30 Apr 2009

What is the best way to create powerful connections with your customers?

The best way to create powerful connections with our customers…

There is a lot of talk around at present regarding the importance of dramatically increasing our level of service to our customers (much of this talk is coming from me nagging business owners all over the place). Creating happy customers is actually pretty easy, with three simple steps.

First of all, find out what your customers expect from you and their interaction with your business. Second, as a minimum meet these expectations and third, and most importantly of all, wherever possible exceed these expectations.

Many people struggle with the first step, so the other two are rarely successful. Key decisions regarding their business based on what their customers expect from them are generally nothing but guess work and wishy washy gut feelings, with little or no substance. We have to know what our customers expect – it is critical to the success of any organisation, large or small. Get it wrong and there is a big price to pay.

The best way to find out what our customers expect from us is to talk to them. Make some time, ideally every day, to really connect with at least some of your customers to ask them what they need, their level of satisfaction, their ideas for improving what you do and anything else that may be relevant to helping you to run a better business with an army happy customers.

Getting started is the hardest part. Once you begin having these open conversations with your customers it gets easier. So start small, work up to asking more questions, and taking your customers responses on board. I guarantee that a business that knows exactly what it’s customer expect from them, is way out in front of one that doesn’t.

Open, honest and real communication with customers can make the difference between success and failure. Go for it.