I know that Christmas is over and I'm really glad it is. Giving my kids Christmas gifts this year did get me thinking and taught me a few lessons about customer satisfaction. We all know that customers make your business and satisfied customers make your business even better.
Want to make your customers feel like a happy child does on Christmas morning? Check these out:
Lesson #1. Ask Your Customers for What They Want. Just like you ask your kids what they want for Christmas, you need to ask your customers questions...and listen for their demands. What do they want? how do they want it? when do they want it? why do they want it? When you get the answers to these questions from your customers, you are in a better position to serve them, satisfy them and make them happy. Every kid is always asked if they got what they wanted for Christmas. Your customers should be able to answer yes to that question regarding the product or service you provide.
Lesson #2. Customers Needs Keep Changing. If you are not changing with the needs of your customers, you will lose them. In the previous year I thought the gifts we gave our kids couldn't be topped in the following year. What else could they possibly want after giving them what we gave them last year? The same thing goes with your customer needs. Make sure they don't need something you can no longer offer (within reason of course). Are your methods still archaic? Are they so last year? Are you offering or doing things that no longer serve purposse? Things are changing so fast and you need to change with the times.
Lesson #3. Have a Relationship with Your Customers. It is only when you have a realtionship with your customers that you will know what they want. That is when they will be comfortable asking you for what they really want. Remember, you will keep the customers you truly satisy. The same way your kids ask you, the parent for what they really want, the expensive stuff. The customers who are comfortable with you will ask you for what they really want - what truly satisfies them. What your kids ask you for is all they are really going to be excited about. So be the product and service provider that is like the parent and you have a customer for life. Just like parents have a relationship with their kids, do the same with your customer. Know their names, their pain points, what makes them happy...dig deeper, and connect with them.
Lesson #4. Make Deliveries on time. On time service is key to customer satisfaction. Just like that gift cannot be put in your kid's hands later than Christmas morning - not Christmas afternoon, not at night but in the morining, you have to deliver the goods and provide the service on time to the customer. You need to be proactive, you need to consider all the threats and obstacles to making that ontime delivery so that you don't miss the promise date. Deliver earlier if you can. Just like the Christmas gifts actually go under the tree days before, because your kids actually get up before you to go grab the gifts. So, make on time service a priority and you have a satisfied customer.
Lesson #5. Be Loyal to your customers. We often think in terms of customer loyalty but what would happen if you were loyal to your customers. Meaning you have chosen them for life. Just like you are the same parents who will have to provide them with that special gift again in the following year. Many times, we provide a service or sell to our customers and forget about them. How could you continue to be the person to serve that customer? What can you do to keep a particular customer and continue to serve them? Do you ask them how they liked the last product or service you provided? Do you follow up with them to see how they are doing or just let them go? So that they fall into the hands of another supplier?
So, my goal is to give my customers the feeling my children get when they open that present on Christmas morning. What about you?
By the way these lessons apply to your employees and followers also.
Are there any other business lessons you learnt from giving your children gifts?
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