Can you really provide a great client experience without having a "Plan B?"
In our book I share story about a visit with my family to a major theme park that is rained out. The refund/credit process was less than optimal even though this company teaches others how to provide excellent service.
Rob's point: When they gave me a credit to return to the park another day, the ticket folks should have been prepared to suggest what our family could do instead because the rain ruined our plans.
Rob calls this "Going The Extra Mile." It is like the movie, Miracle on 34th Street when Santa recommends a child buy something at another store because it is out of stock at his store.
If we stop at the refund or credit or "Sorry, we are out of stock" statement, then we are primarily thinking of ourselves.
In contrast, when we suggest a reasonable, thoughtful alternative then we demonstrate we truly care about our clients.
The result: Clients trust you, and then buy more from you.
This takes planning, training, consistent examples from leaders, and accountability - a system for leadership rather than hopes or assumptions for employee behavior. Discuss this idea with your team with the thoughts below in the Meeting Idea.
Most companies do not fully think like a client. When you are unable to serve a client, then what are their options?
Being prepared with suggestions - not "answers" - is a great way to build strong client relationships.
Here are a few ideas to discuss with your team:
1. Identify the three most common situations that occur when your company is unable to serve loyal clients.
2. In each of those situations, what is the impact on the clientwhen you cannot meet their needs?
3. Based on their needs, what are three options you can suggest they consider to meet those needs because you cannot help them?
4. How can you make it easy for them to explore those options by providing contact information, driving directions, website addresses...?
5. How can you pilot a program for 90 days to test offering these alternatives when your people are in one of these three situations where they cannot meet a client's needs?
6. How will you train your people, allow them to provide daily feedback on the pilot, hold them accountable to offering the alternatives, and recognizing them when they serve clients in ways that provide a superior client experience?
7. What metrics will you track to determine the success of this effort?