Marketing is, fundamentally, a discipline about a relationship. A symbiotic relationship between you and your customer. A relationship between two people. One who creates a profit and one who creates an expense for your business. Each person is essential to what the other needs from the relationship. So why do we do things that compromise rather than realize the potential of our business relationships? I'll share some thoughts -- and useful questions -- on that very issue in this article.
My inspiration for this month's article is Bruce Temkin. I just read an outstanding special report he wrote on this topic. It's called: The 6 Laws of Customer Experience. My advice . . . download it, devour it, embrace it. It's good stuff!
His message is inanely simple, full of common sense and difficult to challenge. But his message appears to be forgotten or ignored by a growing number of business owners lately. That saddens me because no business exists unless its customers want it to exist.
In challenging times, we should each be doing everything we can to attract and retain customers. Nothing less. So here's my thinking on what Bruce shared in his report.
I'm using Bruce's article as a starting point, adding in some comments and questions of my own which I hope you find useful for building better relationships with your customers.
1. Every Interaction Creates a Personal Reaction
Years ago I recall Jan Carlson, President of SAS calling these 'Moments-of-Truth'. Whether it's the way you answer your phone or acknowledge a customer's contribution to your bottom line . . . every contact . . . matters. Every contact draws your customer closer to you or it pushes your customer further away from you. In the end, the quality of your relationship with your customer reflects the cumulative 'score' of all the interactions you have together.
Q:
Are you making your marketing truly personal for each customer and every touchpoint or moment-of-truth?
Q:
Are you segmenting your customers so you can tailor their experience with you and cement their loyalty to you, as well?
Q:
Financial metrics are good for your financial advisor but are you also measuring the experience that attracts and keeps relationships with customers alive and well?
Q:
Are your employees empowered and encouraged to manage the interactions with customers so they'll be happy to spend their money with your business?
2. People are Instinctively Self-Centered
Maybe 'centered' isn't an accurate connotation. Aware. Self-AWARE is better. But the more we focus on ourselves, the less we see others perspective. It works both ways!
Q:
Are you taking the time and trouble to see your customer's point-of-view as it reflects their experience with your business?
Q:
Have you identified each 'moment-of-truth' your customer has with your business and taken steps to ensure they will be positive rather than something less desirable?
Q:
If asked, would your customers say your business was organized primarily for your convenience or theirs? Is that what you want?
3. Customer Familiarity Breeds Alignment
It's a fact that Fred Reicheld (The Loyalty Effect) noted years ago -- the better you know your customer, the easier it is to respond to their needs and create experiences that attract new ones and retain old ones. Writers know that to write well they must write to a (single!) reader. Hopefully, one they truly understand. Ideally, your staff performs well with customers for the same reason.
Q:
Does your business adapt to produce the experience your customer wants or, are you asking your customer to adapt to you for your convenience?Q:
Do you have a mechanism for routinely sharing with your employees what anyone is learning 'works' for your customers . . . i.e. the 'winning' experiences . . . so everyone can leverage the lessons and successes of anyone else in your company?
Q:
If your customer is ever unhappy, do you honestly understand your customer's position well enough to know if the conflict reflects a misalignment on your part or the customer's?
4. Unengaged Employees Don't Create Engaged Customers
My friend, JoAnna Brandi, President of JoAnna Brandi & Company teaches her clients that happy employees create happy customers. When your employees feel you respect and regard them, they feel good about themselves. When they feel good about themselves, they become your best ambassadors of goodwill. So the key to having happy customers is to make sure your employees are too . . . first!
Q:
Do you have a plan to train your employees to turn their moments-of-truth with a customer into a moment-of-majesty . . . consistently and conscientiously?
Q:
Are you making it easy for your employees to create a WOW experience at every touchpoint they have with a customer?
Q:
Are you keeping your employees aware of how your business and your customers are doing by one another? Are these lessons being shared so all can profit by them?
Q:
Do you have -- and use -- a system for measuring and rewarding customer experiences that make them happy to spend their time and money . . . with your business?
5. Employees Do What Is Measured, Incented and Celebrated
Performance . . . comes from two things: 'Can Do' and 'Want To'. Skill and motivation. If you want your performers to perform so your customer is thrilled it's YOUR responsibility to see that a 'great' performance is documented, communicated, trained, supervised and rewarded. If not, it won't happen as often as you like or as well as you want.
Q:
Does your employee training address what it takes to create an engaged customer?
Q:
Have you clearly communicated what your employee must do (and, how well!) to create an engaged customer for your business?
Q:
Are you creating, by your management, an environment that consistently recognizes, measures and rewards the kind of customer experience you want or, not?
6. You Can't Fake It
I love to say, "What you DO speaks so loudly I can't hear what you SAY". Both your customers and employees learn more from your behavior than anything else you do with them. Whatever you recognize and reward or ignore and tolerate is the message they're getting from you . . . every time. Good or bad, that is the way it goes!
Q:
When it comes to making your customer happy, what is your #1 priority or focus? If your front-line employees were surveyed, would they know it, too? Would they agree?
Q:
If poorly conceived and executed initiatives communicate you're not serious about something, do your employees have evidence that you're serious about success?
A Final Thought
There's a saying, "The same wind blows some ships east and others west. It's not the wind but the set of the sail that makes all the difference". Today's economy is like the wind. We can't control it. But we can choose to use it. The current economy is like a strong storm. It makes boats go farther and faster than normal. It also makes them get into trouble faster and easier! In this economy, some businesses will succeed and others fail. It's my hope that addressing the questions I've posed here will help you be one of the winners when this storm blows over.
Bill Doerr, CCO of SellMore Marketing, LLC is the creator of The Preferral Prospecting System™ and The Ultimate Client Development System™. He is an Authorized Duct Tape Marketing Coach and a licensed facilitator of Get Clients NOW!. Bill works with service providers to generate awareness, interest and response for their expertise. You can reach Bill by phone at: 860-798-6964, online at: www.sellmoremarketing.com, by email at: billd@sellmoremarketing.com or through the TNNW Blog: thenationalnetworker.blogspot.com
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2 comments:
"What you DO speaks so loudly I can't hear what you SAY" I especially love how you interpret this to mean that mycustomer is carefully watching what I do.
One example for me is that I feel getting back to people right away sends a really strong message that your care. Sometimes I get the feeling that I'm in a chat room because the emails with my clients are flying back and forth as soon as they reached out.
I feel that keeping people waiting several days is insulting and I know I judge businesses on their ability to quickly communicate with me.
Christine, thank you for your comments. Glad something said resonated in you as truth.
I sense that your clients are very lucky to work with you because you are so attentive the their experience of and with you.
In this nano-speed, online world our response-ability is critical. Great insights you've shared. Thank you again!
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