CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

IF YOU’RE GUILTY OF CARING MORE ABOUT YOUR BOTTOM LINE THAN ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMERS THEN IT’S TIME FOR SOME GENUINE TLC. MAT WYLIE EXPLAINS.

years, we worked with a business who was all about TLC. But in their organisation, TLC didn’t stand for tender loving care. To their team, TLC stood for ‘Think Like a Customer’ – and that drove everything they did.

As businesses, we can all do more to provide tender loving care to our customers. But taking it one step further to really think like a customer? Now that’s what sets businesses apart.

This business made TLC the focus of their entire company – they were so committed to being connected with their customers that their general manager would walk around with a cellphone in a cover that read ‘TLC’. Any customer complaints were redirected straight to her to deal with immediately, while staff were consistently encouraged to consider things from their customers’ perspectives.

TLC is a challenge to flip your thinking to be from the outside in; to consider the customer’s perspective before your own (customer-first thinking instead of company-first).

But beyond having a phone clipped to your belt, what exactly does TLC look like in practice?

It’s all about asking yourself and your team some tough questions. When making any decision, consider:

• What would this change for the

customer? It may cut costs for

you, but will it benefit them?

• Will this mean your customers are less satisfied? Could that lead to customer churn?

• What impact will this have on your business long-term? If it has a negative impact on the customer, are you prioritising short-term gain over long-term success?

• What do your customers actually want and need out of this area of your business?

Thinking in this way can have a significant impact on your reputation, your customers’ loyalty, and your long-term success.

Take another of our clients,

John Franich Jewellers. They focus their entire business on the customer experience, knowing that their business relies on repeat customers and a great reputation. They talk to their customers instore, collect feedback every day, and offer fantastic incentives for people to respond to so that they know they’re accessing as wide a cross-section of their customers as possible. Their commitment to exceeding customer expectations is what led them to win the Customer Experience Award in the 2017 Top Shop Awards, and their raving fans are a great indicator that their laser focus on thinking like a customer has paid off.

LESS OLD HABITS

For the rest of us, the challenge can be breaking old habits and assumptions. Too often, we assume we know what our customers want and need instead of taking the time to find out exactly how they think and feel. So how can you best ensure you’re able to think like your customers? • Have ongoing conversations with your customers to understand how changes you make will affect them and/or their business – start with those who come in regularly or are in your loyalty programme.

• Set up a customer panel – a group of customers who you can run ideas past and get their honest feedback (this could have some kind of incentive attached to build engagement).

• Ask them every day – collect validated, real-time feedback so you can start to see trends and gather an idea of what all of your customers want and need.

A lack of care is a flaw in any business – as is caring about your bottom line more than you do your customers.

If you put your own business before your customers, you’ll never achieve the growth you’re after. That’s why TLC is so important. It’s both thinking like a customer and providing tender loving care.

You see, if you think like a customer, you’re showing just how much you care – which creates genuine loyalty. And that’s how you’ll grow a successful business.

“Too often, we assume we know what our customers want and need instead of taking the time to find out exactly how they think and feel.”