Graham McGregor: Two important things every customer wants

9:30 AM Tuesday Oct 9, 2012

There are two things every client and customer wants from you:

In his great little book called How to win and keep Customers author Michael Le Bouef notes that every customer really wants two things when they buy any product or service.

The first thing they want is a solution to a problem.

The second thing they want is to feel good.

They want to feel good about the product or service they have just purchased.

They want to feel good about the business they purchased the product or service from.

And they also want to feel good about themselves after they have made their purchase.

When a customer or client feels good they are far more likely to make a repeat purchase of this product or service and recommend other people to buy it from your business.

So how do you get your customers and clients to feel good?

Try these two simple ideas:

DWYPYWD:
A number of consumers were surveyed and asked the question "Why do you buy where you presently buy? In other words why you chose your present bank, why you bought groceries at a certain store, why you shopped with a certain travel agent.

The major, overriding, specific reason clients come back again and again to your business is summarised in these letters. DWYPYWD. They stand for "Do What You Promised You Would Do".

Isn't it amazing that by simply doing what you say you would do you can create loyal customers?

The Punctual Plumber:
An extremely successful plumber has a simple way of making his clients feel good. He always shows up exactly on time. So if he tells you he will be there at 10am in the morning that's exactly when he will arrive.

Do you know how rare it is for most trade's people to consistently turn up at the time they said they would?

This plumber does and it makes his clients feel great.

And he also gets a ton of repeat and referral business.

Remember customers have 'memories like elephants' when it comes to remembering when a person doesn't do what they said they would do!

MMFI:
One of our prime responsibilities is to make customers feel good about themselves and good about us every time we deal with them. A good way to do this is to pretend that every customer you meet has a large invisible sign around their neck that has four letters on it. All we have to do as business people is to respond to that sign.

The letters are MMFI and stand for Make Me Feel Important. We can do this with a smile, a thank you note, a follow up phone call and a hundred other ways. Every time we do this we improve the relationship and increase our opportunities for further business with that customer.

The Friendly Fitness Centre:
The owner of a successful fitness centre uses the MMFI idea well. He makes sure that when any client comes into his business that they greeted with a warm smile and their name. 'Hello John nice to see you. Hi Mary thanks for coming in.' This makes his clients feel great and they enjoy coming in to use his facilities.

'Loyal customers, they don't just come back, they don't simply recommend you, they insist that their friends do business with you' Chip Bell, Founder Chip Bell Group

Action Exercises:
1: Write down after five or more customer conversations this week the answer to the question "What did I say I would do for this customer?" Then make sure you do it!

2: Write down 5 ways you could make a customer feel important this week. Put into action two of these ideas within the next 24 hours. The better your clients 'feel' when they do business with you the more successful you will be