Customers tell us all kinds of things…often times what they feel we want to hear. They commit to do things for us or tell us how great our service is or how we they liked how we responded or a host of other things. And sometimes we, as companies, even ask them to give us these high marks.
BUT IT REALLY DOESN’T MATTER…UNLESS THEY TELL ALL THEIR FRIENDS.
If a customer isn’t WOWed to the point where they can’t wait to tell others about you (one-on-one or one-to-many through social media) they haven’t taken ACTION. They have essentially given you what you want to hear, but taken no action to prove they really mean it.
Everyone has good intentions…but intentions and $5 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks. There are a lot of great companies out there doing great things for their customers…but they don’t get talked about…yours may be one of these. You get what you think is the right feedback…your sales and marketing teams tell you how much the customers like you and you have lots of “likes” on your Facebook page but they still don’t talk about you. Why?
In today’s crowded, noisy, and time limiting world we all live in, unless you have created an IMPACTFUL, MEMORABLE, and truly REMARKABLE EXPERIENCE you don’t get talked about. The truly remarkable companies have pushed their way over the top to deliver a truly incredible and memorable experience…one that people want to talk about.
The advice I give to business leaders to start is to listen to your customers in a variety of ways (certainly some are better than others) and glean as much as you can from the conversation…but don’t jump into changing everything. Here is a short list of just some of the things most companies hear and act upon that can be very dangerous to their future…because they aren’t really what you need to know. Customers tell you…
- things they think you want to hear
- things that are an anomaly and only happen occasionally or rarely
- comments from the “wrong customers” who you shouldn’t be serving anyway
- input from bargain shoppers (bottom feeders) who won’t ever by loyal to you…only loyal to “your deal”
- comments customers share with you just so they can be nice and respond to your survey’s
- others…you can fill in the blank __________
All of these are generally garbage…worthless to your overall strategic direction of being customer obsessed and becoming a remarkable company. While you can certainly listen to these, DON’T TAKE ACTION…listen, discuss, and analyze…but only from the right customer personas that you want to create a WOW experience for and that are key to your strategic vision.
Today, the number one issue for every customer (and all of us) is TIME. We don’t have enough of it and we want to use it wisely and productively. We don’t give it up easily. THIS WORKS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE.
Customers today don’t have the “time” to post “great reviews” on companies…that is now ordinary. See the graph at the beginning of this post and you’ll see how little gets posted today about the customers experience. The only thing companies have time to do is post really awful reviews or incredibly raving reviews. The edges of the traditional bell curve have been pushed way out to the borders. NO ONE HAS TIME TO TALK ABOUT GREAT ANY LONGER.
However, this works to your advantage if the majority (if not all) of your competitors strive to be “great.” This means they won’t get talked about…they won’t generate WORD-OF-MOUTH. They will generate average, invaluable comments from customers that don’t really care and won’t back it up with action.
Let your competitors have these customers (in fact you should send them to your competition)…you want the ones that absolutely love the experience they get from you and WILL TAKE ACTION BY TALKING ABOUT YOU…A LOT. This is the game changer today for any business. When your CUSTOMERS TAKE ACTION…spread WORD-OF-MOUTH (on steroids) you win. Go for the exceptional…let everyone else be great…your customers will take action and help make you REMARKABLE!
