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It’s Only Common Sense: Your Customer is Job #1

A survey I read recently noted that 76% of the companies polled admitted that it is now easier than ever to switch vendors. Yikes! And I believe it.

I know that our own industry has become very dynamic. Now, more than ever, our customers are open to making changes. The bad news is that this puts us in jeopardy of losing our customers; the good news is that it gives all of us the opportunity to attract and gain new customers as well. It’s the Wild West out there when it comes to customer acquisition.

So, after mulling this over for a while, I did what I always do when I am faced with a business challenge: I did some research on the best way to keep the customers we have and attract new ones.

I found several great books on this subject by Shep Hyken, one of my favorite business authors about providing customer service and beyond. The Cult of the Customer: Create an Amazing Customer Experience that Turns Satisfied Customers into Customer Evangelists is especially relevant for this topic. It’s a great read for those of you who are truly dedicated to increasing your commitment to customer acquisition, customer retention, and customer loyalty.

Hyken spends a great deal of time helping you to focus on things like defining your company, deciding exactly what business you’re in, who your customer is, and what she wants.

Here is a checklist he provides of what true “cult of the customer” companies do to make sure that great customer service is always at the forefront of everything these companies do.

• The organization has created a simple and clear vision, a brand promise or mantra
• All employees understand and can repeat the mantra
• The company is hiring right, promoting right, and training right
• Employee training is not an afterthought, and it does not focus solely on product or service details. Training in the soft skills is included, and a separate and comprehensive training regimen focuses on fulfilling the brand promise to customers
• The organization continuously assesses itself by surveying employees and customers
• Everyone wants to improve; business as usual is not good enough
• Members of the company commit to improving the experience for employees as well as the customers
• The organization is moving toward being customer-focused, rather than operations-focused
• Both employees and customers know where they are supposed to be focused
• Both employees and customers like where they are supposed to be going

 And allow me to add a few of my own:

• Employee care is as important as customer care. What you invest in your employees will come back tenfold when it comes to the way they treat your customers.
• Look for successes to exemplify that what you are doing is working. And if you really are doing it right you will have successes to celebrate. Remember the old saw that says “success begets success” is true. After winning enough, companies start thinking and acting like winners.
• Cherish the customer compliments. If you do an excellent job of servicing—delighting—your customers, they will come back at you with compliments. Make a big deal of these compliments as they stand for a true, tangible evidence of you delighting your customers.
• Create what Hyken calls “magic moments,” defined as “any positive contact with the organization that a customer or employee experiences. At its best a moment of magic is amazing.” It represents walking or running that extra mile to make sure that the customer is delighted at what you have done for him.
• Find underwhelmed customers and wow them. This can apply to your customers or someone else’s customers. You can always be certain that if a potential customer has agreed to talk to you, to have a meeting with you, he is looking for something better than he is getting now. That is your opportunity and your time to shine.
• Create a new customer audition plan, From the first order, show them how great you are to work with. Create a new customer audition plan where you make sure that they are so wowed by your products and services, and most importantly customers care, and will stick around for the second and third order. Then, if you are truly a cult of the customer company, you will have them for life.

Remember how hard it is to find a good customer. Everything you have to go through to even get in front of that customer. Keep that in your mind at all times once you have the opportunity and the privilege to serve that company so well that you will grow with them for years to come.

It’s only common sense.

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.