Marketing Focus – How to delight your customers
Your customers are the best and worst promotional tool you have available to you.
Happy customers can become your advocates, spread the word about your company and give very powerful personal recommendations and referrals.
Unfortunately, unhappy customers are normally more vocal than happy ones and are likely to complain to many of their friends and family, giving you bad press. Now that social media allows every consumer a powerful and loud voice, it is even more important to make sure you delight your customers and give them a wonderful experience, no matter how big or small you are.
Here are some dos and don’ts for keeping clients happy:
- Do go the extra mile – This goes for all aspects of customer service which will see your customer responding with loyalty regardless of what your competition is up to. Wow your customers and leave them feeling satisfied about parting with their hard earned cash. As they say you can never add too much value for your customers.
- Do pay attention to detail – This (according to Sir Richard Branson) is the difference between a satisfactory experience and a great one. Paying attention to every detail will mean spotting problems before they arise and shows great care for the customer.
- Do listen to your employees – Happy, motivated, trained staff are key to a successful business and often it’s the employee who really gets to see all the small problems that arise day to day and deal directly with the customer. Listen to how they are getting on with things and make changes if necessary. Staff who feel like they are being listened to and have an influence in the company will be much more positive about delivering your company message.
- Don’t lose sight of your key objectives – Getting bogged down with details, or a busy workload as your business grows can sometimes mean you lose sight of the original key objectives that you set for your company and communicated to your client. Losing sight of what you’re trying to achieve for your clients means that standards will slip and customers will suffer.
- Don’t over commit – If a customer puts in a big order which you would love to fulfil but physically can’t, it’s better to find a way to politely decline and if possible give them some other options. By taking on a big order that you can’t really commit to will add unnecessary stress to your workload, and probably lose a big customer who has been waiting on his order. Potentially you could still gain future business from this customer when you are more equipped to deal with it just by being honest in the first place.
- Don’t lose that personal touch – No matter how big your company gets or how fast it grows, never lose touch with your customers. Even in a large company, the customer likes to know someone is there if they need you and remember people buy from people.
- Do deal with complaints quickly – negative feedback lingers around a lot longer than positive. If you receive a complaint, make sure it is dealt with quickly and effectively. Complaints can even be turned into a positive if they are resolved correctly and quickly, the customer may completely change their view of your company if this is done properly. Make sure all your staff no exactly how to deal with complaints.
- Under promise and over deliver