E-couragement: 3 Ways You’re P-ing on Your Customers
"Customer loyalty is lost or solidified after the sale." Rich Schlentz
Engaged and loyal customers. That’s what you're after. Loyal customers exhibit powerful buying behaviors:
- They revisit your organization—happily leaving money with you each time.
- They’re evangelists, imploring friends to pop in and give their money to you.
- They drive right by your competition in order to visit you.
- They throw your competitor’s coupons in the trash.
- When you’re not perfect, they forgive you.
Loyal customers are more profitable than those coerced through the door with expensive advertising and marketing campaigns. Yet, you might be losing these priceless business boosters by P-ing on them. Here are 3 interactions that prevent your customers from becoming loyal:
- Policy: “Well, our policy is…” NO! Keep your policies to yourself and don't allow them to become barriers to potential loyalty. Instead, tell your customer how you can make things work for them.
- Problem: “Ms. Client, you see, the problem is…” NO! They have enough problems of their own without you piling on more. Instead, talk about the solution you can provide.
- Pass-it-along: “Mr. Patient, I’m gonna have to pass this along to my manager…” NO! Don’t demonstrate a fundamental lack of trust in your staff by stripping them of the power required to fix things. Instead, explain how you can take care of them right here, right now.
Perhaps loyal customers/clients/patients are rare because they continually encounter mediocre interactions. Your customers are seeking an experience that will cause them to transform from merely satisfied to loyal. Won’t you help them? You can start by not P-ing on them anymore.
Leave your comments: What practices (a good P-word) does your company use in order to prevent P-ing on your customers/clients/patients?