Your Next Customer Is Not Being Told

Most businesses miss the opportunity under their nose. They look past their customer rather than at their customer. Your current customer has your future customers. They just are not telling you. 

Nothing Memorable

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What is a referral? It is trust. When you give a referral, you feel that you are risking something, namely your reputation. Your customer feels the same way. So why would they risk telling anyone about your business if there was nothing memorable. Here are three reasons your customers do not bring you more business:

  1. You merely TRANSACTED. There was not an experience. You exchanged money for goods or services. There is nothing to talk about. “Yes, they can show you a car to buy.” Or “They get your clothes clean with their dry cleaning.” Customer service is expected. It is not something to tell others about.
  2. You did not CONNECT. People want to feel an experience, not consume a commodity. When you show at a restaurant, have you ever been greeted by your name? It is completely different than being given a buzzer and told to sit in a corner or being ignored. You want the owner to come out and check in on your life and family. How do you connect in the flow of the customer’s experience? Is it orchestrated?
  3. You do not POSITION. Whatever you do, you are a commodity. You play a script that the customer has seen and they know the routine. Do you elevate how you are perceived? Do you use the customer experience as an orchestrated method for raising that perception? If not, you are seen as the stereotype, not the remarkable type they are craving.

Making Memories

You are a consumer and you have clip_image005forgotten a myriad of advertisements. You have not told your friends about a lot of businesses with good service that you have used. You resist buying when you feel you are being sold. You are a consumer and do what your customers do. To win in the new economy, you must deliver the following:

  1. Something REMARKable. Give people something to remark about.
  2. A world-class SHOW. Is how you do business as a process giving your customer or an experience? What is the flow, the show, the props, the script?
  3. CARE. Does your customer feel your business method is personal to them?
  4. SYSTEMS. Does your customer experience have a framework that is consistent? Or is it different for every new customer. Make it repeatable and systematic.

How you do business is the best selling tool for your future business. Your customers have more customers. If they are not telling you who they are, examine your business.

June 19, 2008 · Filed Under Service

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