Inspire Your Customers
Have you ever had a customer experience so good you just had to tell others about it? More importantly,
do you have that affect on your customers?
You would like to think so because you know the power of word of mouth advertising. Research by Colmar
Brunton shows that when they have a particularly good experience, 69% of New Zealanders tell an average
of nine others with 55% recommending the company to their friends and associates. The story telling
makes a difference too. Last year, the London School of Economics found that companies having a lot
of people saying good things about them and very few saying bad things grew four times more quickly
than other companies.
You will not turn your customers into raving fans by giving them great customer service. Service is
what you do and what matters is how your customers feel about what you do. I recently heard a customer
ask an employee of a company I was working with what we were doing. After the staff member told him
she said, “Now what will be different for me as a customer after you have done all of these things?” What
a great question! What would your customers say is different for them because they do business with
you?
Not even setting out to satisfy your customers is enough. When you satisfy your customers, you simply
give them what they expect and that will not motivate them to sing your praises. Your target needs to
be to create such an outstanding experience for your customers they are inspired to tell others about
you. I think you’ll agree setting out to inspire your customers is a much bigger target than simply
aiming to satisfy them, and if you could achieve that target you would put yourself in a different league
from your competitors.
Here are four steps to providing an inspirational customer experience.
Step 1. Look sharp.
In a recent British survey, 92% of those interviewed said the appearance of the staff member affected
their perception of the customer service they got. I’m sure the same goes for the appearance
of your premises.
Walk into your business and try to see it through the eyes of a customer who has never been there
before. Is it neat and tidy? Is tired and run down or fresh and new? Are your staff well dressed? Overall,
do your premises and your staff present a professional image?
Step 2. Know your stuff.
I know a university student who got a part-time job at his local petrol station to give him some beer
money. A few weeks after he started, I asked him what he was doing. “Right now, while I don’t
know much, I’m serving customers,” he told me. “But the boss says that when I know
more I get to work out back.”
One hundred percent of your profits come from your customers. Why would you put them in the hands
of someone who someone who lacks product and company knowledge? Unfortunately it is very common. I am
flying across the Tasman with Freedom Air as I write this. When I booked online, I paid to have a certain
seat. Of course, when I got to the airport, they had no record of this. The Air New Zealand duty manager
could not understand my problem because she did not know you could pay to reserve a seat when you booked.
She had no knowledge of how their own online booking system worked. In the British survey I just mentioned,
49% of the respondents said that staff training was the best way to improve their service experience.
Step 3. Be friendly, enthusiastic and caring.
Thirty-six percent of those interviewed said that dealing with staff who were friendly, enthusiastic
and caring determined whether they had a great customer experience. Watch your staff when they interact
with your customers. Do they greet people with a smile when they walk into your business? Do they seem
to be enjoying their job? Do they treat the customer as if having a customer is a privilege? If they
do not, remind them 100% of your revenue, and therefore the money to pay their salary, comes from your
customers. Do they behave as if they care whether the customer has a great experience? Do they aim
to make the customer successful or just to serve them?
Step 4. Go the extra mile
As I said earlier, to inspire people you have to do more than what they expect. Look for opportunities
to delight your customers by solving problems they would just love you to solve but cannot reasonably
expect that you will. When you do, you will knock their socks off and they will just have to tell others
about their great experience.
I like to tell the story about the taxi I took from the Toronto airport in Canada . The driver offered
me three daily newspapers to read on the 45 minute trip in to the city and asked me what kind of music
I would like to listen to on the radio. Then he offered me something to drink. “Would you like
a cup of tea or coffee, sir?”
Coffee, please.
“Regular of decaffeinated?”
Regular, please.
“Black or white?”
White, please.
“Milk or cream?”
Milk, please and no, I don’t take sugar.
I had to pour the coffee myself because he was doing 120 kph down a 14 lane freeway but he certainly
went the extra mile in terms of providing a great taxi ride.
If you want to be seen as different from your competitors rather than just better, use these four
steps to create an exceptional experience for your customers. If you do, they will come back and buy
more. Most importantly, they be will inspired to tell others about you. And that is the best way to
grow your business.
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