Tips to Keep your Customers
In case you have not noticed it, the only thing your customer is thinking is, ‘How is this good for me?’ This is what that young mother in the detergent lane at the grocery store is asking herself while reading the new laundry detergent. This is what the young executive is thinking while looking at the interiors of a brand new SUV. This is what the professor is thinking as she scans the brochure printing for that Brazilian wax. Customers are only focused in one thing: ‘Me, Myself and I.
This goes without saying that your business should be able to deliver what the customers care about: himself or herself. You must be in the business your customers want you to be in because if you do not carry a product that gives them ultimate satisfaction, or if you don’t provide a service that thoroughly delighted them, they are going to take their needs and wants somewhere else.
What you want to do to keep these hard-to-please customers to give them an experience that, as Marlon Brandon in a very hoarse voice said in the Godfather, they will never forget. A positive and memorable customer-focused experience will set your business apart from the rest. In most cases, those little extra things that you provide like petals on your hotel bed, or a personalized warm welcome at the hotel lobby adds to the unique experience that most customers are looking for. In fact, studies have shown that customers will be willing to pay a little more when they feel that they are getting more than what they deserve.
Take the following examples
Does your staff greet your customers warmly as they walk in your shop? Does your staff walk customers to the door and open it for them as they’re leaving? Does your waiting staff pull the chairs for diners? Does your staff give special attention to children or pets while your customers shop? These are just some of the things that you can do to your customers with little or no financial impact to your business at all.
On the other hand, if even a small part of the experience is not to their liking, you will not only lose a customer but it also has the potential to spread like wildfire. If your employees are rude; if your customer’s handbag was snatched as she walks in your shop; if your toilets do not have toilet papers or are dirty; if your hotel does not have express check out – all these will impact on how your customers perceive your business. Remember that a small dot on a very clean sheet of paper is enough to taint the whole paper. That dot will be the first to get noticed and not the clean sheet. Believe you me.
The challenge now is how you can make it a delightful experience for your customers. First, you have to pay attention to what your customers say – good or bad. You can do this by observing your customers. From your vista, you would have an idea whether they had a delightful or terrible experience. For instance, note their comments about your serving time. If you are getting bad reviews about the waiting time, then by all means do something about it. If they comment on your brochure templates, change it. If you see your customers sweating or fanning themselves while eating al fresco, it might be a good idea to install cooling mists.
You must understand however, that you cannot please everyone. What is cold to some maybe too warm for others. This is the time when you should play everything by ear. You have to admit that there is no quick fix, no one solution. The challenge is for you to adapt to each of your customers. Always remember though that these little things will keep your customers from leaving you.
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