We were lucky to catch up with Risha Ferdinand recently and have shared our conversation below.

Risha, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Taking care of customers isn’t just good business – it is often one of the main reasons folks went into business in the first place. So, we’d love to get a conversation going around how to best help clients feel appreciated – maybe you can share something you’ve done or seen someone do that’s been really effective at helping a customer feel valued?

Customer experience is the number one revenue generating activity for any business. If a business fails at this, then they will fail to remain in business for a long period of time.

Customer appreciation goes beyond celebrating customers on a designated holiday or observance day. Customer appreciation starts with selling a solution to a problem they face. In so doing, you are displaying appreciation. I appreciate you enough to help you with a solution.

This then moves showing appreciation by making their experience in your storefront, e-commerce store and across social media channels be a great encounter. Show the customer you appreciate them enough to make things simple and easy for them.

Last but not least, show customer appreciation by delivering on your promise. A business promise differs from another, Some promises are fast shipping, durability, unbeatable prices and the list goes on. Appreciate your customer so much that you stay true to what you said you will do.

Unfortunately, businesses limit customer appreciation to a one time event by giving gifts and discounts liberally. Like in any relationship, do not appreciate me only one day of the year or one season of the year, Show me that you appreciate me 24/7. It is the little things that count.

Risha, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

As an E-commerce Marketing Specialist certified by Google & Digital Marketer, Marketing Analytics and Ads Professional through Meta and as a Klaviyo Partner, Risha Ferdinand has worked with retail brands across the globe, to accelerate their visibility, conversions and profits.

Leveraging the experience gained from her 12-year Accounting career, Risha works backwards to audit businesses’ financials, operations and processes to identify opportunities for growth and expansion. She then conceptualizes bespoke strategies that will surpass KPIs in defined periods.

Some of Risha’s clients are Sabrak Boutique with 5 locations spread between California and Nevada, Mc Ellis Brides located in Virginia, Taaru Majeure located in NY, Skin & Glory in the UK, among many others.

Due to her well thought-out and calculated strategies, some of her clients were recognized by major brands such as E-commerce World Awards, Prestige Awards, Meta, Amazon, Walmart, Target and Sephora.

Additionally, due to her clever writing abilities, Risha wrote compelling pitches on behalf of clients, who received the nod to partner with celebrities such as Tiffany Haddish, Tamera Mowry, Kierra Sheard as well as with the event organizer of the NY Fashion Week.

Despite living in Trinidad and Tobago, distance has not been a deterrent for her growth across the world. Risha found her way around, virtually, by positioning her brand to be seen by the right market. With this, she teaches, manages and consults numerous businesses on how to start, grow and maintain a sustainable retail business.

Risha’s experience ranges from developing organic marketing strategies for product-based businesses which includes market research, email and sms marketing, pitching, content creation along with offline marketing activities. In addition to organic marketing, Risha uses data analytics derived from organic activities to develop the paid advertising marketing strategies. Designing compelling product campaigns that yields hundreds of thousands of dollars, is an easy feat for Risha.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

A business can deliver exceptional service and a high quality product when its team is on board and shares in the vision. As the saying goes, happy staff gives happy work. So how do you even get happy staff?

It starts with having clear processes and systems in place for the staff to follow. Throwing the employee into the deep is unfair to the individual. As the CEO and/or Founder of a micro, small or medium sized business, you need to get to place where you record each task that you do. After you have done this, you then fine tune the tasks, give each task a name, identify the outcome of each task, the number of times each task ought to be performed and by whom.
That right there is how to go about creating standard operating procedures, commonly called SOPs.

Creating S.M.A.R.T key performance indicators for each role, shows the staff that you care about them. Expectations are managed and can be easily evaluated. The employee knows what is required of them.

Giving staff room to make decisions, use their creativity and take lead in various projects, is showing them that you trust them. You trust them to make mistakes and grow from it. You trust them to give their best.

If employees feel like they are restricted from growth, staff morale would be lowered as the sun sets.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Building a great reputation starts with integrity, transparency and respect, no matter what. Due to the rise in scammers and unethical business practices, I was forced to be transparent in everything I do. I am careful to show customers names and/or faces when I share a testimonial. As some would say, “show your receipts”.

I also record case studies for each client that I work with by documenting where they were before they met me, how the found me and where they are since they have worked with me. I share these case studies on all my owned media channels.

Apart from sharing my clients’ success stories, I share educational content in video and text form. I am brave to debunk myths with factual data. I show my authority by commenting on e-commerce news happening around the world.

These strategies have allowed me to build a great reputation within my market.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/sbmaltd
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rishaferdinand_sbmaltd/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/risha.ferdinand/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/risha-ferdinand/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrBpwUSbUQAdgdga6s-q3SA