I once heard the British comedian Bill Bailey talking about asking for advice on how to entertain an audience when doing stand up. He was told by an established fellow comedian "Just keep saying funny things to them".
It's simple (even obvious?) advice.
'Delighting' customers is about 'exceeding their expectations', and it's a good start. The thing is they then have 'higher expectations', so the challenge is to 'deliver consistently'.
In the same way that comedy is about consistently saying things that make people laugh, creating 'devoted' customers is about consistently doing things that make customers feel valued.
When I'm asked how to create 'devoted customers', I often reply "Just keep doing great things to them".
Simple (even obvious?) advice.
So here are 15 more bits of simple (even obvious) advice:
Just keep:
· Answering the phone promptly and courteously
· Replying quickly to enquiries
· Being easy to buy from
· Delivering on time, every time
· Standing in your customers shoes and in your own queues
· Your promises
· Spotting, praising and rewarding those people who go the extra mile for customers in your business
· Making customers feel 'special' and valued
· Finding ways to surprise them (positively please!)
· All your communication with them relevant and value adding
· Searching for opportunities to improve what you do
· Raising your customers' expectations
· Delivering 'great' experiences
· Asking for customer feedback to check that they're 'completely happy'
· Taking action as a result of that feedback
You're probably reading this saying to yourself 'There's nothing new here, Andy. We do all this stuff.'