Many businesses spend much of their time trying to figure out ways to satisfy their customers. Businesses will come up with new amenities, programs, services or products hoping to attract more customers and make their existing customers happy. Sounds good right? Actually it is not enough and let me tell you why.
I conduct numerous round table and focus group discussions for many of my coaching clients with their customers to help gain and receive valuable feedback. You should be doing the same. (Contact me if you need help with this.) My focus group feedback sessions with customers are much more effective and valuable than just handing out evaluation forms or surveys. My goal is to help my clients gain valuable insight on service, products, policies, how easy is it to do business, as well as employee and management engagement. I ask various questions regarding their entire experience, not just service, with my client’s business to find out what is going well and to identify areas of improvement.
The feedback I receive is GOLD! Much of it is used to improve, gain important insight, incorporate needed training or review existing policies and find reasons why customers are willing or not to return, tell others as well as to confirm what they like that is working. Again, a must for EVERY business.
I thought it would be interesting to share a couple of key common findings with you to help you in your business. Please keep in mind, every business is different and that is why I recommend you should obtain feedback the same way with your customers.
Here is a summery of what many customers and clients, in numerous industries, have recently told me. It may surprise you:
- Service is so awful that many expect to be abused. Cold food, long waits, dirty public restrooms, rejected parts, lost orders, lazy unfriendly staff, not caring, no sense of urgency, unprofessional is the norm.
- As long as the abuse isn’t any worse than they expected they will probably be back for more.
- They are satisfied by “no worse than the competition”.
I guess the questions to ask you are;
1. Do your customers just tolerate you, your products, services and staff? 2. Are they just satisfied because their expectations are so low from how they have been treated while doing business with you? 3. Are you no different then your competition?
The assumption of most businesses is that with proper advertising and promotions, products and services can be sold to naive buyers. These are all important but when all is said and done, goods and services aren’t sold: customers need a reason to buy. Today, customers are more informed and smarter than ever before. It is becoming more and more difficult to just trick them into buying. This is certainly a short term strategy. You have to think longer term to build customer loyalty for life. That is how the investment in your marketing efforts will pay off.
Keeping good customers and building loyalty is all about providing customers an experience that is memorable and rewarding. As you can see from the feedback , many customers will tolerate you for a short while before they move on to your competition. Providing new amenities, services, products and choices won’t necessarily keep them coming.
Stop assuming and blaming the economy, price, coupons and discounting by your competition as reasons why your customers leave, business is slow or why you are not getting any referrals. When was the last time you sat down with your existing customers and had a “heart to heart” talk with them about their experience? Don’t you want to know what is working and not working in your business? You can no longer assume you know.
If you need help with implementing your own customized customer feedback program or would like me to do it for you, please contact me. I promise you the insight and information you will receive will be extremely valuable and helpful to attract more customers, keep the ones you have, make more money and achieve success. Now wouldn’t that be MAGICAL! Don’t wait! Contact me today!
Always Wishing You Magical Success!