How to Be The Brand Customers Can’t Live Without
Today, we’ve been forced into a virtual world that adds to these unintended consequences of a relationship deficit.
As we’ve been forced to practice social distancing, people have realized how much they crave human connection. Not being able to dine with friends, see family members, or interact with coworkers has put a strain on the human spirit.
And while technology has made it easier for us to navigate through our busy lives, it also erodes the fundamental elements of human connections when communicating digitally. This lack of human touch creates a sterile transaction and lack of emotional connection that can easily make you dispensable as a brand.
Here are ways to help you become the brand customers can’t live without:
- Focus on the micro-moments.
Results and outcomes are just a commodity. Customer loyalty, however, is a result of consistently delivering on the micro moments at each touchpoint. When a customer calls, emails, checks in, or needs support, make sure your employees are knowledgeable, empathetic, present, patient, passionate about their job, easy to do business with, and always willing to make each thing right. Create a customer service vision statement that each employee should intentionally achieve every time they interact with a customer.
- Avoid empathy fatigue.
Empathy fatigue usually occurs in industries that constantly deal with customers who have high emotional pain, like funeral homes, behavioral therapy, and oncology. However, in today’s world, every business is dealing with customers who have high stress and anxiety. As a leader, help your employees re-energize and rejuvenate. Let them feel appreciated and make them understand the critical role they play in their customer’s day.
- Address the relationship deficit through making an emotional connection.
Businesses that create an emotional connection will dominate going forward. Examine every touchpoint in the customer journey to see if you’ve built in the feeling that they’re being cared for. The most important element in a customer choosing who they buy from is how a brand makes them feel.
- Find the conversation gift.
Whether it’s a link to an article or video of a topic you previously discussed on introduction or some restaurant suggestions for their upcoming trip, there’s always a gift in every conversation.
- Justify a relationship tax.
This is a great exercise you can do with your employees. Tell them you are implementing a relationship tax for the relationship they have built with every customer during each interaction. Typically, your employees would come up with simple ideas, which they realize they should have been doing all along.
For more information and resources on how to become the brand customers can’t live without, check out The Customer Service Revolution podcast. If you’d like to listen, head over to Episode 030: How To Be The Brand Customers Can’t Live Without.
