One of the biggest components in creating fear in people is the UNKNOWN. Regardless of what it is or who it is, when there is something unknown it creates some degree of fear. The degree of fear is commensurate with the amount of uncertainty in the situation and the potential risk it imposes on the individual.
Similarly…your customers are also afraid of the “unknown.” Most customers will actually go out of their way to steer clear of it whenever possible because it is, well, unknown. It creates far less anxiety and stress to simply avoid it and stay with what you know and feel comfortable with. Anxiety goes down when people (your customers) don’t have to experience the unknown and it goes up proportionately when they are in unknown territory…regardless of the situation.
Given that as a backdrop…the key question for every business leader is, “When your customers (new and existing) interact with any part of your organization, are they being greeted with the unknown or are they greeted in a way that reduces their stress and anxiety?”
What exactly happens when your customers interact with your company and your employees? Are your employees doing things (intentionally or unintentionally) that create FEAR or are they doing things that reduce or eliminate fear?
From my experience, the majority of companies induce fear…usually without even knowing it.
Put yourself in the shoes of your customer…from the first time they make a call or visit your company…what is the customer experience you are delivering to your customers today look like with regard to eliminating the “unknown” as quickly as possible from their experience? Are you making them feel at ease and completely comfortable or are there “unknowns” in their experience you are subtly asking them to figure out?
The majority of businesses think it’s a great idea to have customers come in to their business (physically or virtually) and have the customer “ask” them questions about what it is they want to find out. Sounds like a reasonable process…until you ask the customers. The answer is generally quite a bit different. They don’t want to look stupid so often times they won’t ask what they really want to know…like they should know this already. If they aren’t greeted with exceedingly positive and comforting introductions, they immediately feel like they are intruders, not customers. All this happens within seconds…and it continues to grow positively or negatively.
When customers interact with you and they don’t know what to expect, fear is created.
One of the easiest ways to help overcome this fear is to be PROACTIVE with your customers rather than REACTIVE. Take charge…take control…because you know what it is they want to do. Give them choices to make this experience much more enjoyable.
For example, everyone knows when someone comes into their establishment that there are generally a limited number of things they are looking to do. Rather than having them wander around or start to ask questions, be proactive and give them choices of what it is you know they will want. Most people visiting (B2C or B2B) are there to do one or more of the following…
- Meet with someone
- Look at and get more information on your products or services
- Place an order
- Get information and become more knowledgeable about your products/services
While there may be others, this covers the majority for most companies. Given there may be only 3 or 4 choices, why wait…ask. If it’s something else, they will gladly tell you that as well after you given them some choices. It is proven that people love having choices…they feel more empowered, feel more important/special, and are happy to ask more questions when they have selected a particular choice.
This is a great way to help make the customer feel comfortable as quickly as possible and to reduce their fear. The faster you can reduce their fear the quicker it is for you to start to build a relationship and for them to start enjoying the experience. Take control of this fear issue and get them over it and they will enjoy their experience significantly more than left on their own.
Remember, no one can start to enjoy an experience when they are in fear…they are too focused on getting out of this state to enjoy anything. Reduce their unknowns…get them comfortable in seconds…help them navigate where they want to go (or what they want to do) and watch their fear of the unknown melt away. It is one of the key components to helping your customers actually enjoy the awesome experience you hopefully have in place…which they can’t when they feel fear.
This is one area I can guarantee results…engineering an experience that immediately reduces the unknown virtually eliminates fear. And when fear is gone, your customer will actually hear what you are saying and want to develop a relationship with you and your organization. And it goes a long way towards DIFFERENTIATION…because remember, your competitors are still creating the unknown and delivering fear. You can see it in their face and you can hear it in their voice. It is truly amazing when you see it in action. When it comes to spreading the word about you (word-of-mouth), it won’t happen…at least not in a good way. Eliminating their fear will give you far more opportunity for your audience to want to tell others about you in a positive way.
Will your customers remain in fear of the unknown or will you take the challenge and engineer your experiences to alleviate their fears so they can’t wait to return and can’t wait to tell others about you?
