How to Create a Great Customer Experience For Your Contracting Customers That Will Drive Your Sales and Profits Through the Roof!

July 23, 2018
Category: Achieve Consistent Business Success,Business Tips,Eliminate Problems and Fires,Get and Keep Your Ideal Clients,Marketing and Sales

I want to share with you one of my favorite techniques for creating happier customers, more repeat business, more referrals and testimonials, higher conversion rates, higher prices, and lower marketing costs.

Are these things you want for your business?

I thought so! I know what you’re thinking, “One technique that can drive all of these positive outcomes in your business? Come on!” Sounds like magic doesn’t it? A little maybe, but it isn’t. Read on!

Try this simple technique used by many of the world’s great companies.

The technique I’m referring to is used by companies like Marriott and Disney to ensure they give their guests top-notch customer service. It is based on the simple idea that your marketing includes every way your business touches your customer or prospect.

What does this mean for you? It means is everything you do in your business: the way you answer the phone, the way you and your people dress, the quality of the service you give to your customers and how you follow-up afterwards. All these aspects influence the success (or failure) of your marketing and sales efforts.

The term marketing folks use to describe the entire experience a customer or prospect has with your business is called the “Customer Experience”. And each point of contact is called a “Moment Of Truth”. Each moment of truth has the potential to make or break the overall experience your customer or prospect has with you.

Doing great work may not be enough!

Let me give you an example. A couple of years ago my wife and I had our house painted. The painting company did a good job, but I would never recommend them to my friends. The reason has to do with the little things that made our customer experience less than great. Here are a few examples:

1. The owner called a week before our scheduled start date and told me he had a cancellation and he was going to start the next day, and he got mad at me when I told him I wasn’t ready;
2. The painters smoked on the driveway and left their butts there…which I hate;
3. The owner came over and yelled at his guys at the top of his lungs in our front yard one day (which was uncomfortable for us).

But the last straw came after the painters left.

In the center of the garage, I found all the paint cans piled up. This doesn’t sound like a big thing, right? But what do you do with old paint cans? The city I live in makes it almost impossible to get rid of them, so they still sit in my garage where every once in a while I trip over them, stub my toe or spill paint on the floor and get angry all over again. All he had to do was ask!

Obviously, my painter didn’t know about the importance of excelling at each moment of truth!

So how do you create a great customer experience?

Research shows only those customers who rate you a 9 or 10 on a 1-10 point satisfaction scale will gladly refer you to their friends. If they really love you, on average they will tell 5 friends. Not bad!

If you want customers to rave about your business, you need to examine each moment of truth you have with your prospects or customers—and find ways to improve each one.

Here are the key steps to creating a great customer experience.

1. Map out the key moments of truth in your client experience from the first time a prospect touches your business until after you’ve completed working with your customer.
2. After you’ve laid out the key moments of truth, look at what you’re actively doing in each moment.
3. Now, with the help of some customers, take each moment of truth and find ways to make it better. Some changes will only make a moment a little better. Others changes you make will really make the customer so impressed with your business that they will not only want to do more business with you, but refer you to their friends.
4. Make sure to create procedures and train your employees on the whole customer experience.
5. Repeat this exercise once a quarter.

Follow these steps consistently and you’ll make amazing improvements in your customer experience

Here’s an example of this technique in action:

When I was the head of market research for Courtyard Hotels, we mapped the moments of truth for a business traveler’s stay with us. One of the things we found was when business travelers check in late at night after a long plane flight or a busy day, many of them hadn’t eaten dinner. Our restaurant was closed, and our new guest didn’t want to go back out to find something to eat. All they wanted was a snack, and to go to sleep.

They told us if we could just have a sandwich, chips, and soda for them at check in, that would be perfect. So we put a little refrigerator at the front desk stocked with sandwiches sodas and chips and gave them for free to business travelers when they checked in late. They absolutely loved it. And we got so many compliments and referrals from that one idea.

Improving your customer experience really pays off in a big way!

By improving your customer experience, you will see a huge increase in your repeat business, referrals and testimonials. More referrals and testimonials will better differentiate you from your competition, and in turn, result in a higher customer conversion rate and higher prices.

Sounds like an activity that’s well worth the effort to me! So what are you waiting for? Let’s get started!

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