Greater Sandpoint Chamber: Creating a compelling customer experience — BLOOM
Mickey Quinn
In today's competitive business landscape, especially with the personalization and customization consumers experience online, how do small, local businesses compete? The secret lies in your people.
The interaction customers have with any employee they encounter within your business will create either a positive, negative, or neutral experience. Your goal is, of course, to create as many positive and memorable experiences as possible for your customers. You may have the best product or services, at the best prices, in the precise options customers want, but if the experience the customer has while engaging with your employees is less than pleasant, the customer will most likely choose not to purchase, and worse yet, tell everyone who will listen about their poor experience.
Training your team in how to deliver an exceptional experience for customers needs to be an on-going priority for every business owner. There is an easy acronym to help your team remember five simple steps to deliver a customized and personalized experience for every potential customer with whom they engage. The acronym is BLOOM.
B — BE AUTHENTIC. The top priority is to identify what the potential customer wants and needs. If your team isn't genuinely focused on helping customers, the customer will feel it. Encourage your team to speak with customers politely and professionally, but also with as much of their own personality as appropriate and possible. Encourage them to be genuine and authentic. This is the best way to build rapport with customers which will hopefully lead to a positive feeling that the customers will attribute to your business.
L — LISTEN. Your team members who interact with customers must have good listening skills. We communicate with words, but most of the messages we send and receive are from non-verbal cues. Our body language, how fast or slow we speak, whether we make eye contact, and how we use our hands are all examples of non-verbal cues that can help your employees determine what a customer needs and how to help them.
O — OFFER. Once your team member has learned what the customer wants and needs the next step is to offer their expertise by offering the products and services that best meet those wants and needs. This requires good product/service knowledge. Your team must have training in the various products and/or services your business offers. Solid training enables your team to confidently and knowledgeably help customers select what will meet their needs.
O — OPTIMIZE. Once the customer has their selection narrowed down to whatever it is they are purchasing, the next step is to optimize their purchase. This means offering items that compliment whatever they have selected. If the customer was buying a printer, you would want to be sure to offer additional ink/toner and paper. Encourage your team to think how they would feel if they were to get their purchase home and realize they were missing important items needed to make the purchase complete.
M — MAKE THEIR DAY. Include something that will surprise and delight your customer. When you deliver a memorable experience, your customers are more likely to tell their friends and come back because of that great experience. That little extra something is what makes all the difference.
Small, local businesses can make the customers’ experience so memorable and positive they will never forget how you made them feel. It starts and ends with your people. That is the secret weapon in today’s competitive business landscape.
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Mickey Quinn is the executive director of the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce.
