Alain J Roy & Fionna McMartin
Alain J Roy Company

In a sluggish economy, consumers spend less and less. As a result, your company's growth will have to come from:

1) Retaining your existing customers, and:
2) Taking business away from competitors.

In order to achieve such endeavor, you should first listen to what the customer has to say about his/her intentions and expectations.

We all recognize that the driving force of long-term profitability is repeat business from your customers. To be sure, offering a good product at a good price, and a good location is important -- but the interaction between your front-line employees and your customers can also help develop or disrupt that loyalty.

This of course may sound like a page from one of your books on “Business Management” or “Marketing 101” but for most of us (and several others) this simple practice can be surprisingly complicated. In order to attract, satisfy, and retain customers, you must know what they need, expect, and perceive in every phase of each transaction. We all know how hard it is to measure and define customer expectations, satisfaction, perception and intentions. We also know that “satisfied” customers are much less likely to remain true to your company than those who are "totally satisfied." Measuring their “level of satisfaction” is as critical as delighting them [read: exceeding their expectations] with your products and services. In addition knowing what brought them to you, [what they initially expected], and finally what they intend to do after their visit is also of critical importance.

In short, when a profitable customer decides to leave your brand, you lose short-term and long-term profits. You also lose the free word-of-mouth advertising that a “totally satisfied” customer may provide. Not to mention, the frequent visits and sometimes premium prices that such a customer is prepared to pay.

After taking a long hard look at MindShare Technologies’ CONNECT 2.0, we discovered the phenomenal power that this solution can provide for our firm and for our customers. To say that CONNECT 2.0 is an efficient and affordable tool for monitoring customer satisfaction is a gross understatement. It is far more than a customer feedback solution. This unique process allows us to access, analyze, interpret and solve the customer-service challenge from several angles. With the help of CONNECT 2.0 we can investigate and visualize:

First: CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS -
That is; there must be a valuable reason to explain why this customer elected to visit your place of business. Was it your marketing campaign that attracted him/her? Was it the sign on the building? Was it the great food/product/service - the great staff – the great prices - the word-of-mouth – the out-and-out convenience – or, was it an act of God?

Second: CUSTOMER PERCEPTION / SATISFACTION –
Once the customer has established a relationship with your company [in response to the first point] it is fair to say that he/she perceives your brand has something from which a certain level of satisfaction will be attained… Now, did you meet or exceed his/her expectations – and, how will you know for certain unless you’ve extended your customer an invitation to communicate [to connect] with your company?

Third: CUSTOMER INTENTIONS –
Will they come again? Will they come again - with friends? Will they talk about the experience with your brand and if so, what will they have to say? Answers to these questions are worth a lot [make that a whole lot] of money! The answers will allow you to see what marketing strategies work, what products or services are appealing (or not), what the atmosphere communicates, and oh, what the “employee-customer” experience established (or failed to establish).

Even though this discussion was initiated in reference to the economy, the impact on your bottom line will most likely be influenced in great part by the communication structure between customer and company – more to the point -- the “employee-customer” communication structure. (An entirely new chapter to this article will follow on the subject of “employee-customer communication/interaction - June 20, 2003). It’s fair to say that few of us can influence or much less control the economy, we can however, influence the customer, which in turn will influence the bottom line. The bottom line is important. It’s our reason for doing business. Step #1 then, is to do everything in our power to discover what the customer has to say about his/her expectations, levels of satisfaction, and intentions – and then, doing something about it!

In short, with the implementation of CONNECT 2.0 you can expect instant improvement of the customer communication with your brand (employees, management), which in turn triggers constant engagement [read: superior performance] on the part of your front-line employees resulting in a considerable improvement with daily operation and management duties - and of course increased revenues!

Continue to part 2

For more information, visit www.alainjroy.com