Be More Valuable to your Customers

There are subtle ways to make yourself more valuable to your clients and set yourself apart from your competition.

People buy products or services only because they want some benefit or value.  Often people buy to fulfill a want rather than a true need.  And sometimes they don’t fully realize what they really want or why they want it. They may want something that they can’t fully articulate. This is one reason it is often said that people buy emotionally and then rationalize the purchase intellectually.

The value you deliver to customers is what they expect from you when they buy.  But there are also more subtle ways to make yourself more valuable to your customers, to set yourself apart from your competition.  You can add value that people didn’t think of.  For instance, some people have the knack of greeting customers more warmly when they come in. These people can make customers feel special just by their smile, eye contact, and tone of voice.

Another way to connect with customers is be able to personalize your services, products, or the interaction.  In order to make your interaction more personal you need to learn a little more about your customers.  If you know their birthdays, you could send a special coupon and greeting.  If you know they are a big fan of a particular team, they will enjoy talking with you more when you have the latest scores in mind.  If you can make them look good with their spouse, boss, or kids, they will feel better about the interaction or even begin to think of you as a friend.

When customers receive a more personal experience that makes them feel special and important, they will want to come back to you independent of price. And when they feel connected to you they are much more likely to pass the word around and give you referrals.

A robust Client Relationship Management (or CRM) System will help you to collect this information.  The more information about your customers you have the better you’ll be able to identify great cross-selling opportunities.

So remember that in their interactions with you customers expect to get what they paid for.  So delivering that doesn’t build loyalty.  Instead of focusing on delivering only “the usual” see what else you can do to build a connection with them that will make them want to come back.  Building relationships with them will bring them back time and time again.