Do you know the things that you do that really matter to your customers or are you focusing attention and effort on things that add little value to the customer?
Here’s an example of the sort of thing I am talking about.
As a minimum meet customer expectations
I recently returned from a lovely summer holiday on a lunchtime flight from sunny Spain with a well-known local airline. Note the word “lunchtime” here.
Unfortunately, by the time the trolley reached us, the sandwich selection was severely depleted – in fact they only had 1 sandwich left on board the whole airplane. (Note to self – don’t sit in the middle next time!).
“You’re the last flight of the day” and “This is a very busy flight” were the reasons given for the lack of sustenance on board. When I commented that this was a lunchtime flight so perhaps they should have catered for that fact (given they know in advance how many passengers were booked on)….one of the air stewardesses remarked “If we carried more food, we would need a bigger plane”…
What’s important to you is not necessarily important to the customer
Erm? Ok I accept space is limited on board. But the next thing I know, I am being offered cuddly toys decked out in corporate uniforms and other branded promotional items. All this on another trolley that could quite easily have carried enough sandwiches for everyone that had missed out on lunch that day.
Perhaps you can see where I am going with this? Don’t get me wrong, as a marketer, I am all for branded promotional items but the point here is the relative importance to me of a BLT (Branded Little Teddy) versus a tasty sandwich…….especially at lunchtime!
Find out what is more important to the customer
Asking your customers to rank the importance of the different aspects of your product or service is a great way of making sure you devote your time and budget to the right things. Those things that matter to the customers and keep them satisfied. And as we all know satisfied customers repeat, refer and recommend….and dissatisfied ones write a blog and post it on social media!
