If you are thinking about growing sales forget about customer satisfaction, you need customer advocacy culture, that’s the difference that makes a difference.
Research tells us 80% of customer who are satisfied are happy to change suppliers. You need a level of relationship where they advocate you to their colleagues and peers. The numbers say customers are your best salesforce.
How do you do build a customer culture? Its easier than you think
Just ask your best customers experience you? You must ask your best customers about how they experience you and how you can make that experience more preferable, even ideal. Meet with the big ones and survey the rest. Ask them questions like this:
How do you experience us now?
Preferably, how would you like to experience us?
On whatever aspects you think are important – technical expertise, responsiveness, understanding of my business.
Give them a scale of 1-5 and pick about 10 areas. Keep the questions simple and ask them if you can discuss the answers.
And sit down with the big ones & ask them to discuss their answers. Tell them you would like their experience of you to be more preferable to them, even ideal. I approached customers on behalf of my clients and get a 100% uptake. The offer itself makes a huge difference to the relationship. How would you feel if a supplier asked you – how can we make this relationship more ideal for you? Or if your partner asked you that question?
Then what? Not a sales training program but a customer culture program – but some ideas die hard.
Change your culture to suit the customer – your customers experience your culture. You can measure either and it will predict the other. Measure the customer experience and it will predict your culture and vice versa. I ask my clients – what would you like to see first?
Otherwise its like driving with the handbrake on
Customer cultures leave clues. In ten years of looking these results what I have found consistently are:
• Achievement and goal orientation
• Collaboration and relationship building
• Strength’s people playing to their strengths.
• Optimism – we can make things better together.
• Authenticity builds trust which is where all relationships begin and end
So rather than another sales training program aim for customer advocacy, fine tune a customer culture and watch the business boom.
Remember Customer Culture grows business.