Memorable customer interactions.
Every time a customer has a contact with your business, it needs to be amazing.
Whether it is the first or one hundredth time they engage in your website, receive an email from you, a voice message, have a face-to-face meeting, enter your office, shop, or warehouse, they need to go away feeling good and that the experience was above and beyond what they expected.
Make a list of every time a potential or established customer may interact with your business. What is that experience like currently, and how could it be improved.
I recently visited the Kathmandu Store in New Plymouth for the first time, and I got that feeling. Nobody jumped down my throat as I walked in the door, but I received a friendly welcoming hello instead. After they allowed me some time to look around, they realised I couldn’t find what I was looking for, so they offered some help. The assistant knew exactly where to find what I wanted and knew the product well.
The previous weekend, I had put up my new tent I had purchased elsewhere and to my surprise, a gust of wind, picked it up and moved it from one end of my property to the other. I obviously needed more substantial pegs. The Kathmandu assistant informed me that they did not sell pegs separately, but they may have some out the back in their bits and pieces bag. Sure enough, they had just what I was looking for.
“How much are they?” I asked.
“These are free”, came the reply. Well, that was a nice surprise.
“We have quite a bit of stock at 40% off currently, is there anything else you might be looking for?” asked the assistant. Not pushy or sounding like it was something they just had to say to upsell. For me a sale needs to have at least 30% off before I even bat an eyelid, so this caught my interest!
I walked out of the shop with a very nice 40% off thermos for my camping trips and was a very happy customer.
I think I told about four or five other people how good my experience was at Kathmandu. One of them was my sister who visited the store the next day and made four purchases! Now that’s what I would call a highly successful customer care strategy.
