What is YOUR Customer Experience?

Your business is humming along. Your employees are laboring away just to keep up with the daily workflow. Your KPI’s, specifically your revenues and profits have been growing. Everything seems to be fine; but you have a bad feeling.

So you spent the necessary money on Exact Method Marketing and finally your customers keep finding you and you keep them happy;  but what are you missing?

Do You Know What Your Customers Really Want?

My client, Fred, has a auto repair shop that repairs a variety of automobiles. One of the first questions I ever asked him was: “Do you know what your customers really want?”

“They want the automobiles properly fixed” Fred replied. ”And then he added. “Or they want to feel that they got the best possible service for their auto.”

“Okay,” I replied. “So how do you deliver the best possible service?”

We spent hours online researching the competition that our customers would go to for repairs.
"So what is your brand promise then?” I asked.

“Brand promise what’s that?” Fred said.

“Your brand promise is the way you satisfy and exceed your customers’ expectations.”

“So, how do you know that your customers want, need and desire with regards to repairing their automobile?” I asked.

They usually call and come into the shop; and they seem to come for an assortment of routine repairs and maintenance. Some come from some distance, most been with us for years. What else could they want or need? I give my customers what they desire, incredible service.”
“But how do you know with certainty what your customers really need and desire?” I asked.   “Why do they come into your shop, when they could go to the auto dealer for the same repairs?”

After further discussion, Fred created a brief on-line survey and emailed it to those customers for which he had email addresses– he realized that this point the number of customers in his database that he did not have complete contact information.

The Real Reason Someone Buys From You

As it turned out he was right, that reason his customers kept coming back was the relationship he had with the customers.  He found that his customers liked and trusted him that he would not over-charge for items and generally he got the auto back to the customer in the timeframe they expected.
Through one simple on-line survey, with some good questions, Fred came to appreciate that his customers’ expectations were being met and even exceed those with regards to his competitors.

Step One– Find out what your customers’ deepest critical needs are. A simple survey can get you what you need.

Step Two– Understand how you can better satisfy the customers expectations better than the competition, and in a way that is unique.  This starts the process of brand promise.

Step Three– Integrate the brand promise into the client experience.

The Brand Promise

The best example of a brand promise is The Ritz-Carlton . . . .

“At The Ritz-Carlton, our Ladies and Gentlemen are the most important resource in our service commitment to our guests.  By applying the principles of trust, honesty, respect, integrity and commitment, we nurture and maximize talent to the benefit of each individual and the company. The Ritz-Carlton fosters a work environment where diversity is valued, quality of life is enhanced, individual aspirations are fulfilled, and The Ritz-Carlton Mystique is strengthened.”

So, let me ask . . . 

How does your Commitment to Creating a Customer Experience compare to the Ritz-Carlton Gold Standard?  Maybe, yours might need some improvement.