How to “Wow” Your Customers, Prospects, and Leads With Your Services
Customers must be delighted with the buying experience regardless if you’re selling a product or service. Paraphrasing HubSpot’s inbound marketing philosophy, delighted customers become evangelists for your business. They become more than willing to “preach” about your wonderful service, which increases your chances of getting leads, prospects, and more customers. If you operate a small service-based operation, here’s some ways you can “wow” your customers, prospects, and leads.
Make them feel like they’re the only person in the world. People, by nature, do not like to be ignored. They don’t want to feel like other things are a higher priority and they’re being pushed to the wayside. Especially customers or potential ones. Answer your phone as much as you possibly can. Return phone calls and e-mails the same day. If you are readily accessible to your people, they’ll automatically start feeling as if they’re receiving high-quality service. It might sound like a lofty exercise, but the payback is tremendous.
Enter all customer, prospect, and lead contact information into your phone. If you run a one-person show, this is crucial. There’s nothing better than someone calling you and you being able to answer, “Hi John, how are you?” because the name showed on your caller ID. It’s a small thing, but it will earn you major brownie points. It demonstrates to the person on the other end that they were important enough to be added to your contact list. Besides, it makes the experience from beginning to end more personalized.
Take your time with meetings and conversations. We all try to pack so much into our schedules, especially owners of younger businesses trying to grow and expand their reach. When you schedule meetings or phone conversations with customers, prospects, or leads, make sure you block off an ample amount of time. Have you ever gone to see your doctor and felt like you were rushed once the doctor got into the room? Perhaps you forgot to ask a question that was on your mind or the doctor didn’t address all your concerns or gave you insufficient answers. It’s frustrating and not a very positive experience either. You don’t want your customers, prospects, or leads to feel that way. If they feel like they have all the time in the world to discuss their needs or issues with you, the goodwill will just keep coming.
Care deeply and honestly. This one you can’t fake. You must truly care about what business you’re in and the people who want or need what you offer. If you do, you will naturally provide an exceptional customer experience.
Make sure the service itself actually IS exceptional. To turn customers into those valuable evangelists, you must be the “whole package”. Listen carefully to what your customers are saying. If there’s a hint of dissatisfaction, start a dialogue immediately and nip it in the bud. Periodically send out customer happiness surveys. Ask questions that will yield valuable answers and take the feedback seriously. Don’t be afraid of constructive (and sometimes non-constructive) criticism. Find out what’s working and what’s not and make the necessary changes.
Give them a great product, care about them, and show them how important they truly are. Happy customers are loyal customers and that loyalty is worth a lot!