5 Ways to Delight Your Customers Every Day

Ben Yoskovitz at Instigator Blog is hosting a Blog About 5 Things Week, so I thought I would share my list of 5 Ways to Delight Your Customers every day. It's a GREAT! way to make people happy, from first encounter to the end.

1. Greet customers with energy - Don't just say hello, say Good morning, say Good afternoon, say something and say it with energy!
2. Repeat their name - If a customer is kind enough to share their name with you, repeat it back to them when appropriate. If they care enough to say their name, you should too!
3. Encourage them to share their story - Find out why they called or stopped in, if they've had this service in the past, if they have kids, anything to get them talking so you can find something in common to make an authentic connection to and get to know them better.
   
4. Ask clarifying questions to determine the real need, and uncover what wasn't said that should have. Ask if there's more you can do, ask if the solution works for them, ask something, ask anything, but uncover what you need to in order to get a delighted customer.
   
5. Thank you - Even if the customer doesn't buy you from you today, thank them for stopping in, thank them for sharing their story, thank them for talking to you, thank them for something. And if they do buy, it's obvious you should thank them for the sale!
   and one more...
   
6. Follow-up! - The exclamation point of any contact is a call back after the sale or service is done, and find out if your customer got what they needed or if the item is working the way they expected it to, or if perhaps there is more that needs to be done. This ensures customers are delighted, and if they're not, it gives you a chance to make it up to them, right then and there. You do want delighted customers, don't you?
   

So that's the GREAT! way to delighting your customers, every day. It's simple, and easy to understand. These steps can be very easy to do if you consciously put them into practice every day.

I'm sure there are many other ways you can delight your customers. Do tell: What other tips do you do to delight YOUR customers?

[Phil Gerbyshak tries to delight every customer he comes into contact with, on his blog, on the street, and in his job. While it doesn't happen every time, it happens often enough that Phil can speak with some authority on this topic. He readily admits he doesn't know everything about customer service, and welcomes your feedback on how he can improve.]


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Comments

[Maria Palma]

Phil,

These are GREAT! tips and I thank you for giving me much inspiration ;) I like the idea of encouraging customers to share their story. Creating a bond or connection with your customer is what true customer service is all about!

[Tony D. Clark]

Okay, Maria beat me to the "GREAT! Tips" thing, but I do agree. It's funny that a lot of folks forget about #6 - Follow-up!

It's such an easy thing to do, and it provides a ton of value to the customer. Calling back right after the "final delivery" (whatever that happens to be in your business), then a few weeks later to see how everything is going, really makes the customer feel like you care. And if you're doing it right, to really DO care.

[Michael Wagner]

Phil, I really groove on #4 - ask clarifying questions. That bit of advice has resulted in many satisfied customers and additional sales for Saturn. It was one of the key elements I taught others as a sales trainer. But it requires an essential mindset to work...

...it requires humility on the part of the questioner. I requires those that are serving customers or helping customers to make a purchase believe that they "don't know" exactly what the customer calles relevant in that exact moment.

I believe when you ask clarifying questions in a spirit of humility, great things happen for you and your client!

Thanks for the good PostWisdom!