I’d Like to Repeat and Recommend That Experience. In Blackboard Fridays Episode 93, Greg talks about Customer Journey. Need this implemented into your business? Talk to the international business advisor who can do exactly that – Contact Jacob, Learn More, or Subscribe for Updates.
In another of our awesome guest hosts, please allow me to welcome Greg Smith from Masters of Client Retention.
You are almost certainly aware (through research … or your own trial and error) that continuing to service your existing clients is far more profitable than constantly having to find new clients. But HOW do you do that?
Greg and his network have developed this 5 Step Client Retention process … and he’s quick to point out that it’s an ecosystem, not a linear process, with humans at the centre. The success of every business is your customers, so delight them … or your competitors soon will !
Enjoy some time with Greg – you can see in just a few minutes why he is so much fun to work with.
Who is Jacob Aldridge, Business Coach?
“The smart and quirky advisor who gets sh!t done in business.” Back independent since 2019.
Since April 2006, I’ve been an international business advisor providing bespoke solutions for privately-owned businesses with 12-96 employees.
At this stage you have proven your business model, but you’re struggling to turn aspirations into day-to-day reality. You are still responsible for all 28 areas of your business, but you don’t have the time or budget to hire 28 different experts.
You need 1 person you can trust who can show you how everything in your business is connected, and which areas to prioritise first.
That’s me.
Learn more here. Or Let’s chat.
Transcript
Have you ever interacted with a business where your emotional response has been oh wow, that was a great or positive experience that I’d like to repeat and recommend to my friends, family, and colleagues?
If we workshopped your experiences that were positive with businesses, we would hopefully find a few great examples. If I then asked you to list experiences with businesses that have left you feeling dismissed, forgotten, not called back or cared for, I assert that this second list would be much longer.
Hi, I’m Greg Smith, Chief Customer Officer at The Masters of Client Retention. I add value for small to medium enterprises by helping ensure consistent, empathetic, and engaging staff and customer experiences. I help create the Disney for you and your business.
Today I would like to share The Masters of Client Retention five step client retention system. I’d like you toote right up front that this is more an ecosystem than a linear, sequential process. The reason for that is that human beings are at the center of most B2B and B2C relationships. Humans make purchasing decisions emotionally and then justify rationally. They are consistently non-linear.
To emphasize some points here I’m going to compare two similarly priced hotels that I experienced with my wife just last week in Perth. I’ll call them hotel one and hotel two.
So the step one in the system is to empathize, to care. This is about seeing the world from your customer’s perspective. The simple requirement here is that your team and your customers know that you care. A team that believes that they are cared for is mandatory if you are to provide extraordinary customer experiences.
Caring is profitable. So at hotel one last week there was a challenge with parking at the hotel when we unexpectedly hired a car and just needed two hours parking. We were told that short term parking was against company policy. The reception staff gestured that us and our car were dismissed and unimportant.
At hotel two, same car, half a day later, on arrival they helped us unload our bags at the front of the hotel, quickly explained the parking options, and offered to extend our short term parking until we checked in and sorted things out. Such a small difference in attitude, but a massive difference in our emotional response.
Step two is to engage, to be real. This is about team mindset and attitude. Engagement is built around a wonderful South African word. “Ubuntu” It means I am more, we are more, because you are in our world. We appreciate you choosing us and not the competition because it allows us to serve, to do what we love to do, to bring about the change that we seek to make.
You, as the customer, are appreciated. This is about being real, human, and authentic. So at hotel two every single employee we met smiled and acknowledged us, so much so that I asked if their guest focused behavior was part of their training. The senior manager smiled at my question and said no, it’s just part of how we choose who we hire.
Step three is to create a wow, to delight, so finding ways to delight your customers or the competition soon will. If two businesses operationally similar on quality and price it is inevitable that the first one to create a wow, some theater, some extraordinary extra will outperform the others.
Each day there are 70,000 people that go to work at Disney Florida. I recently asked my 19 year old daughter to do some homework, to ask just five employees what their role at Disney was. They all said, “to make people happy.” Wow. What’s your version of wow in your business?
Step four in the five step process is to create experiences. And the reason for that is that human beings do not recall stuff. Soon after buying a new car, the new car smell goes away and it needs servicing, washing, and maintaining. The second happiest day in my life is the day I bought my boat.
The point of that truism is that what is recalled, what gets stored in our memories, are the experiences we had on that boat, the sun, the sand, the people, the fish, and the storms. Your customers won’t recall what you sold them or what you said. They will recall how you made them feel, the experience that you created for them.
So back to hotel two, we felt welcomed. When we arrived in our room there was a personal hand written note from the general manager of the hotel, just two bottles of water, and some local artisan chocolates on the table in our room. Experiencing such a simple welcome made us feel as though it was our hotel. Who does that?
Step five in the five step system is to be loyal. So assuming absence of psychosis, trauma, or other extremes of the human condition, loyalty breeds loyalty. When things go wrong, and they will, close the loop. Apologize. Take responsibility and the opportunity to provide an extra wow. Blaming, shaming, or justifying destroys loyalty.
Again, back to our hotel, when we decided to stay longer at hotel two, we ended up with a 30% discount off the rack rate and breakfast thrown in. They recognized our loyalty. Not only that, we felt like it was really our hotel and we will now always migrate towards that brand.
The system is simple. Empathize, engage, delight, create experiences, and be loyal. But that’s not easy. It takes emotional labor in an otherwise busy business. To assist businesses like yours in a simple, impactful way, the Masters of Client Retention in partnership with Wow Your Client Wizard will produce hand written branded business greeting cards with your message enclosed. These arrive in artistic, wax-sealed envelopes to your specifications. Just one way of engaging and delighting will help you profit. Thanks.
Next Steps
Want to learn more about how this can apply to your business? It costs nothing to chat:
- Email me jacob@jacobaldridge.com (I read them all)
- Call, Text, or WhatsApp me +61 427 151 181
- Or just Subscribe https://jacobaldridge.com/about/subscribe-to-jacob-aldridge-com/ to stay in touch
