Why It's Important To Understand Your Customer's Trigger Events

The funny thing about the buyer's journey is you don't realize how mechanical or automated it is until you're the one experiencing it.

Here's what I mean:

My car has been getting dirtier and stinkier with all the trips to the park Benny and I have been going on. In the back of my mind, I kept telling myself I'd vacuum it one of these days, or if anything I could be ultra lazy and bring it to be detailed.

Mind you - I've been telling myself this story since last summer. It's been over a year of "I'll get to it one day" and during that entire process, looking up auto detailers to do the actual work was never a thought.

Then last week, Benson threw up EVERYWHERE in my backseat.

I'm talking puke in places that I didn't know could be puked on. ??

Enter the trigger event. ??

I am now ACTIVELY (frantically) searching for an auto detailer.

My first move was to go to Google and see local listings of recommended places, then I perused the first few website listings of auto detailers, and then from there I moved to social media.

If the place didn't have social media or visually showed their results (before and afters of car transformations) I wasn't interested. I needed visual proof that they were capable of getting the job done. While testimonials are great, a picture in this situation is worth a thousand words.

Then I asked a few friends if they knew of anyone who did great auto detailing.

And because referrals are powerful, I called the shop my friend recommended and a couple of other local places.

NO ONE CALLED ME BACK. ????

Word to the wise - if the instructions on your website and social media say "Call to inquire/get pricing" do your potential client base a favor and RETURN THEIR CALLS.

Luckily, my friend who referred the other shop was in contact with him and told me to call him back because he knew for a fact he was there.

I called (for the second time) and he scheduled an appointment with me.

Fast forward a few days and I show up for the appointment.

NO ONE IS THERE ????

I wait for an hour. Call him. No answer. Leave him a voicemail. Call my friend and yell at him for the bad referral. And then I leave. Annoyed.

THREE HOURS LATER I get a text:

....Excuse me? ??

It's the lack of apology or response to the fact that there was failed communication on his part.

Needless to say, he lost my business.

But now I'm back at square one because NONE of the other shops I called ever called me back when I inquired about pricing/scheduling an appointment.

And while my situation is still in progress, we can all learn some valuable lessons from this experience.

If you know WHEN and WHAT triggers your customers to make a buying decision, it becomes a lot easier to show up exactly where they're looking for you.

Let's unpack this situation. ??

People who are triggered to start the buying journey (in this example) and are looking to hire you right here, right now are going to Google to find local shops.

So if you're a local business - this is your sign to make sure your Google listing is immaculate.

Get those reviews locked and loaded, and set your location, your hours, and all pertinent information.

Then optimize the heck out of your website.

Add a clear way to get in contact with you for all your services, show your results/testimonials, include pricing or service descriptions and include links to your social media in the footer of your site so people can easily peruse your content for additional information.

Basically, add EVERYTHING you know your customer is curious about so they can make an informed decision about whether or not they should bother with the next step - inquiring to work with you.

Next step of the customer journey - the inquiry! ??

This is where your customer experience is paramount.

In my example, I called multiple places and didn't get a single phone call back. If you can't find the time to respond to me when I WANT to give you my money, how can I expect to trust the work you're doing after I give you the money? That's an absolute no for me, dog.

Not only is customer service important, but the whole experience (seamlessly going from website > phone > scheduling an appointment > getting to the appointment > etc.) needs to be optimized to ensure there are no cracks along the way.

For example, when I showed up for my (failed) appointment, I didn't know where to go. I showed up and wasn't 100% certain I was in the right place because no one was there, there wasn't any signage and instructions were unclear.

And it wasn't just me - someone else showed up at the same time as me and didn't know what to do with his keys. At least in his situation, there was communication to drop off his keys so the guy could do the work, but even then - the customer had no idea where to leave his keys because there wasn't a clearly labeled drop box or literally ANY indication that he was in the right place.

It's the little things that make the biggest difference throughout the customer experience.

So going back to the beginning of this story - we all go through the same motions when we're actively on our buying journey. As a business owner, it's your job to ensure that the journey is smooth and seamless.

Know your customer's trigger events and understand the information they'll need in order to make a purchasing decision.

If you provide everything they're looking for, you'll easily become the answer to their problem.

By fulfilling their needs, you'll win their business. It's that simple.

Until next time,

Marissa

PS: Yes, my car still smells. But the whole experience transformed into a great marketing lesson, so all in all it worked out LOL?