Small Talk Big Results - Community Kick-off
Channel Talk
- Business Insights
Small Talk Big Results
From Small Talk - Starting the conversation
Of the many conversations that go on in the business world, there’s one subject that gets very little spotlight — customers.
Despite being a prominent part of our modern world — with more than 2.64 billion digital buyers across the globe — conversations around customers, customer experience, or customer engagement is pretty much non-existent between online businesses.
And it’s not surprising.
If you think about it, ‘customers’ isn’t exactly the hottest topic to talk about. Behind talks of money, performance reviews, and office gossip, the topic of ‘customers’ honestly looks like the vegan dish at an all-you-can-eat meat buffet.
But it’s a much more important topic than people give it credit for.
We’ve seen online businesses fail, time and time again, and many times they end up without little to no insight as to where things went wrong. Yet, the one place where they should be looking for answers — their own customers — is the most neglected and ignored.
We felt that this issue needed to be addressed.
More businesses needed to talk about customers, their experiences with them, their solutions to some of the most complicated customer related problems, and to provide support to one another.
But as there aren’t many spaces to share these experiences, ideas and solutions, we felt it made sense for Channel Talk to take the first steps to starting a community, where members could come together to discuss these things.
This was how our community, ‘Small Talk, Big Results’ began.
The kick-off - Do people care about being customer-driven?
Channel Talk is all about the customer-driven culture. We know from experience, how important it is to interact, be close to, and understand customers, and to base our most important business decisions off of the insight we gain from conversations we’re having with them.
But the big question was — do others feel the same way?
We invited a handful of talented and young startup entrepreneurs to dinner, in order to find out what value they could gain from joining a community like this, and whether creating a community based around the topic of ‘customers’ was plausible.
At the beginning of the event, the members slowly made their way into our offices and exchanged awkward smiles, solemn waves and nervous handshakes, while our team exchanged worried glances that we might have made a mistake.
But as the night continued and to our genuine surprise, the group began to flourish. Conversations were sprouting left and right, people were laughing and having a good time, and most importantly, people were learning from each other.
Members were introducing their businesses, sharing their visions for the future of their brands, talking about personal experiences, and providing valuable feedback and recommendations to each other — ultimately making the night a huge success.
To Big Results - The lessons learned
After a long night of socializing and networking, there were a few key takeaways from this event that really opened our eyes to things we didn’t notice before.
1) Members wanted to benchmark and were looking for guidance.
Our community members wanted to benchmark their experiences. It’s impossible to know if you’re on the right path, if you don’t know whether what you’re going through is normal, or out of the ordinary.
Many of them wanted to find out if others were going through what they were going through, and wanted get recommendations from people that might have already have some of the answers.
This community provided a space for them to get those answers, and to gain new mentors that could help them with their unique problems.
2) Members were looking for ways to build rapport with their customers.
Buying something online — especially items that require more consideration from customers before purchase — requires a lot of trust.
Our members were looking for ways to get customers to trust their brand, especially when they were introducing a new product into a new market.
Many businesses entering a new market tend to struggle, due to a lack of understanding of market dynamics and common practices, or simply due to cultural differences.
The community provided a space where these concerns could be shared, and where some of the other more experienced members could provide insight.
3) Members were desperate for feedback and wanting to find their product market fit.
Many businesses don’t realize how painfully difficult it is to find customers that are willing to give feedback about their products. Most customers don’t care enough to share their honest opinions.
This is why it’s so difficult for companies to figure out what they need to do to grow and expand their business into bigger markets.
Businesses need genuine customer feedback to figure out their product market fit, feasibility of their business model, and what they need they to improve about their product.
Our community provided a space where members could ask each other for genuine and honest feedback, and to get recommendations on how they can get better responses from their customers. They could test their theories, ask for recommendations and further improve their products.
What’s Next? - A customer-driven movement
The night ended with new friendships, new opportunities, and a new support network that members could reach out to for help. Everyone left with the reassurance that they were not alone.
It was clear after the kick-off dinner that our ‘Small Talk, Big Results’ community was a much needed space, and Channel Talk has made the decision to launch the community website to find others that want join in on the conversation.
Through this community, we want to start a customer-driven movement that will encourage more discourse around customers and to help other businesses grow and learn from each other through these discussions.
If you’re an online business owner, a working member of a startup or e-commerce, or just someone who believes they can add value — reach out to us and join the other smart and talented members of our community! Special thanks to:
and others, for participating and making the night memorable!