Five Ways to Make Your Customers Love You

Don’t just settle for customer satisfaction, aim for brilliance.  You may sell the best line of widgets in the world, but guess what?  That’s not enough.  In today’s market where there is so much homogeneity, your competitors are selling exactly the same thing.  While discounts, contests and loyalty campaigns are deliciously seductive and can generate some quick wins, they are unlikely to give you the long-term consumer love that’s going to send your business soaring into the stratosphere.

Your best interests are best served by keeping your customers happy at all times. Research by telecommunications behemoth Vodafone found that 80% of consumers spend more money with companies that give them a good customer experience.

Here are five ways to keep your customers happy and coming back for more:

Treat customers like partners not sales targets – engage with your customers and treat them as individuals.  Get to know them and their wants, needs, likes and dislikes.  Customers love personal attention.  Make notes of things they say so you can refresh your memory before you deal with them the next time.  Of course, there is still the buyer and seller relationship, but customers are an integral part of the business because without them, you have no business.  It is just a slight change of mindset to view them as partners and to treat them accordingly.

Be a great listener – sounds like commonsense doesn’t it?  But you’d be surprised by how many sales and business people are always in transmit mode and never in receive.  Truly listen to what customers are telling you.  Too often, salespeople tell their clients what they need rather than letting them describe their needs.

Respond to queries and concerns promptly – there isn’t a single customer in the world who loves delayed responses or worse, being ignored altogether.  When you receive a query, reply swiftly.  If you don’t have the answer to hand, still respond and tell your customer when you will have it.  Always keep them in the loop.  Ignore your customers and they will ignore you.  With so much competition in the marketplace can you afford to let them go?

If you screw up, ‘fess up – humiliating as it may be, take full responsibility for any mess you’ve caused.  Customers can smell a cover up from a hundred paces.  You may get away with a deception initially, but ultimately they will find you out further down the line.  Make amends and then exceed on what you say you will deliver.  Rectifying a problem is a great way to show how responsive and caring you are.

Stick to your word – your word is your bond.  Never, ever break a promise with a client.  Manage their expectations by setting realistic goals, ones that they are happy with and that you know you can keep.  Delivering on your promises is a sure-fire way of earning your audience’s trust and developing long-lasting relationships with them.

Don’t be one of those aggressive salespeople who promise customers the world, the moon or anything else that their company has no chance of being able to deliver.  Avoid making outlandish promises for the sake of short-term commissions.

Excel at What You Do

Today’s customers have more choice at their fingertips than ever before.  Therefore, keeping them happy is a super savvy strategy.  You must always be thinking – is dealing with me a rewarding experience for my customers?

If it is, then not only will they come back for more, but they will tell everyone about you, becoming powerful advocates for your business. You’ll become their Trusted Advisor.

Walt Disney, who was no slouch when it came to customer relations, probably put it best when he said: “Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends.”

To read more on keeping your customers happy, read here:

Enchant Your Customers