Converting Magazine

Mark Spaulding

Show your customers you love them
February 13, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day! For this mid-winter celebration of love, what better object of your business affection could there be than your valued customers?

So, in honor of the holiday, I did a little research into “loving your customers” and how to go about it. Here’s some advice I found from UK marketing consultant, trainer and author Nigel Temple. It’s really not unlike the process of growing in love with your significant other and keeping that relationship going over the years of a long, happy marriage. My comments are in brackets.

1. Start by knowing as much as you can about them. [Isn’t that what happens in the first weeks and months of dating someone?]

2. Learn what irritates them about your business or industry as well as what they like about you. [While not a foolproof method of avoiding those things that irritate, at least you won’t be surprised about it later.]

3. Cherish your best customers with special offers and extra special service. [We always give the ones we love preferential treatment—and don’t they deserve it?]

4. Experience what it’s like to buy from your own company lately. [Seeing things from their perspective is often an eye-opener, and sometimes not a good one.]

5. Train and motivate your people to treat customers properly and reward them for doing so. [Not exactly sure how this one relates to interpersonal love relationships but if others see how much you’re willing to do for someone, they’re bound to at least know how much you care.]

Sometimes today’s hectic pace of business, having to do more with fewer people and with only 24 hours in a day can get you thinking, “Wouldn’t running this business be a lot easier without all these silly customers?” Sure, but take time to really learn to love them, and you’ll flip the “customer problem” on its head.

Posted by Mark Spaulding on February 13, 2008 | Comments (0)