Why being client-oriented pays off.

(Insert your name), thank you for stopping by to read this article. I wish I could personally greet you, the reader who just landed on this page, by saying your name. Hearing your name tends to help with building the trust between two strangers, and is probably one of the easiest ways to be client-oriented in whatever you do. I want to share my thoughts on this topic as it has recently started to occupy more and more of my time. Why can some companies, with such certainty, say they are client-facing or client-oriented in everything they do, while others cannot say it without lying to themselves? 

Our relationships with businesses and brands can be characterized by either being entirely transactional or, in other words, made purely by obtaining a good or service without aspiring to receive anything beyond it, or value-driven, where a distinct sense of value is attached to the transaction. Within the value-driven category, there is still a large group of businesses which never really put you in the center of their universe. You will get a quality service or product, maybe a follow-up or two, but that's about it! Your life milestones, celebrations, and career changes will fly under their radar. I am sure you have experienced, at least once, what we call an outstanding customer service, something that made your day, not to mention that it made you tweet and light up a torch in honor of the company that ran an extra mile for you. Without detailing such experiences, the typical recipe for these "WOW" moments contains some or all of these ingredients:

1. Company's marketing/sales department has maintained accurate records about you, your interests, purchase history, and preferences. They could have also captured the topics of your casual conversations with company staff as well to know that pink is your favorite color, or that you prefer biography books to novels!

2. Company's operating processes must have included you, (insert your name), as a center of their universe deciding to pull resources to deliver an exceptional experience. Yes, a one-off note by a company's clerk could show up on your desk, but if it arrives again with your favorite flowers, be sure there is a thoughtful marketing process behind the gesture.

3. If you have been used to such treatments from this particular company, then your touch points have been meticulously studied and prepared for, while the value of your loyalty has been factored into an LTV calculation. Well, you are still a human to them, but with a big $ mark beside your name in the spreadsheet. 

4. An elevated sense of belonging, self-worth, and feeling of VIP treatment are just a few of expected responses from the company's actions. They know it doesn't happen to you often, so it will stand out from other daily experiences.

5. Your reciprocity would be appreciated by the company, although it is not expected, at least not in the short-term (increasing your LTV is what they are really after!)

6. The actions by the company could bear minimum costs, but the timing, delivery methods, and the psychological effects are always perfect, making the recipient (insert your name) instantly record these memories into a treasure box titled, "Things that stood out today!"

7. You will feel special having obtained such treatment, but it could be just an ordinary, planned and almost daily execution by the company's client service department. Side note here: even very small businesses can afford to do it regularly if their CRM system is on point and client LTVs are kept in check. 

As I listed some of the back-end processes that allow for great customer services to happen and what the company's true intentions are, I have to sit and scratch my head to be able to share any real WOW! experiences that happened to me recently. With thousands of dollars sent to cable TV companies, cell phone data providers, sporting goods stores, and restaurants that I tend to re-visit over and over again, I cannot pull a single episode of any company that has figured out my LTV by now and did anything exceptional as far as their service! This is horrible, but that is today's reality where more dollars are spent re-marketing and chasing new clients, instead of stepping up the treatment of your existing clients. Most companies are just average. By this I mean they meet my baseline expectations, they charge me without delays, they send out some cookie-cutter surveys by email, but they are never there to surprise me with gifts, hand-written notes, or other eye-popping experiences. The only sizeable exception is- and you will probably laugh at this- is my local Starbucks which, despite being terrible at writing my name on the cups, has couple of baristas that know my name, make my drink without asking based on the timing of my visit (morning is Vanilla Latte, afternoon is Americano with room for milk). And you know what? I actually love that at least two of them know me personally. It's probably the simplest form of "exceptional" customer service, but when it is delivered consistently and with a purpose of making me more loyal and more repeat at a local store, it's brilliant as is! 

To close it off, I would like you to take few moments out of your busy day to think about the value of creating such exceptional customer service moments for your own clients, partners, stakeholders. Reflect on how inexpensive it could be (for example, sending a hand-written note to someone thanking them for their trust and patronage), and how impactful this even one moment can be on your client's LTV. We are being bombarded by everything from everyone, but very little stands out to leave an honest, touching impression on us. Being client-oriented pays off. Many brands say they are, but very few act like they are. 

P.S. Please share this article, so I could get more Rogers and Fido client department people to read it and think about this topic. They can look up my LTV pretty easily, yet they act like they don't know it...(and I'm not the only one to say it)

Photo credit: Luca Upper