How do you turn customers into Raving Fans?
Like it or not, we live in the fast paced, high stakes world of social media. Make a mistake with a customer and the world will know about it instantly on Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, Pinterest and the like. How do you stay ahead of the game? The best way to generate positive posts and reviews, and retain your customers in the process, is by paying constant attention to your customer’s needs and expectations, and giving them only positive fuel for the fire. It doesn’t take much for someone to feel like they need to go post the bad news about your business. But if the mix is right, the occasional negative ones will go largely unnoticed.
But how do you actually achieve that? Here are the first four of eight proven principles you can use to make sure your customers are raving fans (the last four I’ll post next week):
- Understand how your customers’ expectations are rising and changing over time. What was good enough last year isn’t good enough now. Use customer surveys, interviews and focus groups to really understand what your customers want, what they value, and think about what they are getting, (or not getting) from your business. When was the last time you did a customer survey? Turning customers into fans is a never-ending process, never stop doing this.
- Use quality service to differentiate your business from your competition. Your products are reliable and up to date … but your competitors’ are likely to be, too. Your delivery systems are fast and user-friendly, but so are your competitors’! Make a real difference by providing personalized, responsive and “extra-mile service” that stands out in a unique way which customers will appreciate and remember. Brainstorm ideas with your team. Come up with something that will truly stand out, something that no one else is doing.
- Set and achieve high service standards. Go beyond basic and expected levels of service to provide your customers with desired and even surprising interactions. Determine the “norm” for service in your industry, and then find a way to go beyond it. Give more choice than “usual”, be more flexible than “normal”, be “faster” than the average and extend a “better” warranty than all the others or a better guarantee. Your customers will notice your higher standards. But your competitors can eventually copy even the highest standards. So don’t slow down. Keep on improving.
- Learn to manage your customer’s expectations. You can’t always give customers everything their hearts desire. Sometimes you need to bring their expectations into line with what you know you can deliver. The best way to do this is by first building a reputation for making and keeping clear promises. Once you have established a base of trust and good reputation, you only need to ask your customers for their patience in the rare circumstances when you cannot meet their first requests. Nine times out of 10 they will extend the understanding and the leeway that you need. The second way to manage customer’s expectations and turn them into raving fans (indeed, to exceed them) is with the tactic called “Under Promise and Over Deliver”. It works like this: your customer wants something done fast. You know it will take one hour to complete. Don’t tell your customer. Let them know you will rush the project…but then promise 90 minutes. Then, when you finish in just an hour (as you knew you would be all along), your customer is delighted that you actually finished the job “so quickly”.
Set aside an hour this week, put it into your calendar right now, when you can spend the time to think about these four principles to turn customers into fans. Pick one, and spend the rest of the hour coming up with how you are going to implement it in your business. Make it a goal. Set yourself a deadline for achieving it, and write out all of the steps it will take to achieve it. Put those steps on your calendar. Now tell someone else about your goal, and when you’ll achieve it and how you will measure your success. Need help? Ask your team, your partner, or call your coach. Remember, it doesn’t matter what you know, it only matters what you do with what you know. Go do something.
Stay tuned, next week I’ll post the last four principles! Can’t wait? Get in touch with me now.