Customer service in today's marketplace is at an all-time low. That means that it is relatively easy to meet customer expectations! If you merely meet a customer’s expectations, that customer can easily be stolen. To build loyal long-term customers, you must consistently exceed expectations and astonish customers by going above and beyond. A raving fan is someone who is so impressed and excited about their experience with you that they can't wait to tell others about you and your products. They become your sales force!
The foundation for customer loyalty is consistency. Consistency is created by adherence to a great system. You team will follow the system when there is great training and accountability. If your currently have customer service challenges, begin by creating and following a great system.
The next piece of creating customer loyalty is making it easy for you customer to buy. This is a simple, but not easy process! Observe your customer’s buying experience, beginning to end. Which moments make it easy for them to buy from you, and which moments are difficult. Remove the barriers and frustrations from your buying process. It’s all about flow and comfort.
Once you have these basics in place, it is time to add creative fun ways to exceed customer expectations. This is when the satisfied customer is transformed into a raving fan. It happens at critical moments when you create a WOW experience. The customer is literally astonished with a surprise. This is a critical non-essential. It is above and beyond the basic delivery of the product and service. It is critical because it is what will keep people talking about you and your business. WOW experiences clearly demonstrate that you truly care.
A final caution about WOW surprises. Before you go above and beyond, it is essential to first provide great consistent service and make it easy to buy from you. This consistency provides comfort and security for customers. They know what to expect and know they can depend on you and trust you. In that context of comfort, then you can add that extra special WOW, and you will have loyal raving fans that will return to your business and bring others with them.
Consistency. Easy to buy. Wow! Go create it!!
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