1. Easy buying
You'll have your own personal experiences of companies who you really thought didn't want to do business with you because it was so so difficult to get anything done. This might include out of stock products, poor in-store signage, indifferent staff, incommunicado call centres, failure to call back and so on. Life's too short for all this hassle! Buying your product or service should be effortless and painless for your customers - test drive it for yourself. Remember there's a strong emotional element to this too. Where you can, walk your customers through the process to give them confidence - let them 'plug and play' for themselves.
2. A transparent offer
How often when you're buying something - particularly a service - do you find that you're not really sure what you're getting? If it says what it does on the tin then that's a bonus but too often the offer is opaque, the policy document too long, and the conditions unreal. Jargon! Jargon! Jargon! Make it clear if something else is needed - like batteries or a supporting software package. Think about what you would want as a customer, resist the temptation to be a lawyer, let your values shine through.
3. The Wow! Factor
Where you can, generate some excitement for the customer. Better still exceed their expectations. It doesn't have to be expensive. Remembering customer's names, how they like their coffee, picking up on family news they shared with you when they were last in, all create a positive impact. Research says we all want more attention so give your customer your full attention - don't look over their shoulder or precipitately start a conversation with someone else. Another neat move is to offer the customer more choice than they thought they had and act as an impartial expert. Recommend competitors if you don't feel you really have what the customer wants. Finally, make sure you send them away with a smile!
4. Value
Understand what the actual value is that you're providing to your customer. This may not be what you think - avoid falling in to the trap of confusing features with benefits. Get your customers to tell you in their own words exactly why they bought the product - what satisfaction they are getting from it. These may not be the same as you imagined when you put your proposition together. This helps in a number of ways - in your advertising, yes, but more importantly for your pricing. If you understand the customer's perception of value then you can break free from arithmetic pricing like cost plus pricing or percentage mark ups.
5. Keeping promises
Research suggests that people's perceptions of brands are rarely matched by the reality of experiencing them - there's usually an initial fall in satisfaction. So, it's doubly important that when the customer engages with you, you do all you can to deliver on your promises - whatever they might be. There's the issue too of buyer's remorse - the anxiety associated with buying a product. Is it too expensive? How can I justify it? How am I really going to pay for it? Your promise here is that what you are selling will really deliver the stated benefits. Do you ring back when you say you'll ring back?
6. Guarantees
Think very carefully about what sort of guarantees you might be able to offer - these will help minimise the perception of risk in the eyes of the customer. They will also demonstrate your confidence in your product too. Guarantees can span all of the steps in your buying process - time to answer the phone or be served, delivery time, returns polices and after sales. Give generously if there is any doubt - use it as market research to uncover and correct poor processes. Here, too, we could include making it easy for customers to complain - another source of rich information - research suggests complaining customers who are dealt with well have higher levels of satisfaction.
7. Fanning the flames
The message here is 'think communities'. Encourage your customers to share their positive stories with their networks. Get testimonials and be sure to share good news stories with staff as well. Social media has a huge part to play here and as we know it's cheap and easy now to take and post customer videos. Set up a loyalty scheme as well as rewarding existing customers for introducing new customers. Many companies find a family focus works where your product/service meets common needs. Think, too, about engaging with your local community through sponsorship or links with a local charity.
And finally, if you're so inclined score yourself on a scale
of 1 (low) to 10 (high) against these Accelerants.
of 1 (low) to 10 (high) against these Accelerants.
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