Are You Processing Transactions… or Building Relationships?

Jun.17, 2010 in Other

info It saddens me when I see that the majority of businesses I interact with, either as a consumer or those I work closely with, are simply just processing transactions rather than even attempting to build valuable, lasting relationships.

In case you haven’t noticed…

We Are IN A Brand New Economy!!

This isn’t just a “phase”. Things aren’t going to go back to “the way they were”. Things are fundamentally different now and I’m sorry to break it to you my friend but from here there is absolutely NO GOING BACK.

And with this NEW economy comes much more strict rules for business survival and success. What all businesses (and especially those of us in the in-home service sector) MUST be focusing on if we want to remain relevant and survive… is how we can improve, add more value, be more helpful, deliver joy and build deeper more mutually beneficial relationship in EVERT customer interaction we have.

It certainly sounds like a tall order but this is actually one of the biggest Missed Opportunities in business today… and one of the most easily fixed.

One of the core strategies we help our VIP clients work through is to become very clear on; a) what it’s actually like to be one of their own customers, b) what experiences their customers should actually be consistently receiving at every contact point to build valuable, lasting relationships and c) how to strategically go from where you are now to where you absolutely MUST be if you want to survive in the new economy.

Here’s the 5 Step process we walk our clients through:

The 5 Simple Steps To MASSIVE Business Transformations:

Create a Task Force of not more than 4 of the best minds and hearts in your business. If you’re a one‐person business, congratulations, you’re “it”.
Make a list of every point of interaction at which your business has contact, directly or indirectly, with your target customers. (If you are one of our D.F.Y. Alumni, attended our Extreme Business Makeover Super Conference or have our Super Conference In A Box then you already have a Done-For-You detailed Point Of Interaction Worksheet that you can use for this exercise) To get your list going think of things like:
1. What’s it like to call you, email you, find you, visit you, wait for you, find and use your website or to read your instructions, contracts or warnings?
2. What’s it like to buy from you, pay you, return something to you, and complain to you?
3. What is it like to consume, use, service or dispose of what you sell?
For each ‘touch point’, determine, honestly, whether you are currently:
1. ticking customers off,
2. performing in a ho‐hum, mediocre fashion… or,
3. truly amazing and delighting them in a way that builds a long‐term and mutually beneficial relationship.

NOTE: Don’t trust your own opinion here. Ask your front line staff for their thoughts, interview customers, ask tough questions and, perhaps, use “mystery shoppers” to find out what’s really going on.

ASIDE: When we first started out in business we were very naive. We felt that because we offered the very best service we could checking in with customers after a visit would only entice the complainers to complain. When we changed our focus to offering the highest possible level of customer service to a discerning clientele at the highest price in our marketplace customer follow-up became a very important cornerstone of our commitment to delivering the highest possible service. Using systems like next day follow up calls, mailed surveys and so on we’ve made it easy for our clients to let us know how their service experience went and if there is anything else we can do to make sure they are truly “thrilled” with our company. If we encounter a client concern during any step of our follow up system we instantly engage our Recipe 4 Recovery process to immediately solve the concern, express our sincere apologies in a meaningful way and provide an unexpected “gift” as a further gesture of our apology. Don’t you wish your cable company would understand total customer experience this well?

For every touch‐point at which you’re not performing at the amazing and delighting level, get creative and commit to specific policies and actions that will elevate you to where you need to be to deserve the customers that you want and need. Then, determine who will do what by when to make it happen.
Follow up and measure results to ensure that progress is being made and that you’re actually delivering the relationship‐building experiences that you’ve committed to. Make sure to celebrate and reward your success… and deal with nonperformance.

So that’s it… 5 clear steps that will transform you from a transactionally based company to a relationship‐building company, with loyal fans and a healthier bottom line.

I hope you can realize how performing a full Point Of Interaction analysis on your business at least once or twice a year will make a tremendous difference to your success and longevity…IF…you are honest with yourself and you make an Action Plan to implement the results you flesh out.

If you would like to share any of the “Ah-Ha” moments you have with us while you are going through this process we would certainly appreciate hearing from you.

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Thanks so much for stopping by. On this blog we will share our insights, idea and thoughts on running a successful service business. With several million dollars in combined annual revenue, and continued growth even during one of the worst economic meltdowns to directly impact the residential service industry - we have lots we want to share.

So stick around, check out what we have to say, join the conversation and together we can be part of the minority who not only survive ...but THRIVE!!