People Don't Care How Much You Know Until they Know How Much You Care- Paige Arnof-Fenn

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Kevin Price, Host of the Price of Business on Business Talk 1110 AM KTEK (on Bloomberg’s home in Houston) recently interviewed Paige Arnof-Fenn.

About the interviewee

Paige Arnof-Fenn is the founder & CEO of Mavens & Moguls, a global marketing firm based in Cambridge, MA. Paige started her marketing career at Procter & Gamble and Coca-Cola and was the head of marketing at 3 successful startup companies before starting her own firm 13 years ago. Paige is a popular speaker and writer and has written monthly columns for both Entrepreneur and Forbes. She serves on several boards and currently chairs the board of trustees at the Sports Museum at the Boston Garden, she is the past chair of the Alumni Board at Stanford University and serves on 3 boards at Harvard chairing one. She received a degree in economics from Stanford University and got her MBA at Harvard Business School.

Tell me about your firm (number of employees, location, type of companies you work with, etc.).

Mavens & Moguls brings together world-class marketing talent to help clients on either a project or retainer basis solve problems across all areas of marketing including branding, public relations, market research, social media, web design & development, copywriting and all of their marketing needs. We have 4 dozen seasoned marketers located in 14 cities across the US as well as major metro markets overseas. Our clients range from early stage venture-backed startups to nonprofits to Fortune 500 firms and we have helped Virgin, Microsoft, Colgate, The New York Times and Constant Contact just to name a few. We are based in the Boston area but have worked with clients all over the world. We are passionate about marketing.

Tell us about what it means to you to “put customers first”?

In professional services like marketing consulting, our story is our clients’ story, our success is their success. Our goal is not to win awards and accolades for our work, we are happy when we build our clients’ business so that they see marketing as an investment in their brand not an expense. If they can sell more of their products and services as a result of our advice and help then we have done a great job. When we put our customers’ needs first, everybody wins. We believe in the power of marketing, our tag line after all is “because marketing matters.” Most of our work comes by repeat business, referrals from happy clients and word of mouth and that is a result of putting their needs first.

What mistake do businesses make when it comes to taking care of customers?

One mistake I have seen over the years is that businesses can forget they are in the customer service and people business. Do not just contact people about work, reach out to them as a human being to say hello, wish them a happy trip, tell them about a new restaurant or store, etc. That way when you call or your name pops up in their inbox they do not avoid you or assume you are asking them for something or trying to get paid. You become a trusted advisor, friend and resource, not just another vendor. Business is personal and people like to do business with people they like, trust and respect. Become that likable person who they think of first when they have a problem you can help them solve.

What is your firm doing to demonstrate your beliefs in this principle?

I am constantly picking up the phone to check in or sending along articles and recommendations I think people will enjoy and appreciate. It is amazing how happy people are to hear from you when you are not always calling to ask for favors or work. They will tell you about something they did as a result of your previous conversation and genuinely thank you for bringing it to their attention. Sometimes I make introductions to people I think they will enjoy knowing and they end up with a new client or colleague. Always give with no strings attached, you end up getting so much more back in return!

Contact information:

Www.MavensAndMoguls.com