When I think about customer retention, I think about how we treat our customers. Social media and instantaneous communication mean we all want to be treated as individuals. We hit delete when we see a Dear Sir/Madam email salutation. And yet, we all know and abide by the Golden Rule – “Treat others as you want to be treated” or something like that.
In the past, I have written about the Golden Rule 2.0 – “Treat others the way they want to be treated,” which I totally believe in. This raises the obvious question; how do we rationalize the original and 2.0 Golden Rules?
When you try implementing the 2.0 version, you must know things about the person you are thinking about. So, first, you must think about being on your best behavior and then apply the original version. For example, if you want people to respond to your emails, you have to respond to theirs. If you want to be trusted, you have to trust (really, not just trying to fake it!). Never assume that you are smarter than the people you are dealing with – that assumption can be fatal from a relationship perspective.
As you develop your relationship, you learn things about the other person as an individual. In some cases, you will find real differences between yourselves. You should internalize these differences and modify your behavior as the relationship deepens. For example, you are a carnivore, and your new contact (associate, client, friend?) is a vegan. Guess what type of restaurant you never suggest or discuss!
Another example. You may be an ardent Red Sox fan (sorry, but this is where I live) and treat every interaction as an unemotional business decision. Your new contact is passionate about art and music and enjoys discussing both. They refer you and your company to someone that turns into a nice piece of business. Your initial inclination is to send a brief thank-you email and move on. As you put yourself in their shoes, you decide that a small thank-you gift would really make their day. Tickets to a ball game or to a museum with a new exhibit? The choice is a no-brainer.
Why is this Golden Rule thing so important? Because today we all struggle to differentiate our business from our competitors. We can’t use quality – you are not a player if you can’t meet quality and performance expectations. We don’t want to compete on price – the race to the bottom will put everyone out of business. The only available differentiator is service, and a key factor in how your business is perceived is how you interact with your prospects and clients. This is so critical to your retention strategy that I will say it again – treat your customers how they want to be treated!
In a future post, I will discuss trust and peace of mind as differentiators.
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