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Hello and welcome back! If you are a local business owner, a restaurant business owner, a brick and mortar business… this episode is really going to help you. Especially with the holiday season nearly upon us, this episode is going to help you get set up for the holiday season and keep that momentum even after the holidays.
If you know my story, you know that I have worked with local businesses for the last 10 years as well as previously owning my own brick and mortar business. One of the biggest mistakes that I see people make that own local businesses is that they either aren’t gathering information with their customers, or they scramble and throw every marketing tactic or social media tactic at their customers to try to get traffic.
While you do want to attract people, you need to make sure you are gearing your service toward your loyal customers. When I meet with clients and ask them how they are reaching their customers many of them say Facebook–full stop. When I ask about emails they look at me like I am crazy, or if they do use email, they aren’t utilizing completely.
If you have been following the podcast, you know that a lot of times my episodes are a little more mindset related, but today’s episode is geared toward the tactic and strategy of running your business. There will be a little creative piece here too that ties into this episode.
Connecting to your customers is paramount. So often business owners aren’t utilizing and catering to the customers they already have. They are wasting their resources trying to track down new customers and not paying attention to the customers who are frequent visitors.
What we are talking about today actually comes from my restaurant growth formula master class, and I am really excited to share it with you today. It is a big part of the customer part of the experience, which is a piece of the total experience model in the restaurant growth formula.
When you are building a customer experience you need to take into account what it really does for the connection and interaction between your business and the customer. It isn’t about building your email list and using it to market to people, I know a lot of people teach that, but the customer experience is so much more than that.
Building a customer experience is more than just building an email list. You are building a full experience and there are three parts to it, we want to show integrity, we want to build knowledge, and we want to build trust with our customers.
For example, you may have a person selling sunglasses who just says, “I have these, and they come in these colors and these shapes”. That seller is really flat and there is no connection made. On the flip side, maybe there is another person who is selling sunglasses and they say, “I sell sunglasses that will fit these different face shapes. And if you’re struggling to buy sunglasses to fit the shape of your face, we can help you. We can help you pick the right fit so they’re comfortable. We can help you pick the right fit that accentuates the features of your face. And they also come in these colors,” so you can see the difference in where you’re starting to build that relationship.
The three things; showcasing your knowledge, proving your integrity, and building trust are all there in this second example.
A lot of people think that building a customer experience is just what your store looks like, and while that is a part of the experience, it isn’t the whole thing. What is comes down to are these three experiences, which can also be a part of sales funnels. Now, it doesn’t matter what kind of business you have, every business creates an experience. Every business provides some kind of transformation in their customer’s lives.
There are so many businesses out there that just want to sell their product and move on and while that works for some, it isn’t sustainable. So, we are going to focus on these three experiences.
The first experience is the one that everyone is focused on, attracting new customers. It’s fine to want new customers and in order to attract them, you need to figure out who it is that you really want to attract to your business. And you aren’t trying to attract everyone, because you aren’t everyone’s cup of tea and that is okay! The clearer you are on who you are attracting and the problem you are solving for them. Your business is providing a solution to your customers. The more we work to understand what this customer looks like and what makes your unique in solving heir problem will help you to attract new people who will become customers for life, instead of just offering 20% off and generating one and done customers.
This shows them that what you say, you do, and this builds integrity. The more you can solve their problems, the more you can focus your advertisements, Facebook posts, and Instagram posts and target your ideal customer where they are.
Next, number two, building an educating experience. Here the customer is in your business and you are impressing them with what they can learn from you. Here is where you are focusing on your physical space, and the way your employees interact with your customers. This is also where you can gather emails and merchandise in your space. If you are a gift store, maybe you offer classes or consultations for your customers. It could be as little as providing information about the artisan who creates the art you sell. By letting your customers know where they can find you and how often they will hear from you via email sets the tone for them. This is not only building a knowledge base, but also the relationship with your customer.
The third experience is where you really build your life-long customers. This is the thrive experience where we build the trust. Building this trust makes them want to come back time and time again. But I know what you are thinking, “How do I do that Theresa?” One of the ways is by utilizing your email list appropriately. But segmenting your email list though maybe art they were interested in, or a live class they attended. This segmentation allows you to send specific and target information out to this set of customers. That way if you have an event coming up that will relate to that customer and their passion it builds that trust. Another approach could be sending out a handwritten note to your customer. In my business, we would take little notes on our customers so we would remember them and be able to chat with them and connect to them the next time they came in.
Take this as a chance to understand your customers and your products and be able to match them to help solve a problem. Building these connections across these three domains creates an ideal experience that has so much more value than a 20% off coupon.
Don’t mimic what other people are doing, instead, stand on your own, trust your business and the experience you can provide, and embrace your customers. The sooner you do this the quicker you will be able to build and grow your business through your customer’s loyalty.
A lot of people want to focus on just posting and throwing information out into the world, but that won’t perpetuate customers. That just starts to build that know, and like, and trust, just starts it. It doesn’t deepen it. And the more you can focus on building these three experiences, the more you can take care of people. You can weed out the people that aren’t really your ideal customer but also bring in more of the people who are.
As you move forward into the rest of this week remember to focus on the following three experiences for your customers: building knowledge, building integrity, and building trust. Then let me know how it goes!
If you enjoyed this episode and in some way, it inspired you to start taking action, I’d love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway. Send me a DM on Instagram @theresacantley and let me know what your favorite part was.
I would also love if you subscribed to the podcast and left a review at https://theresacantley.com/itunes
If there is a topic you would love me to talk about or a question you may have, send it to us at theresa@theresacantley.com and we’ll feature it on one of our future episodes.
LINKS:
Episode 37 – What I learned from slowing down that will help you ACHIEVE more in your business.
Episode 36 – Do you have a hobby or a business?
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