what you want is there, you just have to find it. If you are looking for a particular brand of black trousers, you don’t just buy the first pair you find on the rail in your size. You keep going until you reach it, but it would help if they stood out a bit more. Unlike in TK Maxx, people shopping online lose patience and interest if they can’t find what they are looking for quickly.

So, unless you’re a pioneer like Steve Jobs, James Dyson or Mark Zuckerberg, your business – however good its products and services – will be drowned out by the competition. 

The goal is simple – tell your story and give people a reason to buy from you and not the competition. And make it a short story – save the longer version for after lockdown over a drink in the pub.

What do you offer that’s different? We are all unique and we all see things differently, so if two businesses are selling the same product for the same price, what persuades you to buy from one rather than the other?

Supply and demand are important, but today, it is also about the experience. John Lewis is credited with developing the customer service model many businesses strive for. The elements of this are simple – always put the customer first – but the waters become muddied when dealing with multiple customers and the pressures of everyday life and business.

How would you react to a business that says its aim is purely to make huge profits, but will guarantee you the best prices? You might grab the deal and ignore the no-frills approach.

Another business offering the same products at the same or similar price makes the point of letting customers know it operates in a Covid-safe way, is reducing its carbon footprint, has donated to help provide laptops for children learning in lockdown and has contributed to the school meals campaign.

I know which one I’d choose.

By telling your story, you are giving customers vital context about your business and explaining what buying from you means and how it affects others, why they should recommend you, and why they should come back to you in future.

The end goal for all of us is keeping a roof over our heads and putting food on the table. Your customers don’t need to know about it, nor do they care. They have their own needs to tend to.

They want what you are offering, but you have to make it worth their while, both financially, morally, as well as giving them an enjoyable experience they would recommend and hopefully repeat.

If a customer feels that you have gone out of your way to give them what they need – even if you actually haven’t – that creates a much more enjoyable experience.

With the uncertainty of lockdown, and cancelled holidays, like everyone else, we are wary of booking breaks this year. If the tier system returns, what happens if we are in lockdown? What happens if they are in lockdown? Can we move the dates or do we lose our money?

Our October 2020 jaunt to Cornwall was a non-starter, but the accommodation’s website made it clear that if your booking was affected by Covid, you could change the dates or receive a full refund, no questions or quibbles. That is the sort of peace of mind people need as we continue our uncertain journey and these are the stories businesses need to be telling.

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