ICMI's Customer Management Insight - September 2007 - (Page 28) RECOMMENDED READING theme song. It comes from doing for customers what you say you are going to do. It’s that simple. Brands that don’t deliver on their promises lose customers and generate catastrophic, negative word-of-mouth. But brands that consistently exceed what they promise earn customers for life and generate waves of new customers from positive word-ofmouth. You can create the ultimate customer experience by involving the entire organization — including sales, customer service, shipping, product design, marketing and so forth. Here are just a few insights: Be careful what you promise. pany’s family and culture. It is this delivery that amounts to the ultimate customer experience. In turn, the ultimate customer experience creates just the sort of customers you want: ones who bring you more business. You want them to feel married to your company. When you marry someone, you expect that person to remain monogamous, and that’s the same feeling you want someone to have about your brand. Separate yourself from the pack. As mentioned above, when tomers so that they will go out of their way to shop with you, regardless of how far out of their way they have to go to get to you. Realize that perspective is everything. To really know how Do you promise your customers no businesses get mired in sales quotas, short-term goals, statistics and so forth, the people inside those “Powerful brands command. Read this insightful book and allow Scott to share how to make your brand stand out and deliver you buckets of money!” Mark Victor Hansen, bestselling author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul® series waiting in line longer than five minutes and then keep them tapping their feet for 10? Or do you promise 24-hour help service only to make them hear a recorded message instead of a real person on the other end of the line? If you can’t or don’t deliver on your brand promises, you will fail to create loyalty among customers. If you mess up with a customer once, he might give you another chance, but it’s likely that the next time he needs something, he’ll go to one of your competitors. In the reverse scenario, when a company delivers on its promises and even exceeds expectations, it makes the customer feel valued and appreciated. He feels as if he is a part of your comicmi’s insight businesses become robotic. Their eyes are focused not on how the brand is doing, but on what the numbers tell them. Both you and your employees should actually be focused on exceeding your customers’ expectations. You can start by getting rid of impersonal customer service techniques, such as email or automated telephone services. When it comes to your customers, always be proactive. You must consider what you can do to differentiate your business from all the others that offer the same services or products. The differentiator must be the level of service, the unique experience you offer each of your customers. You have to engender loyalty in cus- things are going at your company, you’ll have to step out of your own shoes and take a walk in those of your customers and employees. You need to look at your customers and say to yourself, If I were one of my customers right now, what would I love to have from me? Then, do it! Step Two in your “perspective walk” will be taken in your employees’ shoes. You’ll need to gauge their loyalty to the company because loyal employees provide the ultimate experience for customers. When you see what work needs to be done, get started immediately. When you walk in your customers’ and employees’ shoes, you enlarge yourself. Your perspective widens, and so does your concern about what’s important. The benefits you receive from changing your perspective will far exceed those reaped from a narrower focus that includes only the bottom line. Face the fact that you (and your brand!) are probably not as great as you think they are. You may or may not be aware of the Lake Wobegon Effect, but it is a phenomenon from which many of us and our businesses suffer. It’s the human tendency to think we are better than we actually are. And in business, the effects can be devastating. The problem is when you think your business is the best, you don’t work as hard to keep making it better. Always be ready to evaluate your brand. Constantly ask yourself | SEPTEMBER 2007 www.icmi.com 28 http://www.icmi.com
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