When someone says they are “satisfied” it means they are content, they have had enough or they got what they needed. It is about achieving a middle state…it isn’t “Dissatisfied” and it isn’t “Ecstatic”…it’s being Satisfied. With all the options available to us in the B2B or B2C marketplace, this is simply hitting the minimum threshold.
This is an “old term” from my perspective…it doesn’t accurately represent the business climate of the 20th Century. Many years ago, it was great to “satisfy your customers”…today it is simply getting by and puts you at Risk of losing your customers to the competition.
Let’s say you decide to take your spouse out for a wonderful dinner somewhere or to a show or to some other event for some fun and excitement. Do you say, “I really hope this event leaves me satisfied?” Or do you say, “I hope this event is so awesome I’m blown away with how incredible we will be treated?” Which event do you want to go to? Sounds silly doesn’t it.
But this is what a large number of businesses “shoot for” today with the experience they give their customers…they want “satisfied customers” and they even ask their customers if they were satisfied in their surveys. This is like asking them if we treated you in a mediocre fashion and if your experience was average. And this is supposed to generate more sales, more referrals, and more word-of-mouth?
And then we ask our teams why we aren’t getting more sales from our customers or new customers or word-of-mouth…the answer was in front of us from the beginning.
NO ONE TALKS ABOUT MEDIOCRITY!
Word-of-Mouth is generated because something wonderful happened…something exceeded our expectations and our wildest imagination of what would occur. You show up at the restaurant and they know you by name, they seat you in front of the fireplace and they have a roving band come play your spouse’s favorite song while you dine. The owner stops by and sits down with you for a minute and shares how the dishes were made or some “back story” about the restaurant so you have a more personal connection. That’s not average…that’s over the top! That’s not mediocre and being “satisfied” it’s delivering an awesome experience.
Or you want to order some replacement products from your local distributor and they tell you they will send a special truck over and deliver them for you today because you mentioned you are really swamped and can’t get there to pick them up before closing and need them tomorrow…and there is no charge for helping you out in a pinch. And when they arrive, they even offer to help you put them away in your warehouse and give you a hand because they know you are under a time crunch. This is awesome!
Or you can’t decide on the size and color of a particular product you are interested when talking to the customer representative and they tell you they will ship you all the choices you are considering, free of charge, so you can pick what works best for you in the privacy of your own home and simply send back the ones that don’t work out…without charge.
Picture the last time you went to a Disneyland property. If I asked you to list out all the things that made it special and memorable and remarkable, I doubt you would list the rides or the food. You would list how you were treated at the “happiest place on earth” from the time you arrived through your entire visit. How you felt, how you were treated, how they made you and your family feel special. This is not mediocre…or average…or even great…it’s amazing and incredible!!
These are examples of WOW…they are examples of how a CUSTOMER OBSESSED organization interacts and treats their customers. They are examples of a company that isn’t content delivering “satisfaction”…they are only content when they deliver WOW, awesome, and incredible. This is how REMARKABLE companies operate…and one we all would prefer to buy from…and one we would go out of our way to tell others about.
This is what your customer really wants…no DEMANDS…because it also happens to be what you want. You want WOW…you want to be blown away being treated in a way where you feel like they really care about you and you are special. We all do…we don’t want to be “satisfied”…we want to be blown away with special treatment!
And if you’re thinking this is too expensive and you have to give stuff away to deliver this you are missing the point of Customer Obsession. Making your customer feel special and awesome isn’t about giving them more stuff…it’s about how you make them feel. It’s about how you take care of them and treat them…not about the stuff. Anyone can give away stuff…this is just a commodity. What’s critical and different is if they feel special and important and like a customer that truly matters to you…or do they feel like a number, or one of many, or just a demographic in your segmentation strategy?
Becoming Customer Obsessed is an investment in a “long tail” strategy that creates differentiation, uniqueness, and massive Word-of-Mouth. When you invest in your customer, they pay you back…over and over and over again. Not just because they become a loyal customer but because they become an ADVOCATE…someone who goes out of their way to tell others about how awesome you are. This is how they essentially “market for you” because they are your advocate.
This never, ever, ever, happens when they are SATISFIED…it happens when they feel special…when they know you are 100% committed and focused on giving them an incredible experience. Satisfied is what everyone else does today…AWESOME is what differentiates you from the herd.
Here’s the challenge…do your own personal audit on your current customer experience. Look at your business from the “Outside In” and see what your customer sees. Is what you’re doing “satisfying” your customer and giving them a “good enough” or even “great” customer experience? If it is, your customer is asking demanding more…whether they tell you in a survey or not. They WANT MORE and they DESERVE MORE!
Deliver WOW, Incredible, and Amazing and you are delivering what they are begging companies to give them today. This is what they want…this is what WE ALL WANT…this is what they deserve…this is true differentiation and what creates a BRAND that gets talked about…a lot! This is Word-of-Mouth on Steroids!!
