Hey there!

Welcome to our new blog, "Very Carrie".

Our intention is to post on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  

Our topics will be geared towards those in the dermatology industry, beauty pros, including hair, nails, skin, barbering and lash professionals. Anyone is welcome to come, read, use our tips that serve you, etc. Whether you're a business owner, medical professional, retailer, or just starting out, we've got your back on strategies that can help you become the industry "game-changer" you know you're meant to be. 

If you've got a question, please submit it.  If you'd like to be a Guest Writer for us, please click on the image in the blog border to your right.

​Have an amazing day!

Repeat business by existing customers is essential to keeping your business thriving.  It is easy to see "shiny new objects" in the form of a larger account, but your current customer base, regardless how small, is how you grow your business.

If you are a service-based business, follow up with your customer after a sale or project is completed, is a must. A “thank you phone call to find out if he or she is pleased with your product or service will prove that your business always keeps the customer in mind.

Newsletters are a great tool to keep your customers informed of what you are doing for them.  The point is to let your customers know what you have done and are doing; keep them intrigues.  What steps have you taken to you go above and beyond in customer experience/service?

Handwritten notes are a nice personal touch to let them know you were thinking about them because you just got XYZ in the store or that their name popped in your mind and you wanted to reach out.  Keeping them in the loop of knowing they are still valued will go a long way in possibly enticing them to purchase from you again soon.  The same goes if you were to bump into an old customer somewhere.  Follow up with a handwritten note to tell them how nice it was to see them.
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Everyone always likes to be remembered on their special day whether it is a birthday, anniversary, or even the holidays. It doesn’t have to be extravagant or expensive, just small tokens of appreciation.

If you are reading an article or see something you remembered a customer wanted or was looking for, drop them a line to let them you what you found.  This little touch shows you were in tune during your conversation and cared about their search.
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As you can see, there are many ways to stay in constant contact with your existing customers. The ideas listed are just a few ways you are able to stay connected, but with a little imagination, you will find even more ways to maintain your lasting relationship with your clients or customers.

This is where we come in. With our customized business-building workshops and creative strategic plans, we help you stand out, turn your customers into loyal fans, and make more money.  Use this form If you would like to schedule a time to speak with Carrie on how she can increase your bottom-line by redefining your visibility and up-leveling the value-added Customer Experience you provide.

Don't forget to check out our FREE Checklist for the Ways to Boost Your Revenue

This day comes and goes year after year with most not even knowing about it.

It's an important day to make a small difference in someone's life.  A smile, a wave, help them find something on the grocery store shelf, pay for the coffee of the person in line behind you, or help them carry something.  I live my life by the Golden Rule; today, the kids don't know what that is.  Use today as a day of learning, or how to pay it forward.  As they say, you never know what someone is going thru.  I also like to state that you don't know who lost an argument with a three-year-old that morning!

(Note:  Client/Patient/Customer are used interchangeably.) 
​Correlations between social science and medicine have been able to demonstrate more positive health outcomes between personal and mental health.  Compassionate acts of kindness, satisfaction in the health care system, and job satisfaction among medical providers all steer toward research showing how your body can react during such occasions.  For example, the immune system is capable of making you stronger when faced with an infectious disease or virus and how much pain your body feels.  These findings are important to health care providers and practitioners for many reasons. 

Dr. Monica Worline, an organizational psychologist who is an affiliate faculty member at the Center for Positive Organizations at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, reviewed dozens of data and studies from researchers which shed light on the connection between kindness and healing. Worline hopes the gathering of this research will change the belief that kindness, which may be looked at as a “fuzzy and nice” idea, actually has a physiological and neurological foundation for the next step in the patient satisfaction movement.  There will be something to show for it, “opening up space in the healthcare system and getting people to listen.”​

By the year 2020, healthcare will be patient-driven.  Some of these factors contribute to the damaging results among practitioners.  Some of the studies found these negative working conditions are traced to the deflation of compassionate care and kindness in social surroundings.  Furthermore, a survey taken from Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare found that both patients and physicians understand how critical compassionate care is for a successful medical treatment and both groups realize that it is lacking in the current systems. 

According to Worline, this type of evidence within a single source is very important to highlight so that it is justified on why this topic is critical.  It will show both the statistical and physiological evidence of what has been lacking in the past. 

This is where we come in. With our customized business-building workshops and creative strategic plans, we help you stand out, turn your customers into loyal fans, and make more money.  Use this form If you would like to schedule a time to speak with Carrie on how she can increase your bottom-line by redefining your visibility and up-leveling the value-added Customer Experience you provide.

Don't forget to check out our FREE Checklist for the Ways to Boost Your Revenue

​From a very young age we are taught the Golden Rule of “treat others as you would want to be treated.” And from this rule we have gotten through life making friends, getting along with coworkers, and just being able to make the barista making your morning latte smile. But, why does it seem to not apply in the business world? Why is treating someone with respect, grace, and professionalism at work only a fleeting thought? Isn't the golden rule really ethics in disguise?  Yeah, we all know someone who pushes the envelope when it comes to ethics, but, when it comes to the bottom-line, it's all ethics...in the form of success.

Want loyal customers...how about referrals from those you do have...then all you have to do is treat your customers right. If providing an amazing customer experience is your goal to ROI, think about have you treat your employees.  Do you treat them fairly? Do you train and guide them on the company credo for CX and handling concerns? If so, congratulations!  What your employees say and do will make a difference that is noticed.  According to an article in Fast Company, "treating your workers well will lead to excellence and result in increased profits; and likewise, companies who are loyalty leaders will have a compound annual growth rate that is more than twice of their competitors."

It is a competitive world today and many companies have started and failed at an alarming rate.  Some companies try to use CX in a department or two, but that's not the right solution.  The entire company needs to be on board, in agreement with the plan, and trained on every aspect of the plan.  It's the same as the old rotten apple analogy.  One can ruin the whole barrel. See how you can implement it into your business strategy and operations for yourself.

Build your reputation – Reputation is everything! It's the most important thing you have in your business.  It's so much more difficult to re-build a rep than people think.  It may be easier to step over others to climb the corporate ladder, but treating everyone from your employees to your vendors, will pay off significantly in the long run and preserve your reputation.

Improve the customer experience – What’s the secret to a loyal customer? Putting yourself in their shoes.  As Henry Ford once said, “If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.”   If your customers are not being treated well, they will be more likely to speak up and it will be a costly reminder when they don’t return.

Leading a satisfied workforce -  How you treat your employees is how they in turn will treat your customers.  In fact, your employees should be treated like VIPs.  They can make or break your efforts and your business. When your employees are happy, your customers are happy...it's that simple.  All the more reason to employ this rule into every aspect of your company. There could be a better way to increase your business through actual marketing, but why do that when you can have your happy employees doing it for you?

This is where we come in. With our customized business-building workshops and creative strategic plans, we help you stand out, turn your customers into loyal fans, and make more money.  Use this form If you would like to schedule a time to speak with Carrie on how she can increase your bottom-line by redefining your visibility and up-leveling the value-added Customer Experience you provide.

Don't forget to check out our FREE Checklist for the Ways to Boost Your Revenue