A Successful business is built around making customers ecstatic.
Why ecstatic?
Because ecstatic customers make your life easier. They engage with you, they help you help them. They pay well and gladly. Most importantly, they tell others.
How do you define ecstatic?
Start by thinking about times you felt ecstatic yourself? What was it about the experience? What emotions? Who, how, where, when, why? Which of your values was triggered? Which of your pains was alleviated?
Ask your favourite customers what makes them happiest and focus on providing that. You know your customers share your view, or they wouldn’t be your customers, they are not exactly like you. There will be an array of options you can add. Ask to make sure you add the ones important to your customers. That may mean a menu of sorts that they can choose. Think about the different things our specialty retailer can offer: a large selection or a carefully curated selection; off the shelf, or customized; available immediately or ordered in; fully prepared/assembled or DIY.
Help them share their story
You can share their story, in fact your best marketing will be telling the stories of your favourite customers. Don’t bother talking about what you sell, talk about the results your best customers got: a more relaxed/functional/elegant home so they can enjoy/entertain/recharge more. A better running car means less fuel used and less worry. The right business strategy gives you more profit, in less time with less stress. See what I mean? Talk about your client’s results.
Ask them to reflect on what results they are getting with you. Usually people don’t think that deeply, so even having this conversation will get them thinking – and talking to others.
Ask if you can quote them and put it on your website and in your social media. Make it easy for them to share that. Get them thinking about results and then help them with the words and the way to tell that story.
Not everyone is your customer
Sometimes not making people happy isn’t your fault and in fact, they may simply not be your customer. You know the customers I mean. They are the ones who want more than is reasonable, in unreasonable timelines, without engaging. Then they complain about the price.
Try to please everyone and you won’t please anyone. Focus on exactly what your best customers really want and never mind the rest. I’ve seen specialty retailers paying for expedited shipping, when their customers were happy to wait to get exactly what they wanted.
Your customers are the ones who have the same view of the world (around your thing) and they value what you find easy to give.Let’s go back to our specialty retailer. Her customers will be the ones who share her view whether that is environmental, fair trade, high quality or unusual.
Price isn’t a factor
This may be another clue that the person in front of you is not your customer. If all they care about is price, they are not your customer. Let them go to a lower-priced option. You will never out Walmart, Walmart. Regardless of what field you are in, there will be a Walmart or Walmart wannabe. Let them go.
Your customers understand the value you offer and what you offer them is exactly what they need. Trying to do this at a lower price will mean you won’t have excess capacity to give them those little extras that make the difference or you will begin to resent giving those extras, or both.
The difference between an ordinary experience and an ecstatic-inducing one is a surprisingly small increment of attention to detail. If you are forever moving on to the next person and the next in order to make rent, you won’t be able to attend to those little details.
Make your customers ecstatic and make your business and life, more profitable, easier and less stressful.
You know the 100 things you could be doing right now to make your life and business better. How would you like to know the 3 most important things and how to do them? That’s what the Business Owners Success Club can do for you. Join now.