Building relationships between people is powerful because people fundamentally buy from people. If you want to build trust with your customers, get to know them. They’ll come back for more! This loyalty-and-repeat process will build a moat around your business to protect its long-term profitability. The first step is to shift the focus from “changing behaviour” to “changing heart”. The second is about practices and tools that get the whole organization committed to ‘wowing’ customers at every opportunity. Here are six ways to do the “wow”.

Customer focus

Make sure every customer is welcomed and you have as much information as you can about them. I’m talking here about more than getting contact info and purchasing details. Gather their preferences, needs, interests, and details such as likes, and dislikes. This kind of “detective work” is easy to do these days through CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems. Then, don’t stop at gathering information. Talk to and touch customers through the year. In other words, communicate. It isn’t possible for all businesses but may find it invaluable to assign a contact person from the organization to every customer.

Measure customer satisfaction

Constantly measure customer satisfaction and aim to exceed their expectations. Don’t just say we offer the best value; prove it with every contact. Don’t rely on automated surveys via email; speak with them. Don’t send customers to your website for everything and don’t let them wait when they call. And by all means don’t avoid them when they walk through your store! Every contact with a customer is an opportunity to know more about them and uncover a new need. If you have a customer who doesn’t come back, find out why. In short, if you can find out what was missing, then you’ll know how to build their loyalty.

Tie compensation to results

There’s a famous business quote that says, “what gets measured gets done”. Your ability to execute as an organization in terms of measurement makes all the difference. Most businesses fail to tie employee compensation to performance. Tying compensation to results takes more effort but aligns employee performance to corporate objectives and helps build solid, engaged, performing teams. You see the results every day with sports teams. The winning teams are managed through rigorous statistics that track both individual and team performance.

Celebrate and reward customers and employees

Celebrating and rewarding positive behaviour invites more of the same. Celebrating progress also is a great motivational tool. Reward customers for their loyalty, and employees for their engagement and performance. You may not be where you want, but you’re not where you were. You made progress. Celebrate this progress as you build momentum to reaching your ultimate goal. One of the best ways to build these solid relationships is through customer and employee events.

Preserve your reputation

Competitors can duplicate almost anything but not your team. That can be the difference for you. Remember what Warren Buffet once said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” Big advertising budgets and clever public relations can give the illusion that all is okay, but people do not forgive easily and rarely forget. Better to take the high road, and foster integrity and ethics in your organization. Adhering to a strong set of core values builds a solid cultural foundation for success.

Sales leads and referrals

Testimonials and referrals are powerful tools to gain new business. They are way more effective than advertising because others are praising you rather than you telling everyone how good you are! Train your team to look for sales leads and reward them for leads that generate new customers. Encourage customers to refer prospects and reward them for recommendations resulting in new business.

Senior Managers on the front line

Spending time on the front-line makes for a nimbler, efficient, and winning organization. With time and numerous responsibilities, senior executives and managers tend to lose their direct contact with customers and front-line workers. More time is dedicated to planning strategies, budgets, recruitments, staff meetings, etc. There is nothing wrong with that, but spending time on the front line, whether with customers and/or employees, is crucial for knowing first-hand how the organisation is serving customers and generating profits. In addition, customers and front-line employees are usually the best source for feedback and suggestions.

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