Remember that scene in Pretty Woman where the women in the store weren’t so kind to Julia Roberts’ character because of what she was wearing? And then when she came back the next day in new fancy clothes they were falling all over themselves to help her. Remember that?
Yeah, don’t do that to your customers. Let them know they are a-ok in your eyes no matter what. Your customers don’t want to feel like they are getting the short end of the stick. Let them know that no matter who they are, how different they are, or how much they spend (or don’t spend), they will get your very best.
Examples
- When I get together with a friend of mine in downtown Philadelphia, we often meet in the lobby of Hotel Palomar. Even thought I’ve never stayed at the hotel, or in a lot of cases I’m not buying a drink, the hotel staff always treats me as a welcome guest. They offer me water, they check on me to make sure I’m good while I wait. They treat me so well as a non-paying customer, it makes me wanna see how great they’d treat me if I was paying!
- Lots of times in restaurants, the servers will want the tables to turn over quickly so they can get new paying customers in. And often enough, when I go out to eat with friends I don’t get to hang out with often, we end up hanging out at the table chatting it up for long periods of time. I’m always so thankful when the servers tending to us don’t rush us, continue to check on us, and make us feel right at home as we catch up. Instead of trying to rush us out. I’m often so appreciative, that I leave a generous tip.
Suggestions
- Create a service standard for your business. A level of caring and treatment that every person who interacts with your business receives no matter what.
- Make sure that everyone on your team who interacts with your customers is service oriented and empowered to do what’s necessary to give all your customers a delightful experience.
Application for your business
- Write a description of the feeling you’d like each person who interacts with your business to have.
- Write down three ways to ensure each customer receives the level of treatment you wrote about in the previous question.
Previous tips
1-22. Section 1: Build a relationship with your customers (series)
23-48. Section 2: Make your customers’ lives better (series)
