OK, relax, I haven’t been drinking, I’m just caught up in the moment and sharing the love of “Valentine’s Day”. It’s the time of year when we tell our beloved how much they mean to us, what we love about them and how our world is so much better with them in it.
But I think we also need to have a Valentine’s Day for our customers. In many businesses the customers that are treated the worst are the longest and most loyal ones. Now this isn’t a conscious decision to mistreat customers, it’s just that we start to take the regulars for granted.
Because of this, it is vitally important that we make the effort to show our customers that we “love them”, respect them and appreciate them.
So how do we show our customers that we love them? A great question, glad you asked. You will note that I said “show” not “tell”, because as we know it can be easy to say you love someone but your actions will prove the point.
1. Look them in the eye and say “thank you for your business”
This is the customer equivalent of “I love you”. We all like to be appreciated and nothing says that we are as much as a sincere “thank you”. Don’t say it if you don’t mean it and don’t say it too much, otherwise it looses impact.
2. Listen to them
If you truly love your customers show that you care enough to not just listen to what they say but to actually take action based on what they say. If they make suggestions about ways to improve your business, listen to them and consider them seriously. If you don’t act on these suggestions make a point of explaining why you didn’t – and thank them sincerely though for making the suggestion.
3. Make them feel special
One of the biggest and most common business mistakes is taking existing customers for granted – and we have all been on the receiving end of this. To really show your customers that you love them, make them feel special, simple as that. This means extending special offers just for them, going above and beyond the call of duty just for them, it means giving them a special discount or value add offer as a way to say thanks for the business. There are lots of ways to make your customers feel special, the more you can come up with the better.
4. Remember their name
This is such an oldie that is really such a goldie. Taking the time (and that is all that is required) to learn someone’s name will go a long way to showing your customers that you love them. Sure we all struggle with remembering names, but if we make a little more effort we can do things to help – like writing their name down when you are meeting with them (or talking to them on the phone), asking one of their friends or reading it off their credit card. Of course the best way to remember a customers name is to use it and that is exactly what we should be doing.
5. Respect their time
One of the biggest ways to say “I don’t care” is to treat people with a lack of respect. Keeping people waiting, not following up, having stupid “systems”, making it hard to pay, are all ways to send a message to a customer that they are not important. We always have to respect our customers time and to do this we need to make sure we are totally committed to speed up our service and streamline buying from our business wherever we can.
6. Expose yourself (in the nicest possible way)
Research is showing that customers are look for a connection with the businesses they buy from – this connection translates to some form of emotional engagement. One of the best ways to build this is to let your personality shine through in your business. Open up and share a few of the “behind the scenes” aspect of your life. A client of mine (a restaurant) has a big board with all of the staff’s pictures along with some of their personal information including things they like (or love), dislike, their hobbies, their favourite food, best holiday destination, one funny thing about them that not many people know etc. People love the board, it has become a real talking point and everyone, including the staff, feel more connected with each other.
7. Don’t be stingy
One of my biggest bug bears is the “mean business”. These are the businesses that seem to be all about clawing every single penny from every customer. They don’t give anything away, they act mean and they are mean. Be prepared to give to your existing customers. Give them a gift, give them some products or discount a service every once in a while. Think about how you feel when a business you visit gives you something – do you become more loyal or less loyal? From my experience a generous business sends out an air of confidence and success – and this attracts customers like bee’s to honey (or is it bee’s to flowers?).
8. Do the little things
Like most relationships, in business we build solid bonds by consistently doing the little things. Generally these are the little things that other businesses are not prepared to do. Be thoughtful, considerate and sincere by doing the little things and you will build up a huge following of loyal and loving fans.
I am strongly recommending that you share the love in the coming few days/weeks/months. Show your customers exactly how much they mean to you. Be sincere, have some fun, but most importantly of all, never take them them for granted. If your customer relationships have lost that loving feeling, it might be time to spice things up a bit. Every day should be Valentine’s Day when it comes to loving our customers.
Till next week,
Andrew
PS Anthony Robbins is in Sydney next month – Unleash the Power within is a life changing event. I have done it three times (clearly I am a little slow on the uptake) but it is a four day event that can and will have a huge impact on your life.
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