Be Different or be dead

April 6, 2014

How your customers can become addicted to you in 5 simple ways

Source: Unsplash

How your customers can become addicted to you in 5 simple ways.

Addiction isn’t a casual interest or a take-it-or-leave it attitude.

When customers are addicted to a particular organization they are “all in”. They have a habit of dealing with the organization through thick and thin. It is that tough to kick. It’s like looking both ways before crossing the street. They just do it without consciously thinking about doing business with someone else.

Every organization covets the customer who will habitually buy from them.

The issue is, they aren’t just out there to be taken. There isn’t a tribe of addicts for the taking.

They have to be created.

And the problem today is that most organizations are so driven to make the sale, they don’t focus on doing what is necessary to turn the casual buyer into the raving fan with the habit.

Here are 5 things you can do to help your customers develop the habit for you:

1. Don’t focus on the sale.

If you do things right you will not only make the immediate transaction, you will earn a revenue stream for a long time to come.
This is all about changing the culture of the organization away from short term gratification to building the capability to earn in the long term. As long as quarterly earnings drive behaviour, the need to create addicts will take the back seat.

2. Recruit relationship-building sales people.

Look for demonstrated accomplishments of this competency. If you don’t have frontline folks leaning the right way, habits will not be formed.

3. Look at your front end systems.

Is it easy for a customer to enter your realm and get what they want? Is your web site easy to navigate? Can they reach a human being if they need to?
Do you force people through an IVR with a dozen questions to answer? Simplify your processes. Make them human friendly. People don’t give a damn about your internal issues!

4. Have a strategy when you screw a customer over (and you will).

Recovering from a service OOPS! has amazing implications when it comes to creating addictive behaviour from your customers. Fix it + SURPRISE ‘em is the formula that will turn a postal customer into an addict.
If you do it right they will forget that you screwed them over in the first place.

5. Declare a policy: we don’t care about our competitors! We care about our customers and believe that if we do a great job at serving them, we won’t have to worry about the hordes at our door.

The fact is, when you are worrying about what “the bad guys” are up to, you are nor concentrating on the experiences you have to create for your customers to turn them into addicts.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 4.6.14 at 03:10 am by Roy Osing
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March 17, 2014

How the sale can be lost, and the customer won

Source: Unsplash

How the sale can be lost, and the customer won.

Too much attention is being placed on making the sale.

And it is being reinforced by reward and compensation programs that hail the Salesperson of the year as a hero if they post the most sales.

This is at best a short term view.

Rather than being focused on immediate revenue generation, the emphasis should be placed on keeping the customer and trusting that if you do the right things and deepen the relationship revenue will flow.

Ironically, one of the most effective ways to keep a customer is to lose a sale (if you respond correctly that is)

Sales Recovery = What you do in the 24 hours after the loss to SURPRISE them.

Sure, they will be disappointed you couldn’t satisfy their immediate requirements but they will be more impressed by what you do to atone for your sins.

Here are 4 sales recovery surprise tactics to employ when your customer chooses someone else over you.

▪️Don’t whine and snivel over your loss!

▪️Apologize for failing them.

▪️Help them go somewhere else to get their needs satisfied. Call another supplier on their behalf to get the ball rolling. Be their problem solver. Commit to finding the right solution for them.

▪️Follow up to ensure their needs got met. Show that you care about their satisfaction and that it is more important than making the sale.

This process will earn you the right to get their future business.

And this is all the customer will remember.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 3.17.14 at 03:40 am by Roy Osing
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June 25, 2012

Why the surprise element makes the best customer service experience

Source: Unsplash

Why the surprise element makes the best customer service experience.

A mind-blowing service experience is never created when people get what they expect.

Give ‘em what you have led them to expect; they will be satisfied and will give you a “C"on your service report card.

— A household move from Vancouver to Toronto on-time, on-budget with nothing damaged.
— A friendly server at your favourite restaurant.
— Food that is ok.
— A clean hotel room.
— A return telephone call that was promised.
— A flight that leaves at the promised time and lands with your baggage.
— A financial plan that delivers the promised financial benefits.
— Fixing a service blunder made by your local retailer.
— An online purchase delivered when promised.

No big deal. After all, you expect these things. And when they are delivered you are probably more relieved than anything else.

Iff you want to dazzle someone, blow them away, leave them breathless or WOW! them, you have to do something they DON’T expect.

You must surprise them with a spontaneous act.

A random act of caring.

It’s not about exceeding expectations. Trying to do more of what a person expects is not a good investment of resources. All it does is earn you a stronger “C” on your report card.

Earning an “A” on your service report card in fact has nothing to do with meeting expectations whatsoever.

Deliver what you promise and add the surprise element if you want incredibly loyal fans who will tell everyone they know how great you are.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 6.25.12 at 11:22 am by Roy Osing
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April 30, 2012

Why my BE DiFFERENT Quiz will know of you’re unmatched among others

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Why my BE DiFFERENT Quiz will know of you’re unmatched among others.

There is no silver bullet to being different.

No single thing you can do that will vault you to a relevant and unique value provider. No one act that will bring you into focus and separate you from the competitive herd.

Rather, it’s about doing a lot of the right things. The little things that are really uncommon sense — if it were common sense more organizations would be doing them and they wouldn’t be different.

My work is pretty basic. Simple uncommon sense.

I have discovered and successfully implemented practices that propel an organization to achieve a commanding competitive position in their markets.

My supporters comment how straightforward my work is; it focuses on ground zero tactics that actually work.

ARE YOU DIFFERENT?

What is your IQ on the things that need to be put in place to be different?

Take my BE DiFFERENT quiz to discover what you think you are doing right and where progress needs to be made.

My quiz is an opportunity to sort out where to focus your priority to expedite your progress.

The quiz promotes honesty. Take in a private place where ‘no one is watching’. Be brutal with your answers. Only then will you be able to make productive moves.

Take the quiz with your team. Use the process to build a broader honest view of where you are. And be prepared for team spirit to soar.

Just do it — Begin — Stay focused — Execute — Enjoy the success — Reap the rewards.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 4.30.12 at 10:31 am by Roy Osing
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