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The key to meeting and
exceeding the needs of your customers & clients is realising
that each one is on their own journey with your business. From
the moment a person becomes aware of your business and becomes a
prospect to the time they finish doing business with you - this
is their journey. Some people call it a customer lifecycle - the
key stages each of your prospects & customers go through.
This applies whether you
sell a product or a service. Creating a customer-centric
business is about ensuring that at each stage of the customer
lifecycle, the interaction your customer has with you is of
benefit to them but also totally & completely fulfils their
needs. Each person goes through the following stages in their
journey:
Awareness & Consideration >
Select & Buy > Initial Experience > Use, & Learn > Support >
Repurchase & Recommend
So, let's look at each
stage more closely:
Stage 1: Awareness
& Consideration
At this stage, you need to
consider what it is your potential customer wants & what it is
they'll be looking for. This means you need to consider how it
is they find out about you & how you get their attention. It is
likely they want to know how you can help them, what benefits
you can bring to them and whether what you offer will fulfil
their needs. In all your communications with them (all your
marketing materials), you need to make sure you provide them
with what they are looking for in a format that is easy for them
to access and understand.
Stage 2: Select &
Buy
Creating a customer-centric
business at this stage means you need to consider how easy it is
to buy from you. Generally making a customer jump through hoops
before they can purchase anything from you is not recommended
(unless you are trying to pre-qualify them for a specific
purpose, but that is another strategy). Making the selecting &
buying process as easy as possible for a potential customer is
key here...have you ever decided to purchase something from a
website, only to find the shopping cart & payment process
lengthy & tedious, which then makes you click off and go
elsewhere?
Stage 3: Initial
Experience
Post-purchase- or
buyer-remorse is the last thing you want your customers to have.
The process of deciding to buy something can be long & drawn out
(depending obviously upon the amount of investment required and
what it is a customer is purchasing). Once they have made a
decision, they often like to have that decision ratified. That
is, they like to be convinced that the decision they made is a
good one. If once, they actually purchased your product or
service, they experience initial problems with it, they are
highly likely to form an initial impression, which can
subsequently be hard to change, no matter how good your
subsequent customer service is. Get it right from the start and
there will be no buyer remorse to deal with.
Stages 4 & 5: Use &
Learn and Support
This is where you should
never take your eye off the ball, Just because you have
converted a customer, does not mean you can slack off when it
comes to taking care of them. Remember the concept of customer
lifetime value (how much your customer will spend with you the
total time they are your customer) and the fact that they may
refer & recommend others to you. All your customer interactions
at this stage are critical to keeping your existing customers
happy, wanting to purchase more from you, stay with you longer
and recommend you to their friends & family. Providing
exceptional customer care during these stages is where you have
an opportunity to really stand out from the crowd.
Stage 6: Repurchase
& Recommend
If you done all the
previous stages right, you are going to get to this stage – if
you haven’t, you won’t! And of course, it stands to reason that
if your customer has been delighted enough with your service to
repurchase from you, they will be more likely to recommend you
to friends & family.
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Lea Woodward is a
leading Business & Marketing Coach for small businesses who
specialises in working with Health & Wellness businesses. As
a former strategic management consultant with extensive
marketing knowledge, she can help you re-think your approach
to business success & help you achieve it. Lea provides a
range of business & marketing programs to help those on any
budget. Find out more & sign up for free monthly
teleseminars on her site,
http://www.businesscoachingprograms.com or find
out more about Lea on her blog at
http://www.leawoodward.com |
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