3 Ways To Create An Awesome Customer Experience

With so many choices, why should customers choose you? How does your business stand out from the crowd?

You can compete on price but where does that leave you in the end? There is only so much you can drop without cutting into your bottom line. And do you really want to differentiate yourself based on price? You can’t win because there will always be something cheaper, but not necessarily better.

Make your customer’s experience outstanding (okay, let’s start with good!) and they will come back. And most likely tell their friends too.

Real Life Story:

I have really curly hair which up until the age of 18, I didn’t really know how to manage. Why? Everywhere I went hairdressers tried to cut and style my hair for that of a straight-haired person. I would end up with this really awesome look that didn’t suit my hair type and of course, I could not reproduce.

Enter Allison. I was introduced to her through my sister who had heard about her through one of her friends.

She changed…….everything.

Not only did she look at my hair and “get it”, she actually was interested in me as a person as well. She didn’t try to sell me something that wasn’t going to work for me and would be honest when I would ask for something that wasn’t realistic. Not to mention, getting an haircut from Allison is like visiting an old friend. She doesn’t just make small-talk but rather remembers small details and asks about what’s going on in my life and so on (and I only go 2-3x a year). It’s like therapy!

I’ve now been seeing her for….13 years!! (Did I just give away my age?!) What I’m trying to get at is, it is the experience as well as the service that she is providing. I’m sure I could have found hundreds of other qualified hairdressers but Allison has built a relationship that goes beyond the haircut. And that is priceless. And I’ve told countless others about her.

3 Ways to be as Awesome as Allison:

• Treat your customers as individuals. Let big corporations go with the peanut butter/one size fits all approach. Be flexible and allow yourself to tailor some of your services to your customers needs, after all when you are just starting out customers raving about you outweighs scalability.
• Listen. When your customer tells you they have a busy schedule don’t try to get them to sign up for a work-out regimen that requires a commitment of 5x a week. Yes, it is better for them but will they stay committed? They will probably get frustrated and drop out and associate the negative experience with you.
• Be Real: As a small business owner, you have a chance to get to know your customers on a much more personal level than the big box corporation.  Take the time to ask your customers how they are doing, how you can better help them and  get their input on your products.  You might think -“I don’t want to be friends with my customers” but there is nothing wrong with being friendly and relating to them. Let the big-box corporation be indifferent, nameless and faceless. This makes you different and sets you apart.

Anything to add? What do you do to stand-out?

Have you had that an awesome customer experience? Where no matter the choice available you will go somewhere because of the customer service and relationship you have?