WHAT is ‘wow’? Maybe the easiest way to describe it is with the question, ‘Who wow’ed you?’ Here are the elements that can set the stage for ‘wow’ in your business.
• Everyone is friendly. It seems too simple to just say, ‘Everyone needs to be friendly’. What it really means is there is good enough morale inside the company to make ‘friendly’ possible. If attitudes are down, friendly is impossible. If customers are angry, attitude is challenged. If you are not training attitude proactively, then attitude will be sporadic and friendly will follow suit. If you teach your people to be defensive and allow them to hang up on an angry customer (rather than learn from an angry customer), your reputation will suffer.
• Everyone is helpful. Here’s the help strategy that will work 100 per cent of the time: ‘Tell me what you can do, not what you can’t do’. Most companies take pleasure in telling you what is not possible, telling you what their policy is, and giving some lame excuse for what cannot be done. Every time you tell a customer what you can’t do, it drives them closer to the competition. Eventually they will jump. It’s important to understand that just because you can’t do it doesn’t mean they no longer need it.
• Everyone is available. My company has no voicemail, on purpose. If someone is on a call, someone else helps the customer. No-one in my company or in your company is too busy to help a customer, including you. No-one in my company is either on their phone or away from their desk, and no-one in your company should be either. Having a voicemail message that says, ‘Your call is important to me’ is an oxymoron. If it’s so damn important, pick up the phone.
• Ease of doing business. 24-7-365 is the new 9-5. The easier it is to do business with you, the more of your customers’ available dollars you will gain. Please don’t take my word for it, just ask Barnes & Noble about Amazon. Amazon has taken over the book world (and the product world) because they made it easy to do business – click-buy.
• Delivery beyond expectation. Whatever you promise for delivery, you must exceed the promise. Fast delivery is no longer an option; it’s an expectation.
• Getting customers leads and referrals. This may come as a shocker, but customers don’t want to buy your stuff, they want to sell their stuff. Giving them business will help you earn theirs. It sounds simple, but it is not easy. It requires knowing them better and knowing their marketplace better. But once you do it, they will never stop talking about it, ever.
• Value messages to help them. Big question: What are you tweeting? Bigger question: Are you tweeting? Biggest question: Why the hell are you not tweeting? One value message per day (something that will help, improve, or inspire your customers) will breed loyalty, not just ‘wow’. Sign up now and ask your best customers to follow you.
• All things proactive. I never have to worry about servicing my car. Hendrick Lexus calls me when it’s time. I never have to worry about servicing my copy machine. Technocom just shows up. Dr Menaker tells me when it’s time to have my teeth cleaned and Signature Healthcare tells me when it’s time for my yearly physical. Maybe that’s why I’ve been a loyal customer for the past 10 years or more to each of these companies, price notwithstanding.
What’s ‘wow’ to me?
• It’s being at an event in Wichita, Kansas, and having my hometown Philadelphia Daily News slid under my door in the morning.
• It’s having a flat tire and Hendrick Lexus driving to my home, fixing the tire, and refusing to charge me.
• It’s going to my hotel room and instead of the traditional bowl of fruit, finding an autographed baseball – signed by the staff of the hotel.
Wow is ‘wonderful original work’ that leads to W-O-M (word-of mouth advertising), for years.
