What Customers Crave: How to Create Relevant and Memorable Experiences at Every Touchpoint
A book review and recommendation by Dan Beaulieu
What Customers Crave: How to Create Relevant and Memorable Experiences at Every Touchpoint
by Nicholas Webb
Copyright: 2017 Amacom
Price: $25 Pages: 257 with Endnotes and Index
Buy Now on Amazon
Much more than customer service.
Customer service is out and customer experience is in. It is no longer enough to deliver great customer service. Instead, you have to deliver an entire customer experience, and a great experience at that.
Customers want to feel good about the very act of working with you. They want to feel that you are on their side and that you have their best interests at heart. They want to “crave” working with you. If you don’t quite understand what customers crave, then you should read this book.
This book goes beyond traditional thoughts about service. In the first part of the book, Nicholas Webb talks about something we all have become aware of — creating customer value. He points out that it is much more effective to keep a customer happy than it is to get a new customer. According Webb, “… probability of selling to a new prospect is 5 to 20 percent, while the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60 to 70 percent.”
Webb goes on to explain just how we can provide value to our customers. He describes in detail how to create a customer confidence in you, your company and your products and services.
This is one of those books that incites great thoughts and ideas by giving you “triggers” that get you thinking about customers in a way you have not done before. The book shows you how to put yourself in their place and grow your understanding of how customers view you and your company, and most importantly, what they expect from you.
I especially like a section in the book on how to “Make an upset customer a lifelong customer in five easy steps.” The five steps include:
NUMERICAL LIST
- Affirm – Create a complete understanding of the problem and what it means to the customer.
- Listen – Yes, shut up and listen, and hear exactly what the customer is saying to you.
- Confirm – Repeat back to the customer what the problem is so that he or she is confident that you understand … that you get it.
- Fix – You know what the problem is; now fix it.
- Follow up – Yes, follow up to make sure that the problem is solved and the
customer is completely satisfied.
I would like to add a note of my own: You must take these steps as quickly as possible so that the situation is alleviated in the blink of an eye. Doing this will in fact make the customer respect you for life.
There is simply too much information in this book to cover it all in this column. There is great information from learning everything you can about your customers to getting referrals and recommendations. This is a must-read book for anyone who is serious about customer service and retention … and who isn’t?
Dan Beaulieu is the president and founder of D.B. Management, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in all aspects of sales, marketing and branding with a focus on rep-principal relationships. His latest book is The PCB 101 Handbook which can be purchased online by emailing danbbeaulieu@aol.com. Dan is also the author of “It’s Only Common Sense,” a weekly sales column appearing at pcb007.com. Dan can be reached at 207-649-0879.