How to make every customer experience count

So many customers and prospects -- so little time! You need to make every customer experience count. On the web, over the phone, in your marketing materials, and face-to-face.

You’ve got to make every interaction count. The stakes have never been higher.

Yet, you may not be in control of your touch points as much you think. The good news is you can fix that.

Managing the experience and expectations of your audience takes a proactive approach.

First, understand your ideal customers’ expectations in terms of needs, wants, and aspirations. Also important is knowing the channels your customers prefer to use to educate themselves and then buy.

You’ve already have nailed down -- or should have -- the problems your product or service solves, the outcomes people are looking for, and what’s holding prospective buyers back.

However, having a handle on where your prospects and customers gather the information they prefer to use will require digging deeper. Survey your audience about the news sources and bloggers they trust, what types of organization they belong to, which mobile or desktop devices they tend to use, and who they purchase similar offerings from now.

Next, map out how your target audience is touched by you today. From the receptionist downstairs, to your website, networking events, and everything in-between. Lay it all out on a big piece of paper or whiteboard, categorizing items into buckets. Now drill down.

Then match and rate your customers’ expectations against the experiences you provide now. Rank each and resolve to focus on the top three or four that you can improve on. List the ways you will rally your team and make progress on these.

The last step is to align your company and its partners to the expectation and experience map you’ve created. Make it clear that your business is very customer-centric and nothing less than an excellent experience counts!

Make every touch, every word count. Think of the times you called another company for information and the person who answered was, well, less than enthusiastic in their response and some of the words they used were less than professional. How about that time you found a business’ website and sales literature full of typos and misspellings. Then, ask yourself if the distribution partners you have onboard are the preferred buying channels for your prospects. Does your partner’s marketing and selling “tone” represent your values? And of course, your website must be responsive by automatically sizing correctly to the type of device being used -- think mobile here. It’s true, words and attitudes matter.

Make every call-to-action count. Most of the time you get only one shot to have your prospect take the action you’d like. Not only do words matter here too, so do colors, graphics, and the orientation of photos. For instance, did you know that both women and men respond much more positively to a photo of an nice-looking female than a male’s picture? Or, that if you have a photo next to your “Buy Now” or “Sign Me Up” button on your website’s landing page, you will greatly improve your conversion rate if the pictured person is facing your call-to-action. Test everything you do early and often.

Make every interaction count. Why? That may seem like a simple question to answer; yet, most businesses stumble in their marketing because they can’t sufficiently communicate why they are moving forward on a particular strategy or tactic. Engagement is the goal and creating value for your customers the objective -- this is the first step to your why. Without engagement and knowing how your business will add value, your marketing efforts will amount to very little.

Companies have been saying that the customer is king for longer than we all can remember. Still, it seems to be a claim that many businesses give lip service to more often than not. Use your competition’s inability to positively manage customer’s experiences at every touch point to your advantage.

Deliver your best customer experience all day, everyday. Be proactive and demonstrate that you are listening. Shaping what you do and how you do it so that your business exceeds expectation will build loyalty that can’t be broken.

Ron Stein is President of FastPath Marketing (www.marketing-strategies-guide.com) and the author of the Rapid Impact Marketing & Selling Playbook. As a speaker, coach, and consultant he works with small business owners helping them to accelerate the path between their vision and the actions needed to reach, win, and keep customers. Ron is the creator of the FastPath to More Customers Now! 7-step marketing system based on more than twenty years as a successful business owner, corporate CEO, business development executive, and salesman. He is also a mentor at two nationally recognized business accelerators. Ron offers one-on-one and small group mentoring, conducts seminars, and consults. He can be reached at 727-398-1855 or Ron@FastPathMarketing.com.