Very often I get asked: “What can I do to improve my business? The economy isn’t good. I have lost customers. It’s more difficult to find new prospects, customers or clients.” While all of this is a harsh reality for many businesses it is not for many others.

How come? There are many reasons. Maybe the business you are running is in a good market niche. Maybe some of your competition has gone out of business thus bringing more business to you. These are notable but they are all circumstantial. In other words, fate has put some businesses in a good position regardless of the economic situation.

When studying small business growth or success the ones that seem to do well or have the ability to survive, regardless of the economic situation, have one thing in common. They all demonstrate “positive deviance.”

What is positive deviance? In this case it is those things that the successful business is doing that the competitors are either not doing or do very little of .

The best example I have seen of positive deviance are the small businesses that offer not just good, but exceptional customer service. To have small business growth exceptional customer service is a reality, not just a slogan.

Think about it. Would you rather ride in coach or first class? Most people would rather ride in first class. And, these successful small businesses make customers and clients feel like first class passengers on their airline.

A second attribute of positive deviance is tied to exceptional customer service. These businesses also practice and have a plan for customer retention and more importantly, stay in touch with the customer after the sale. In short they build deeper relationships that go beyond the transactional relationship of actually doing business. These businesses are adding value to the relationship.

Examples of adding value, which are part of a good marketing business plan, would be a regular newsletter, personal notes or a follow up phone call from time to time to monitor the customer’s experience with your product or service.

The result of providing exceptional customer service and staying touch with the customers or clients is that by adding value you can start turning them into advocates for your business. They become your sales force.

And, I have seen it work over and over again. Virtually every small business that wants to grow, whether it is in a bad economy or a good one, must demonstrate positive deviance in relationship building. Exceptional customer service and adding value by staying in touch are two of the cornerstones that will bring you success.

Success in this case is that you will be able to run your business by referral. Depending on your business this will enable you to slash or eliminate your outside advertising. The cost savings to running your business by referral are huge. And, when you run your small business by referral, it elevates you and your business. The focus becomes excellence in doing business, not just doing business.

If your business isn’t doing well right now, exceptional customer service and relationship building will help and may give you some short term benefit. A more successful performance strategy is to take the long view.

Start implementing things or processes immediately that will allow you to excel. When you keep this focus you will over time build a business that is virtually recession proof.
Growing small business is full of ups and downs. But, when you run your business by referral the downs are much shallower and the ups are much higher. Now that’s a positive deviance worth pursuing.