Tag Archives: customer loyalty

May 31, 2023 · 12:00 pm

The Three Principles to Build Customer Loyalty

Every week, in the month of June, I will offer each one of the Three Principles to Build Customer Loyalty. Why only three? Because nobody can remember Number Four. Who is the first President of the United States? Surely, George Washington. Who is Number Four? Who is the first person to walk on the moon? Neil Armstrong, of course. Who is Number Four? (By the way, the answers to who is Number Four are James Madison and Alan Bean.)

For starters, let me give you these simple definitions: Customer service is what you do for your customers. Customer experience or CX is how your customers feel about what you do. Customer experience management or CXM is what you do before, during, and after your customers feel about what you did. And customer loyalty is how your customers feel about what you did over and over again.

Speaking about customers and customer experience, business leaders are happy because customers leave satisfied with their product or service. But that’s not good enough. Satisfied customers will feel that their experience is good, not better, just average. Nobody raves about average. And satisfied customers will not return as soon as they find an experience that is better or a price that is less expensive. 

Rather than satisfying your customers, you have to deliver an experience that is better than satisfactory. Don’t treat your customers as they expect. And don’t treat your customers as you expect to be treated. Instead, treat them a little better than they expect. Don’t serve to satisfy them. Serve to WOW them. Your customers will have an emotional connection. The more emotional the connections, the more memorable the experiences, and the more loyal your customers are.

So here are Three Principles to Build Customer Loyalty. 

  • Principle One: Be the Customer.
  • Principle Two: Create Their Experience.
  • Principle Three: Be Magnificently Boring!

Once you understand the Three Principles to Build Customer Loyalty, then you need to consistently deliver them. When you do, your customers will be WOWED and happy, loyally returning again and again, raving to others on social media.

NEXT WEEK: Be the Customer.

#customerservice #customerexperience #customerloyalty #custserv #custexp #cx

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May 17, 2023 · 12:00 pm

Customers care about their metrics, not yours.

Customers pay for their experience, not your product or service. They buy with emotion and justify their decision with reason. Customers seek the best emotional value in their experience, not your logically reasonable price, product, or service.

The value to your customers is in their personal interactions, not your “cash or credit” business transactions. To earn customer loyalty, don’t get inside their heads. Get inside their hearts. Create an emotional connection. Think RELATIONSHIPS or Go Broke. Literally.

QUI QUOTE: Your customers don’t care about your NPS, CSAT, or CX metrics. They only care about theirs: One to One. Human to Human. Heart to Heart

#customerservice #customerexperience #custserv #custexp #cx

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May 10, 2023 · 12:00 pm

QUI QUOTES Reminders about Customers and Customer Service

English writer Samuel Johnson said, “People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed”. So I encourage you to remind yourself and your colleagues every day about each one of these 25 QUI QUOTES about customers and customer service.

FIRST BEST

First, be the best to your customers. Then, you will be the first among your competitors. When it comes to customers and customer service, don’t be just good. Be GREAT out there!

ACTION ATTITUDE

Thinking about customer service excellence doesn’t make it happen; doing something does. Customer service excellence is not an attitude. It’s action.

ACTION EXCUSES

To a complaining customer, when something is wrong, your explanation is an excuse. Customers want action, not excuses.

CARE BIG  

Customers don’t care how big your business is. They only care about how big you care about them. So CARE BIG!

CONSISTENCY

Customer loyalty is not one BIG WOW delivered to a customer. It’s one little wow delivered consistently to every customer. Consistency builds trust. Trust builds relationships. Relationships build loyalty. Loyalty builds your business. Deliver customer CARE consistently.

CUSTOMERS CARE

Don’t just serve to sell your products or services to customers. And don’t just serve to satisfy customers. Instead, serve to WOW them. Serve to CARE.

COMMUNICATE with each customer with a smile, eye contact, and polite interaction. Inform each customer transparently and interactively of the product’s or service’s function, liabilities, and advantages to them.

ACKNOWLEDGE each customer’s presence and value to you and your company.

RESPOND promptly and empathetically to each customer’s questions, concerns, and complaints.

ENRICH the experiences and, ultimately, the lives of every customer.

And when you CARE, each customer is WOWED and happy, intent on returning again and again, raving to others on social media. 

CUSTOMERS COMPLAIN

Take the perspective that customers complain because they want to help your business. Otherwise, they would walk away, saying nothing, with no intention of ever returning.

CUSTOMERS COMPLAIN VALUE

Your customers aren’t complaining about the price. They’re complaining about the value of their experience for the price you are asking them to pay.

CUSTOMERS DON’T CARE

Customers coming to your business today don’t care how good you were to other customers yesterday. And they don’t care how good you are to others tomorrow. Customers only care how good you are now – to them. So CARE BIG! Don’t be just good. Be GREAT out there!

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Customers are paying for their experience, not your service or product. They buy with emotion and justify their decision with reason. Customers seek the best emotional value in their entire experience, not the minutiae of your logically reasonable best prices, products, or services, virtual or physical locations, AI, ChatGPT, online or human customer support, and many other details of yours.

CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPERIENCE LOYALTY

Customer service is what you do for your customers. Customer experience is how your customers feel about what you did. Customer experience management is what you do before, during, and after you find out how customers feel about what you did. Customer loyalty is how your customers feel about what you did again and again.

EMOTIONAL CONNECTION

To earn customer loyalty, don’t get inside their heads. Get inside their hearts. Create an emotional connection. The more emotional the connections, the more memorable the experiences, and the more loyal the customers are. Loyal customers will return again and again, raving about you to others on social media.

EXPERIENCE RIGHT BOUGHT

You know you have customer experience right when customers don’t tell others what they bought. They tell them whom they bought it from.

FEEL RIGHT

A complaining customer is not always right. But he is always your customer. So do whatever it takes to make him feel right.

FIND KEEP

Your business success is not dependent on how many customers you find. It’s all about how many customers you keep.

FOCUS

Focus on saving your customers time versus saving the company money. Do that and you’ll earn more money than you would have saved.

HUMAN TO HUMAN

Customers don’t go to B2B or B2C companies. They engage companies that are H2H. Human to Human. One to One. Heart to Heart. Customers don’t care how big your company is. They only care about how big you care about them. So CARE BIG!

INTERACTION TRANSACTION

The value to your customers is in their personal interactions, not your “cash or credit” business transactions. Think RELATIONSHIPS or Go Broke. Literally.

LOYALTY

Customer loyalty is not earned by giving points to your customers for buying from you. It’s about delivering service so GREAT you don’t need to.

MAGNIFICENTLY BORING

Customer loyalty is not one BIG WOW to a customer. It’s one little wow delivered consistently to every customer. And when you consistently deliver a little wow, you transform a neutral customer experience into a positive one. So, be Magnificently Boring! Consistently deliver a low-cost, no-cost “a little better than the average experience that customers expect” product or service so repetitively that you feel it is boring, but to the customer, at that moment, you are Magnificent! Customers have an emotional connection with you. The more emotional the connections, the more memorable the experiences, and the more loyal the customers are. Your loyal customers will return again and again, raving about you to others on social media. Consistency builds trust. Trust builds loyalty. Loyalty builds your business. Deliver consistency Magnificently!

MAGNIFICENTLY BORING TO CARE

Be Magnificently Boring to CARE! Consistently CARE for your customers so repetitively that you feel it is boring, but to every customer, at that moment, you are Magnificent! Customers have an emotional connection with you. The more emotional the connections, the more memorable the experiences, and the more loyal the customers are. Loyal customers will return again and again, raving about you to others. Consistency builds trust. Trust builds relationships. Relationships build loyalty. Loyalty builds your business. CARE Magnificently!

MARKETING

Marketing is a promise to customers. Customer loyalty is not built on promises. It’s built on the consistent delivery of service that not only meets but rather exceeds customer expectations of the company’s marketing promises.

NEW MARKETING

Your New Marketing is not your advertising online to customers. It’s your customers raving about you to others on social media.

PERCEPTION

To customers, perception is reality,  image is everything, and feelings are facts. Customer experience is not about what you or your customers THINK AFTER their experience. It’s about how your customers FEEL DURING their experience.

RELATIONSHIPS

Think RELATIONSHIPS or Go Broke. Literally.

RENDER REMEMBER

It is not about the service you render. It’s about the experience your customers remember. 

SMILE

Good customer service means putting a smile on your face. GREAT customer CARE means putting a smile on your customers’ faces.

STORY

People are talking about you whether you know it or not, like it or not. World-class or no class. And if they’re not talking world-class or no class, then they’re simply not talking about you at all. Make sure you have them tell a WOW story with your GREAT customer CARE.

SUCCEED INNOVATE

When it comes to customers and customer service, if, at first, you don’t succeed, innovate until you do.

TECHNOLOGY

Not every customer experience can be made better with technology. Focus on the customer, not technology.

If you think 25 QUI QUOTES are a little more than I reminded you, you’re right. When you are in customer service, don’t just serve to sell to your customers. And don’t serve to satisfy your customers. Don’t treat your customers as they expect to be treated. And don’t treat your customers as you expect to be treated. Instead, treat your customers a little better than they expect to be treated. When it comes to customers and customer service, don’t be just good. Be GREAT out there!

#customerservice #customerexperience #customerloyalty #custserv #custexp #cx

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May 3, 2023 · 12:00 pm

Be Magnificently Boring to CARE!

Business leaders are happy because customers were satisfied with their product or service. But that’s not good enough. Satisfied customers feel that their experience was good, not better, just average. Nobody raves about average. And satisfied customers will not return as soon as they find an experience that is better or a price that is less expensive.

So don’t serve to sell to customers. And don’t serve to satisfy customers. Serve to WOW them. Serve to CARE.

  • COMMUNICATE with every customer with a smile, eye contact, and polite interaction. Inform each customer transparently and interactively of the product’s or service’s function, liabilities, and advantages to them.
  • ACKNOWLEDGE each customer’s presence and value to you and your business.
  • RESPOND promptly and empathetically to each customer’s questions, concerns, and complaints.
  • ENRICH the experiences and, ultimately, the lives of every customer.

And Be Magnificently Boring to CARE! Consistently CARE for your customers so repetitively that you feel it is boring, but to every customer, at that moment, you are Magnificent! Customers have an emotional connection with you. The more emotional the connections, the more memorable the experiences, and the more loyal the customers are. Loyal customers will return, again and again, raving about you to others. Consistency builds trust. Trust builds relationships. Relationships build loyalty. Loyalty builds your business. 

QUI Takeaway: Be Magnificently Boring to CARE! When you are Magnificently Boring to CARE, your customers are WOWED and happy, returning again and again, raving to others on social media.

#customerservice #customerexperience #customerloyalty #custserv #custexp #cx #hospitality

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January 11, 2023 · 12:00 pm

Customer CARE is the New Marketing

Through social media, people are talking about you whether you know it or not, like it or not. Customers who are dissatisfied with your service rant about their no class experience to others. They’re not just talking about you to their friends on social media. They’re telling everyone, even complete strangers.

If they’re not talking no class, then they’re just not talking about you at all. Customers who are satisfied with your service feel that their experience is good, not better, just average. Nobody raves about average. And satisfied customers won’t come back when they find something better or less expensive.

So don’t just serve to sell your products or services to customers. And don’t just serve to satisfy customers. Instead, serve to WOW them. Serve to CARE.

  • COMMUNICATE with every customer with a smile, eye contact, and polite interaction. Inform each customer transparently and interactively of the product’s or service’s function, liabilities, and advantages to them.
  • ACKNOWLEDGE each customer’s presence and value to you and your company.
  • RESPOND promptly and empathetically to each customer’s questions, concerns, and complaints.
  • ENRICH the experiences and, ultimately, the lives of every customer.

And when you CARE, each customer is WOWED and happy, intent on returning again and again, raving to others on social media. 

The New Marketing is not advertising online to your customers. It’s your customers raving about you to others on social media.

QUI QUOTE: Customer CARE is the New Marketing.

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April 1, 2022 · 12:18 pm

QUI QUOTE: Nobody raves about a company that meets customer expectations.

QUI QUOTE: Nobody raves about a company that meets customer  expectations.

When you are working in customer service, you have been happy that your customers leave satisfied. You have sold them a product or service that meets their wants or needs. Or you solved their problem for them. You were happy because, in the end, you met their expectations and they were satisfied.

But that’s not good enough. Satisfied customers feel service is good, not better, just average. Nobody raves about average. And satisfied customers will leave when they find something better or less expensive.

So don’t serve to satisfy customers. Don’t treat customers as they would have expected. Instead, treat them a little better than they want to be treated. Serve to WOW them.

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February 15, 2022 · 12:00 pm

Don’t offer customer service training. Develop your people with customer CARE education.

Don’t offer customer service training. Training is finite, usually only one to several days. Training is top-down, one-way “I know everything, you know nothing” instruction. Training is the how and what of service. Training is to develop THE BUSINESS. In the end, training is for a job. And the job of employees is to serve to satisfy the customer. The mission is to TAKE CARE of the customer.

Instead, have customer CARE education. Don’t have trainers or instructors. Have mentors and coaches. Your education is interactive and frequent. Your education is the how, what, and, why of service excellence. As mentors, educate your students with role-playing customer CARE (Communicate, Acknowledge, Respond, Enrich) actions to practice their soft skills. Your students will learn and appreciate the value of appearance standards, telephone etiquette, service recovery, and customer care. After “graduation”, as coaches, remind the people interactively, frequently, and continuously of your customer CARE excellence strategies. With suggestions, recommendations, and encouragement, empower your people to develop THEMSELVES. Your people will be enthused and energized to engage customers. They will create an emotional connection with your customers. The more emotional the connection, the more memorable the experience, the more loyal the customer. And everyone’s lives will be enriched. Your passion is to CARE for everyone, your people and customers alike.

And, yes, educate everyone. If you’re not caring for the customer, you darn well better be caring for the person who is.

When you create a great experience for people as much as you do for customers, you will earn the loyalty of both. And soon, without your focus on profits, profits will grow.

#customerservice #customerservicetraining #training #custserv

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February 7, 2022 · 12:00 pm

Don’t serve to satisfy customers. Serve to WOW them.

Don’t serve to satisfy customers. Serve to WOW them.

We don’t have a “Peak-End Rule”. Customers don’t “journey” sequentially over time, from start to finish. They journey emotionally with “ow” and “WOW moments”. The more ow or WOW, the more emotional the moment, the more memorable the experience. The more ow, the more disgustingly memorable the experience, the more disloyal the customer. The more WOW, the more delightfully memorable the experience, the more loyal the customer.

So when we analyze the journey, we first ask, “What are the customers’ expectations? Then we ask, “What are the potential dissatisfiers and how can we remove them?” And when we ask and take action, a negative customer experience has turned into a neutral one. But that’s not good enough. Satisfied customers feel that their experience is good, not better, just average. Nobody raves about average. And satisfied customers will leave when they find something better or less expensive.

So don’t serve to satisfy customers. Don’t treat customers as they would have expected. And don’t treat them as they want to be treated. Instead, treat them a little better than they want to be treated. Serve to WOW them.

Customer loyalty is not one BIG WOW to a customer. It’s one little wow delivered consistently to every customer. And when you consistently deliver a little wow, you transform a neutral customer experience into a positive one. 

So Be Magnificently Boring! Consistently deliver a low-cost, no-cost “a little better than the average experience that customers expect” product or service so tediously repetitive that you feel it is boring, but to the customer, at that moment, you are Magnificent! For retailers, start opening 10 minutes earlier and closing 10 minutes later. For hotels, offer bottled water at arrival or departure. For auto service repair businesses, wash the car before returning the vehicle. For fine dining restaurants, personalize the menu with the customers’ names. Customers have an emotional connection with you. The more emotional the connection, the more memorable the experience, the more loyal the customer. And loyal customers will return again and again, raving about you to others along the way. Consistency builds trust. Trust builds loyalty. Loyalty builds your business. Deliver consistency Magnificently!

#customerservice #customerexperience #customerloyalty #custserv #custexp #cx

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January 10, 2022 · 12:00 pm

When It All Comes Down to Business, It’s “People First”

For many years, there has been a stranglehold of the “Profits over People” mentality in business. Senior executives care about top-line revenue, product and labor costs, market share, the stock price, bottom-line profits, and even their competitors, more than their people. Listening to the sweet cha-ching sound of profits, these bad bosses do not hear their grumbling employees and complaining customers many hierarchical rungs below. Even if bosses could hear, they would wear noise-canceling headphones, oblivious to the employees’ concerns and customer complaints. And “Profits over People” bad bosses would demand “My way or the highway” to the employees. Bad bosses didn’t care much about employees and employees could care less about their bosses or customers. 

Today, instead of focusing on “Profits over People”, envision “People First” as the solid foundation for everlasting business success. One caveat is “Employees First”. Managers will always see people as “employees”. Despite preaching “Employees First”, senior leaders would always have the rank and file employees “first”, on the bottom of the ladder, well below the leaders.

Recognizing “People First”, leaders will CARE for their people.

  • COMMUNICATE openly, transparently, interactively, and frequently any information that their people need and want to know. Listen empathetically to the people’s suggestions, concerns, and complaints. Express compassion with their recommendations and encouragement.
  • APPRECIATE the important roles, responsibilities, and efforts of their people.
  • RECOGNIZE, honor, and offer accolades for individual and team achievements, accomplishments, and acts of service to colleagues or customers.
  • EMPOWER people to make the right decisions for themselves, their colleagues, customers, and their business.

Whether it’s the turmoil of the pandemic, Skimpflation, or The Great Resignation, businesses will invigorate the New Normal with the “People First” culture. No longer are people taking second or third seats to customers or profits.

This cultural transformation of “People First” and the leadership commitment to CARE will enthuse and energize people to be engaged with their colleagues, customers, and the business.

When we create a great experience for people as much as we do for customers, we will earn the loyalty of both. And soon, without our focus on profits, profits will follow. And everyone, our people and our customers, will be enriched, literally and figuratively.

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January 3, 2022 · 12:00 pm

It’s time for a Customer Service Culture Transformation to Customer CARE

Is customer service the frontline? Really? Are we called to duty on the frontline battling customers? Doctors and nurses don’t serve their ailing patients. They care. So shouldn’t customer service be customer care? Or even better …

We are the Customer CARE team.

We CARE for each member of our team:

  • COMMUNICATE openly, transparently, interactively, and frequently any information that our people need and want to know. Listen empathetically to the people’s suggestions, concerns, and complaints. Express compassion with our recommendations and encouragement.
  • APPRECIATE the important roles, responsibilities, and efforts of our people.
  • RECOGNIZE, honor, and offer accolades for individual and team achievements, accomplishments, and acts of service to colleagues or customers.
  • EMPOWER our people to make the right decisions for themselves, their colleagues, customers, and their business.

We CARE for each customer:

  • COMMUNICATE with every customer with a smile, eye contact, and polite interaction. Inform each customer transparently and interactively of the product’s or service’s function, liabilities, and advantages to them.
  • ACKNOWLEDGE each customer’s presence and value to us.
  • RESPOND promptly and empathetically to each customer’s questions, concerns, and complaints.
  • ENRICH the experiences and, ultimately, the lives of every customer.

And when we CARE, each customer is wowed and happy, intent on returning again and again, raving to others along the way.

Customer service is for a job. If all a person did was for a job, then it would be to satisfy a customer. Satisfied customers feel that customer service is good, but not more than was expected, just average. Nobody raves about average. And satisfied customers may leave when they find something better or less expensive. So don’t have a job that satisfies customers.

Instead, invest in Customer CARE to develop your people to wow your customers. And when your people are energized and engaged to enthuse your customers, everyone’s lives will be enriched.

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