Next Level Group

Put yourself in the shoes of your customers.  From their point-of-view, are there areas of your business that they may not consider enough of a value to continue doing business with you?  What, other than an owner or employee with an indifferent attitude will assist in losing customers?

Often, a business owner is so focused on working in or running the business, that he or she may lose the ability to place themselves in their customer’s place.  Below are a few physical areas that may be overlooked:

* Parking

• No available spaces
• No defined spaces
• Potholes in the parking area
• Trash on the ground
• Unattractive, obtrusive, or no landscaping

* The appearance of the exterior building:

• Peeling or faded paint
• Dirty-looking
• Broken or missing items (cracked glass, a flag pole with no flag on it, etc.)
• Dirty fingerprints on the door
• Unkempt landscaping

* The lobby or waiting area:

• An empty reception desk
• A funny smell
• Out-of-date magazines
• Uncomfortable (or not enough) chairs
• Not clean or picked up

Next time you walk into your business, put on “fresh eyes” – the kind that have never visited your location before.  NOTICE the physical aspects of your business, and how you would feel/respond to a business that looked the same.  Then, if anything needs attending to – DO IT! Your customers will notice and your profit margin will grow.

When I think of a lack of customer service, the first thing that pops into my mind is working with someone at a business who just doesn’t care about their job.  Generally, those employees are not striving to meet your expectations, let alone exceed them, on a daily basis.  Why?  Because to them, “it’s just a job.”

Have you ever heard someone say, “It’s just a job,” before?  Have you ever said (or thought) it?  I have heard that phrase many times and the people who say it usually don’t like what they are doing, or worse, don’t like (or respect) their employer and feel that they are not respected. Later this year, we will tackle employee issues.

Today, I want to plant the seed that a poor or indifferent attitude is the number one (#1) way to lose customers.  Your customers/clients want to feel acknowledged, respected and appreciated.  Are you and your employees living up to your customer’s expectations?

In the next few weeks, we will take a look at other ways you can lose a customer – or worse, never get them in the first place.

So – if you and the business is the product, what are you selling?

To illustrate – Sam or Sally consumer can purchase a greeting card (merchandise or service) from you or someone else.  HOWEVER, they are only able to have the pleasure of doing business with you when they walk into your business.

Think about it.  If you and the person down the street, sell the same merchandise or service, how does the consumer decide who gets his or her business?

The answer is that you must set yourself and your business apart from others similar.

How do you do that?  You could have an extra clean store or office, have brighter display lights, offer great customer service, or more parking spaces.  But wait – the business down the street just changed their light bulbs and put fresh magazines out to read.  Now they are competing with you!

Here, in this blog, I offer you a simple, yet effective, secret weapon. Are you ready?  Exceed your customer’s expectations.  At minimum, always meet them.

Have you heard the story of the woman who said to her husband, one morning, “do you love me?”  The husband responds, “Of course.  I told you I loved you on our wedding day and if that ever changes, I’ll let you know.”

Tell your customers you love and appreciate them by considering what their expectations of you may be and developing a plan to meet and exceed them every time.

Back to the question I wanted to ask you.  Have customers ever left your business needing to “vent” about unsatisfactory service or unmet expectations?  If you cannot answer this question with the knowledge that 100% of your customers are completely satisfied and you have met or exceeded their expectations, you may have some work to do.

The first step I recommend a business owner take in putting together their customer-satisfaction program is to implement a satisfaction system.  Moreover, within your customer-satisfaction system, develop processes that cover every aspect of your business that “touches” the consumer.

For example, an auto repair shop might put together a checklist of items they want to make sure are taken care of (like wiping down the interior and cleaning the inside of the driver’s door) before returning a car to the owner.  In addition, they may create and send a satisfaction survey as well as develop a process for getting to know and staying in touch with the customer.

With regard to my auto repair experience, that dealership will get no more money from me.  Thankfully, based on a referral from a satisfied customer, I found an independent repair shop that has a great system in place and uses processes that lead to customer satisfaction.  Not only will they continue to receive my business, but gain referrals as well. Their focus on customer satisfaction has become a competitive advantage for them. Can you say the same for your business?

In keeping with the “at least meeting and always trying to exceed customer expectations” theme, I would like to touch on the service aspect of the concept.  The following is a true story with which I am sure many of you can relate.

For the last few months, I have had to take my car into the dealership for work.  One would think that the dealer’s repair service would include some customer satisfaction elements.  In other words, I had some expectations of my service experience.

My first expectation was that my vehicle would be ready when they said it would. Of the six-plus visits, all but two resulted in the dealership, without warning, keeping my car overnight.

My second expectation was that they were going to fix the problem they identified. Multiple attempts failed to correct the problem.  OK, I do realize that vehicles today are much more complex than 20 years ago.  However, the last dealership diagnosis centered on replacing the engine computer because “that should fix everything.” (What? This was like telling me I needed a liver transplant because my cholesterol was elevated!)

The last expectation focused on the condition of my car when I picked it up. I expected that my car would be returned in a condition equal to or better than the condition in which it was dropped off.  However, my light-colored interior was routinely covered in grease smudges, dirty shoe marks on the bottom of the driver’s door, and other untidy infractions. This forced me to go back inside and ask my service tech to please wipe down the mess (for the umpteenth time!)

Thank you for letting me vent – my husband thanks you as well.

Now, let me ask you a question….

Part two coming soon.