Delighting Your Way to Growth
We’ve all heard the proverb “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”. This proverb dates back to medieval times when falcons were considered a valuable commodity. Owning a falcon was certainly worth more than two falcons flying free in the bush.
I often think about this proverb when I consider the customer. It takes significant effort, time and resources to acquire new customers, yet we can lose clients in a matter of seconds if we don’t deliver on what we’ve committed to them, or fail to meet their expectations.
In my experience, most organisations put a disproportionate amount of effort into acquiring new customers compared to the effort they put into retaining existing ones. Don’t get me wrong – customer acquisition is paramount…but so is customer retention. In fact, I will argue there is more value to be gained in delighting your existing customers than acquiring new ones, which I’ll explain below. But before I do, here are a couple of anecdotes:
Anecdote 1:
A few months ago, I was lying on my couch on a Friday night after a busy week. I was watching my favourite football team being annihilated when an advertisement came across the screen from a pay TV provider who I had been subscribing to for over 15 years. During those 15 years, I had dutifully paid my subscription fees on time, every month.
The advertisement was promoting some new channels that were “free for new subscribers”. So, I thought to myself I’d like to sample these new channels. When I rang them, I was told that I was ineligible as these free channels were only available for “new subscribers”.
What did I hear?
- We don’t care about you regardless of the fact that you have paid us a small fortune over the past 15 years
- ’d rather take a gamble on someone we don’t know
- We don’t value your loyalty
- Needless to say, I voted with my feet!
Anecdote 2:
I was in a department store about to purchase some filters for our home coffee machine. I could have ordered the filters on-line and saved myself about 30% of the price, but there was the convenience factor of not having to wait a few days for delivery.
I was standing at the counter, credit card in hand ready to make the purchase. My purchase was a sure thing….zero cost of acquisition! The salesperson greeted me with a polite “good evening, sir”. And then their phone rang!
What did they do? They answered it!
How did that make me feel and what did I think:
“Even though your purchase is a sure thing, you’re not as important to as the unknown person on the other end of this phone call”
I politely left my goods on the counter and walked out!
When we continue to delight our existing customers, the payback is enormous. They will:
- Continue buying from us
- Buy more from us
- Tell everyone they know about us
- Be our referees
- Take us with them when they change jobs
How many times have you told someone about your poor customer experience?! And likewise, how many times has your buying decision been influenced by someone you trust telling you “oh…you should speak to such-and-such. They did a great job for me”.
Don’t be like my (former!) pay TV provider. There is money on the table amongst your existing customers but its up to you to find it. Delight your customers and your business WILL grow. This is particularly the case in professional services where the point of difference / value proposition is harder to articulate.