🤝💸 Make Customers Fall in LOVE with You as They DIG Deep in Their Pockets

This can be embarrassing:

Hannah: “What did you say your reservation was again?”

Guest: “It was under Smith for 7:00pm”

Hannah: “I’m sorry I’m not seeing one under your name…”

PAUSE.

Okay has this ever happened to you?

Showing up at the wrong business, or perhaps getting a time mixed up can really throw your day off.

If you’ve ever been in this situation I GUARANTEE that the gatekeeper at the front probably handled the situation like this:

1. Tells you they’re sorry again…

2. Winces a halfhearted smile towards you, understanding you’re now totally confused, lost, and probably frustrated; and finally

3. Wishes you ‘good luck’ or tells you to ‘have a nice day’ as you exit the lobby.

Annoying AF right?

Let’s roll the tape and see what Hannah, one of my Managers in my first business, did when she was handling a similar situation.

PLAY.

Guest: “Oh wow I didn’t know there were multiple Escape Rooms here… I must have booked the one over at the mall”

Hannah: “Yes, we were the first but a few others have followed our lead! Let me call them real quick and confirm that you booked there before you drive all the way out to the mall…”

Hannah calls and confirms reservation and tells our competitor to hold the room as the Smiths are on their way over.

Guest: “Thank you SO much… that’s extremely nice of you — I wish I booked here instead! Next time I’ll come back to you guys! Thank you again!”

END.

—

When I started in business, I really didn’t know shit.

I mean, I had a business degree and all (lol), and was 22 years old, but really didn’t know a thing about how to properly market a business, how to utilize social media well, or how to even send an email out to our customer list.

Fortunately, I had the notion that if we had an INSANELY good customer experience and treated people well, the rest would somehow take care of itself.

For the most part, I was right.

Most businesses do a poor job of creating an environment and culture that promotes creating a GREAT customer experience…

…and it’s costing you BIG time.

Here’s how we can change that.

1. Make it a game.

Anything that’s boring or requires discipline can easily be ignored, pushed to the side and not a priority for you or your employees…

…customer experience tends to fall in that category. But this one mental hack can change that ENTIRELY.

It doesn’t matter if you’re an in-person experience business like a restaurant or some other brick & mortar business, or a large online retailer designing a full funnel or purchase experience.

You have to make it a game of ANTICIPATING and ANSWERING questions or needs your customer has before they voice them.

Make it a game to read their f’n minds.

Start paying attention to this the next time you dine out…

…did they refill your water glass before you ran out or had to ask?

What about leaving you with a steak knife and any condiments you need before your nice ribeye comes out.

How about the check? Did you have to ask for it, or was it presented to you at the perfect time?

Your GAME should be to take any and all thinking and worrying out of the customer equation and beating them to their questions.

But it doesn’t stop there.

2. Make it who you ARE.

I don’t even realize this anymore — but was reminded of it the other day at the grocery store…

…the cashier helping me was progressing through my meticulously sorted groceries on the conveyor belt thing when she said:

“You’re always SO nice when you come in here, we all really appreciate it!”

And truly I didn’t even think I was being overly nice or polite — it’s just who I am now… and here’s why.

Years ago, I made it my PERSONAL mission to make every interaction I had in public and in business the BEST that other person has ever experienced.

My “game” was to leave them thinking:

“holy shit, Ben was super (nice, attentive, positive, professional thoughtful)”

Whatever the situation warranted.

This isn’t just how you act, but what you DO.

Doing the inconvenient shit to really go above and BEYOND for your customers will set you apart from your competitors.

Don’t fall in love with automation.

Installing this habit in your life changes who you ARE — and more importantly who you ATTRACT.

This is how a culture is built. It starts with YOU and spreads downward from there.

You lead by example and the right people will come into your company, team, or business — and your customers will LOVE you for it.

There’s one more thing you have to do though.

3. Incentivize winning “The Game”

This is simple but often overlooked.

Are your team’s goals aligned with creating relationships, just making sales?

If so, you could be at risk of breeding a ‘slimey’ culture that emphasizes the sale, but shits the bed on delivering the actual VALUE that your customer exchanged their hard-earned dollars for.

You’ve probably been on the receiving end of this — especially if you’ve ever hired an ‘internet marketer’ lol.

Consider running some follow-up marketing campaigns that ASK for reviews that’ll help your business (Google, Yelp, Facebook, etc.) and provide bonuses for specific name drops of your team members.

This will not only generate some INSANE social proof for your business to utilize across social channels, offer pages, etc. — but will start that flywheel of feedback that lets YOU and your whole team know exactly how things are going so you know what to put your focus on and improve ✅.

Make these 3 simple adjustments to your game plan for 2022 and watch one-time customers transform into repeat clients and your BEST affiliates for your business or brand.

Oh yeah, AND make a LOT more money for doing so 😉.

—

Let me know in the comments if you found this valuable and what your takeaways were!

Until next time.