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I am not claiming to be smarter than the people who created the restaurant, airport, bank or grocery store \u2013 far from it; it\u2019s just that as a regular customer, I have a different perspective. I have desires and expectations of what I want from the experience. When there are gaps between that and my actual interaction, it reflects poorly on the company.<\/p>\n
In all likelihood these places were<\/em> designed with customer expectations in mind, but times, like people, change and it\u2019s our responsibility as business owners to stay in touch with these changes or risk losing business to companies that do.<\/p>\n As business owners we need to continually ask:<\/p>\n In order to deliver what customers want, we need to understand what they value<\/em>.<\/p>\n Traditionally, value was some intersection between quality and price. And while this is still true, things customers value can also include:<\/p>\n When you provide what customers value, you make a connection that goes beyond quality and price.You\u2019ve made an emotional connection<\/em> that leads to customer loyalty.<\/p>\n How do you stay in touch and solicit this kind of information? How do you figure out what customers value? The same way we have metrics in place to measure departmental activity, an organization should have systems in place to monitor customer behavior, attitudes and satisfaction.<\/p>\n A recipe for understanding and implementing increased value includes:<\/p>\n Use surveys, feedback forms and\/or third parties to gather this information. Ask<\/em> how the experience can be improved. Sometimes people don\u2019t know what they want, but often they will express themselves in a way that is useful to\u00a0 you. Customer feedback is frequently provided with the intent of improving a future experience – it\u2019s not always about returning a product or getting their money back.<\/p>\n Often we learn what customers value when things go wrong, via complaints or objections. There\u2019s a good chance other customers are experiencing, but not expressing, similar issues. This should be seen as an opportunity<\/em> to identify values.<\/p>\n Listen, translate and observe behavior. Note the language they use to tell you what they value. If you are told an employee was rude, they value courtesy. If they tell you they waited too long in line, they value their time, speed and efficiency. Sometimes they just value a person on the phone who is willing to listen.<\/p>\n View these as opportunities to understand, learn and improve, whether or not anyone else would consider the employee rude or the wait in line too long. Sometimes information like this can be a breeding ground for new products and services.<\/p>\n Let us know in the comments section below.\u00a0A real person reads and responds to all comments<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n Thanks, If your content marketing isn’t supplying the leads you need to make all the sales you want, or you want a measurable way to see which parts of your marketing are most effective, contact\u00a0us for a\u00a0complimentary marketing\u00a0assessment<\/a>.<\/p>\nContinuous improvement<\/h2>\n
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Question, gather, investigate<\/h2>\n
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What they say\/What we hear<\/h2>\n
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\nDavid<\/p>\n