{"id":42314,"date":"2023-10-20T15:20:18","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/how-naomi-simson-got-her-first-customer-and-grew-redballoon-from-a-struggling-startup-to-a-booming-business-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:20:18","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:20:18","slug":"how-naomi-simson-got-her-first-customer-and-grew-redballoon-from-a-struggling-startup-to-a-booming-business-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/how-naomi-simson-got-her-first-customer-and-grew-redballoon-from-a-struggling-startup-to-a-booming-business-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"How Naomi Simson got her first customer and grew RedBalloon from a struggling startup to a booming business – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"RedBalloon<\/div>\n

More than 15 years ago Naomi Simson launched a tiny online business selling experiences.<\/p>\n

Speaking at Zendesk\u2019s Relate Live conference in Sydney, the Shark Tank<\/em> judge says it took exactly two months and four days before her startup, RedBalloon, even had a customer.<\/p>\n

Simson took it upon herself to call every user, but when she rang her first customer, he was confused – he didn’t even realise he had purchased a product from RedBalloon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018hi, I\u2019m Naomi Simson and I\u2019m the chief experience officer and we like to talk to all of our customers about their experience’,\u201d Simsons says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a time, when nobody even trusted the internet.”<\/p>\n

When she asked what he thought of the website she was told it was \u201ccrap\u201d.<\/p>\n

A while later, another caller asked to speak with the \u201ccomplaints department\u201d.<\/p>\n

Starting conversations<\/h3>\n

Being the only employee of RedBalloon at the time, instead of being disheartened Simson took it as an opportunity to start a conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve never had a complaint before,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about how you listen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every complaint and interaction with a customer since has been an opportunity for the business to grow and improve, Simson says, with these conversations offering an opportunity to create or strengthen a relationship.<\/p>\n

This approach has helped RedBalloon go from a struggling startup to a booming company that has sold 300 experiences a year to more than 3.5 million customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe number one way people found out about RedBalloon was they were given one,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t grow our business through advertising, we grew our business through conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n

When you make a customer promise, keep it<\/h3>\n

Simson recalls an episode of Shark Tank<\/em> in which a small business selling dog food walked in with a promise: \u201cIt\u2019s so good you could eat it\u201d.<\/p>\n

As a business leader who lives by the principle of making and keeping customer promises, Simson walked up and tried to do just that, only to be told by the founder that they wouldn\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n

She says this highlights an important lesson for startups and new business owners: When you make a promise to a customer, keep it.<\/p>\n

This is crucial for building a brand that people can trust and find authentic, honest and transparent, Simson says.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s how Simson started, when she opened RedBalloon as the self-titled chief experience officer or \u201cCEO\u201d of her new company.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was always going to be accountable,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

StartupSmart attended the Relate Live Sydney conference as a guest of Zendesk.<\/em><\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook,<\/em> Twitter, <\/em>LinkedIn <\/em>and <\/em>SoundCloud.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 15 years ago Naomi Simson launched a tiny online business selling experiences. Speaking at Zendesk\u2019s Relate Live conference<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42314"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}