Our business is all about people. We have two groups that influence our delivery, the business mentors, and small business owners looking to grow their business. Mentors provide the time and knowledge free of charge, and that’s what makes them so valuable. They have no emotional or financial investment in the business that Business Mentors New Zealand (BMNZ) introduces them to, allowing mentors to give impartial advice. Clients apply to the mentoring service for a range of reasons. Usually, they need help, or they want a different perspective on how to be a better businessperson and improve the business that they have responsibility for.
BMNZ is a national service with 14 agencies from Northland to Southland. Any modern business relies heavily on its website, and BMNZ is no exception. Our website was a decade old and needed replacing for a range of very good reasons. Since the original site was created, the use of smart devices and tablets has increased to the point that now more Google searches take place on mobile devices than on computers - our old site was not optimised in any way to function on a mobile device.
I’ve also been observing the ever-changing landscape of SEO, paid media interaction, content management and a term that I have heard increasingly about: inbound marketing.
We spent some time shopping around to find the right balance of skills and cost, and we were introduced to an Auckland based agency Done by Friday (DBF) who came highly recommended. At our first meeting, the agency Director, Boyd Wason, referenced the customer loyalty loop in his presentation and brought the various stages of our customer engagement journey to life with such enthusiasm that we were hooked.
The development journey with DBF has been inspirational, giving us insight into how our online and human interaction can work best. An additional benefit of their service was the website itself being built on the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform HubSpot. Our business has thousands of interactions every year and being able to track and manage those effectively with a small team will make all the difference to our future business performance and sustainability.
One of our key metrics is the Customer Monitor, a survey on whether or not your client deems you worthy of referral. We enjoy a very high +46 rating presently but can improve on this. It’s the few clients that get missed, go under the radar who are not satisfied in some way that will bring this rating down. Often a small interaction and added attention to their needs are all it takes to improve their experience with our service. HubSpot as a tool and DBF as our technicians will be the perfect partners to ensure our website not only looks great but performs as it should.
We look forward to the journey and partnership ahead for the benefit of our mentors and our clients alike.