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- [00:01]
Candy Valentino
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the Name youe Price Tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates Price and coverage match limited by state law not available in all states.
- [00:31]
Sean Ryan
Welcome to the Candy Valentino show, the podcast for founders, investors and entrepreneurs where we have honest conversations about what it takes to grow your business, build more wealth and create financial freedom.
- [00:57]
Unknown Speaker
Over the last 20 years in business and being in a service based business, I have learned so much about what to do and what not to do in order to attract, retain and really create a culture for our customers that gets them to refer, engage and stay connected with your brand and in your business. One of the things I always love to share with business owners is this notion that if you don't put service before sales, your business is never going to be sustainable. In today's world, especially in the online marketing or online business space, people are so focused on analytics and numbers and conversions that they forget that there are real people behind those screens. There are real people with budgets and responsibilities and families and they're allocating money out of their pockets, out of that budget for something else they could do with it, but they're spending it with you. And that's something that we need to take really seriously. From the time I started out in business, even when I was just 19 years old, I was obsessed with customer service. Like it was really one of the drivers that caused me to want to start my own business. I had seen firsthand how business owners treated their customers and it honestly just blew my mind. Like one how that you could treat another human being in such a negative way, let alone one that's coming to you and paying you for for your product or service. Like customers are the only reason we have jobs. Like if you have a business or you work for someone that has a business, which you're either in one of the two categories unless you're retired and then you're not listening to this podcast, but or if you're looking to start a business, like you're dealing with people, you're dealing with customers and the only reason that we have jobs and that we create income are because of those customers. And there is such a disconnect that times business owners and entrepreneurs lose that focus and they really start to get out of alignment with what they're really here for and why they're in business. This is something I'm really passionate about because it just really deals with the heart of people. And there are so many great companies out there. And like I've said to you, I've shared on other episodes and I'm going to continue to do so in the future. Like nothing that I have done in the last 20 years is innovative or earth shattering or brand new. Like, I basically just observed what other places, other people, other companies that were far smarter, more connected and more brilliant than I would ever have. I basically looked at what they did in their businesses that made them great. And then I would model the pieces that I really wanted to adopt into mine. You know, how those companies that do it bigger and do it better, they still have some fundamental principles that you can take into your business today. It doesn't matter if it's just you or if you just have an admin or if you have 20 or 30 people under you. These are all things that are practical that you can apply to your business today. And for me, whether it's in this business or any other business that I create, really what I focus on, setting myself apart from others. Probably one of my greatest pet peeves as a business owner and as a leader is when mistakes happen, right? They always do. We always miss the mark, which we will. But it pains me when it affects a customer. Like when I would have a customer that came into the salon and spa that I started and was buying a service or getting something done, and for whatever reason, that service fell short of their expectation, or they came in, they bought a product, or they, they bought a jewelry piece or lock it from my other businesses, or if they came in and adopted an animal for my nonprofit, whatever their touch point was, any of those things, I really wanted them to have the best experience possible. Like, that really meant something to me. Because you see, every single person that you come in contact with has a story. Everyone that's coming into your business, everyone that you're interacting with, whether they're on your team, whether they're your customer, whether it's just when you go about your day, you go in and you grab coffee or you go to the gym, or all of these different touch points in our lives where either we are the customer or we have customers. Because you see, everybody has a story. Like every single person that's coming in and interacting with your business has something else that they're dealing with. I mean, isn't that just like you and I? Like, we go about our day, we go grab our coffee, we go to the gym, we go all to these different touch Points of our lives when we're the customers. And there's so many things going on in the back of our minds while we're doing that, right? Like you're rushing in to grab your coffee, but yet you're late for work, or you're rushing to the gym. And you know you only have this short amount of times because you got to get the kids off the bus or you're so overwhelmed, maybe you had a fight with your significant other or your boss got on you for something, or maybe you're the boss and you just had an employee quit. Whatever the stress is in the moment, we always have that circulating around in our mind and we end up taking that into any interaction that we have with people. Whether we're the customer or we're experiencing and serving customers. The customers that we interact with on a day to day basis in our businesses, they have those same stories as we do. Like you don't know if somebody just got a really difficult health diagnosis or they lost their spouse, or their spouse left them or their company got downsized. Like whatever the challenges that people face, like we all face those same things. So maybe it's just a really difficult date in their mind. Maybe it was the same date that their parents passed away or that they lost a child. Like when you're interacting with people, we have to remember that it's a responsibility and it's a gift. Customer service is really a gift to be able to create experiences with people. You have the ability to change their day and that one small ripple effect can really transform their week, their month or even their year. Like you really just don't know. And some, some of the incredible companies that not only I've watched, but I've studied over decades that have incredible customer service. It's their policies, their procedures, their standards are ones like the Marriott, the Ritz Carlton, Starbucks, Apple, Chick fil A, Southwest, JetBlue, and regardless. For example, me, I don't eat at Chick Fil A, but it doesn't take away from the fact that they have an incredible customer service policy and they train their team exceptionally well on how to interact with their customers. Some of these big corporations I really personally dove into in order to create a customer culture for not only my organizations, but for any organization that I was a part of. And I'm going to give you some simple frameworks that I developed in order to really land this message, but in very bite sized chunks. So when you think of your customers, I want you to think of the word care. And I think this is called an anagram maybe, I don't know. But it's like, you know when you have a word but you break it down, like you can't see me talking, so you're hearing me, but imag the word care in big capital letters. C A, R, E. Right. This is a lot easier to do in video. So each one of these letters is going to stand for something specifically. Right? We're on the same page. Okay, So C is creating a standard. If you don't have a standard for your customer service in place, there is no way you're going to be able to have your team follow through in creating a culture of cult like customers. Because, guys, it does not happen on its own. It needs to be cultivated very purposefully. And this is something that you really want to spend time on. Like, you really want to look at that first C of communication. Like, how do you communicate with your customers? How does your team communicate with your customers? How do you communicate issues and problems with each other and how do you handle them? Like, really designing the standard in each area so that you have a system in place. When that system's in place, it actually removes the guesswork and eliminates the time factor of going back and forth and waiting for people to wait for answers. Like, empowering your team in order to handle a customer service infraction or an issue at the time will really minimize the risk of losing a customer for life. Like, you really want to make sure that when you create these standards that you also have people on your team join in, right? Like, it doesn't matter if you have two people or 22 people if you haven't done this yet. You really want to get everyone on board and get their perspectives and ideas on how to create this customer standard. This doesn't need to be something that, you know, you see back in your office at home or office at the business and try to come up with this. The more people that you can get to really contribute to these standards, not only are you going to get their buy in because they're part of it now, right? But anytime somebody has a hand in creating something, they're also more inclined to follow it. They had a hand, they had a part in creating this experience. So when you're cultivating and creating a standard, you want to make sure that you have as many people on your team be a part of it. Like, for example, here would be like a very simple standard, right? Like I had a standard that you had to answer the phone by the second ring. Like, that is a measurable standard that you know when someone is or is not hitting the mark. And it also removes guesswork. Like every receptionist or spa coordinator that worked in my business had to answer the phone by the second ring. Like that's it. Like the phone, the your email, that is the communication, that that's the lifeline of your business. So for me, not acknowledging a guest call within two rings was not only poor customer service, but it was a complete disrespect to our customers. If you're not answering your phone, if you're not communicating with your customers, if you're not responding to emails in an efficient way, they're just going to go to the next person on Google, the next person in the quote. Back in my day it was the yellow book, the yellow pages. So like if you didn't answer your phone, it was like the next we came under a P. So whoever was under us in the yellow pages, that's who they were going to like. They're just going to go to the next person to give them service. So making sure that you always are communicating with your customers is a really easy, measurable step standard. To have a high level of customer service is a behavior, right? It's how do you become a world class organization like the Ritz or like Disney? It's really to create that standard that your team buys into so that you can deliver that superior service like each and every time. Because the key not only to have the standards are to create consistency, like making sure that they're consistently carried out. And in order to do that, you gotta be making sure that you're communicating it throughout your organizations through your meetings and your emails or however you communicate with your team and your managers. Explaining to people and explaining to new people that maybe weren't part of that process is just so important because it really ties back to the heart of the organization and the heart of the people that you're helping. I mean become obsessed with your customers. And that first starts by creating a standard that not only you, but your entire team is going to follow. So the letter A stands for anticipate and fulfill your guests needs. So this is really such a cool thing. You want to create raving customers and make your marketing obsolete. Like you want to make marketing funnels not needed in your business. You want to make sure that you don't do Facebook ads will create raving fans fulfilling customers needs that goes far beyond having the products and services that they need. Like creating products and services that they need that they're gonna buy from you. That sales and that says more about you and less about them. Anticipating and fulfilling customers needs. That goes far beyond the sales cycle. It's really before and after the transaction is done or during and between the next one. Like making sure you have a process in place that you are communicating with your team about your customers, getting to know more about them. Like when are their birthdays, when did they go on vacation, where did they enjoy going on vacation, what type of hobbies or food did they enjoy, what do they do for their career? Like who are the people in their life that are important to them? Back before computers were everywhere, we, you know, didn't have a database to be able to collect. And back in the very beginning, even if computers were available, I didn't have the money to be able to get all of the fancy software. So you probably, you can't see me because I'm holding up my hands right now. I don't even know what these little things are called, but this was my customer service system. I had a little black plastic, I think they're called. Oh, I know, index card holders, right? It's like a little plastic thing you get at Staples. And I had rolled lined index cards. I am not joking. And I had one for every single client. I had their name on it, their phone number on it. I had if they mentioned their spouse name, if they were going on vacation, what their birthday was, what their dog's name was. Like every single thing I could possibly pull out during that visit, I was writing on that index card and filing it alphabetically. Like that shows you how long I've been in business. So nowadays it's so much easier because we have all of these amazing like entreports and all these other software programs that we can keep all of our customers data in one place. But what makes this really awesome is do you know how amazing it is when you see someone just one time and they come back into your store or they engage with you some way on the Internet, if you're in an online space or they come into your restaurant or your business and you happen to have taken a note on an index card like I did, or a note in their customer file in the computer and that one thing that you wrote down by their name the next time you saw them, you referenced it like that you remembered to ask about their dog or where they went on vacation, you would not believe how amazing it makes that person feel and how it makes their day. They feel valued, they feel appreciated. And shouldn't they feel that way? I mean, we're taking their money. They're spending it with you. And they could be spending it with somebody else down the street. They could go to another restaurant, another gym. They could see another chiropractor, dentist, doctor, business coach. Buy another sales course, right? Whatever business you're in, plug it in. They have the ability and access to go anywhere, but they're choosing you. So shouldn't they feel worthy and valued? Shouldn't you anticipate their needs? Isn't that part of our job?
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- [16:11]
USA.com I believe that it is having little things even set aside. Like especially if you have appointments and people are coming in and you have an appointment schedule that is amazing. Like making sure that you have a box of cards at your front desk. Or it's like the simplest thing, having birthday, anniversary, sympathy. Just those like random cards so that at any moment if somebody mentions something you can fill out that card and hand it to the client or you can ask your admin in the office to mail it. Making sure that you create that extra touch point is not just about getting another sale. It's not just about retaining the customer. It's really about people. It's about caring about them and making them feel valued. We did really well creating cult like customers, but I'm telling you it was nothing special. All I truly did was I truly valued my customers. Like I really really did. Like even when I was burnt out and just wanted to be done with it all, I was ready to sell. I was ready to move everything. Like it was the customers that kept me coming back. Like it kept me in a position far longer than was actually good for me personally because I just really valued and appreciated these People and I still have so much gratitude for them today. Like, if it wasn't for all of those customers who believed in me in the beginning, if it wasn't for the that believed in me in the beginning, and if it wasn't for also having those standards created that the team did that stuff as well, we would have never got to the point where we were and I would never be at the place I am. That is because of customers. And when you lose that connection, you really miss the mark of what it takes to create an incredible scalable and powerful business. So questions to ask yourself right now, are you anticipating and fulfilling your customers needs? Like, do you really know how to make them feel special? Do you identify their unexpressed needs? I'm going to give you an example of just this is an incredible business and this is incredible example of customer service. And I have lists of these. But this is just the first one that came to my mind today when I was getting ready for this episode. So we were on vacation with another couple. This was years ago. We were in Aruba, staying at the Ritz Carlton there. And we went to dinner off property. The restaurant that we happened to go to. We were just like we always did. We'd strike up conversations with the servers and, you know, talk to people and just have a good time. Well, the other couple that I was with, the guy that was there, he just happened. When we all left, he left his wallet on the table. We went the whole way back to the property. It was probably about a half an hour or so drive. We get back to the hotel, we get out of the car. He reaches for his wallet to tip the driver and he doesn't have his wallet. Now here we are in another country. We're not on the property that we felt safe. We're in this, you know, island, like, restaurant that we'd never been in before. And of course he was concerned. So he picks up the phone and he calls the restaurant. He's like, okay, this is my name. I was just there, I left my wallet, I'm getting in a cab, coming back. And the guy on the phone was like, wait, hang on, hang on, hang on. Sir, you don't need to come back here. We heard that you said that you were staying at the Ritz Carlton. We called there. The Ritz Carlton sent one of their staff members here. They've already picked up your wallet and are on their way back. Now. That stuff are things that you don't forget. Like that is a story of going above and beyond. That is Wowing your guests. Now you may sit and say, well, I don't have that big fancy business, or I don't have the ability to do that. There are so many things that you can do. You can do something as simple. This is something that we did commonly in our brick and mortar. If somebody was talking about going on vacation, rather than just an admin person sitting there like, like waiting for the phone to ring, possibly surfing Facebook, which they shouldn't be, or twiddling on their phone, they overhear something that the customer is going on. Like they're going on vacation at Cancun. You know, the guest is coming to check out, you know, hey, I just happened to overhear you talking with so and so that you're going on vacation to Cancun. I went to Google and just pulled up the top best things to do while you're in Cancun and pulled out the weather so that you knew what type of products you would need to protect your hair while you were there. Boom. That is a very simple, small, free thing that anybody could do that will surprise, delight and wow your guest. And it doesn't matter if they ever go to the top 10 places that you pulled off the Internet. The point is that you heard what they were talking about, you acknowledged it, and you took it one step further to just make their life possibly a little bit easier. Another thing that we would commonly hear is somebody saying about this restaurant or that restaurant, you know, oh, I'm not sure if they have any availability. Picking up the phone and saying, hey, let me call for you real quick. Pick up the phone, call and see if they have availability. Or go on open door. Go on open door and see if they have or open table. I. I don't know what it's called, but go on the app that's red on your phone that finds if there is a table. Like little things like that. There are endless ways that you can anticipate and fulfill your guests needs and truly show your customers you care. This is a whole other episode. Like there's so many things that we did over 20 years in every business. I mean, it's something that I'm constantly instilling in the nonprofit that I run, the businesses that I had. Like, this is just a really, really important message to me because it's people and I don't know where this disconnect is with businesses today, but they're just not valuing people like they used to. They're looking more at the analytics, at the numbers, at the conversion rate, at what their ads are doing and they're not really investing into people. And so we're going to dive into a whole other episode and I'm going to take you through like 10 things that we did and really hope that helps you as, as far as instilling a culture into your team of creating these cult led customers. Because it extends to your team as well. When you're recognizing and you're acknowledging all your customers, you're doing that with your team too. Like all of these things that we're talking about of how we recognize customers. I also had things in place that we did, like staff trips to the Ritz Carlton, if they hit certain numbers and surprising them with a limo and going down to a resort for a Christmas party or just for dinner. Like there were all of these things that we did in order to surprise and delight our team. And that extends to your customers too. But I really just wanted to make sure to touch on some highlights today because I feel it's really important for you to have this policy in place. You know, you can even do something cool to track the as simple as if you have a brick and mortar or even if you have a team remote, like having a place where people can acknowledge other team members. So if in my case, for example, if somebody saw another person on the team going above and beyond for a customer, they were able to write their name on this dry erase board and just say like, oh, Susie did blank for this customer and it really made their day. Way to go, Suzy. Right? Like, so all of those things are just a way to reward and acknowledge your team for taking that extra step to acknowledge your customer. And those little things go a long way. The bottom line is everyone wants to be seen. And just like you, like you want to be acknowledged for a job well done and rewarded for things that you do in life. And I think at some point we're all like eight years old inside, like wanting to get that gold star on the chart. Like customers are the same way and they should be acknowledged, they should be recognized and rewarded. Like when your customers are telling other people about your business because you're doing amazing things, that's when you know you've created a standard. Just recapping where we are that c create a standard that a anticipate and fulfill their needs. The r reward and acknowledge them for becoming a cult like customer. I mean whether that's developing a program for rewards, whether that's giving them dollars off their services or their products or their next visit with a referral based program again it doesn't have to be difficult. You can keep it simple. Before computers, before I had any money, we used little business cards that we would print out, you know, and everybody would get a punch when they came in. That was kind of like the old school version of what they do now with all of the apps and keeps track of all of the money that you spend and how frequently you visit a certain place. Another thing we would do would be referral cards. Again, a small little business card where people could refer customers. And if they, you know, gave a card to a customer, that new customer got 10 bucks off their visit, they got 10 bucks off for referring them. So it was $20 that you're giving away. But the customer acquisition cost was far more than that. And it was a great way to acknowledge your best customers because they're going to be your best. Word of mouth in the online space. If you have a business online or you're looking to start one, this is where you would want to get customer testimonials. This would be asking people to say, you know, hey, sue, we've been working together for six months. I know you've had a lot of great results. I would absolutely love if you could do a testimonial for me so that I can include it on my page. And for doing that, I'll give you blank. Whether it's a free mini course or a free PDF or $25 off this package that you have, like whatever that looks like. The goal is to make sure that you're acknowledging and rewarding customers that are telling other people about your products and services, that are spending money with you, and it all goes back to surprise and delighting them. That's the reason every single company that we deal with, every single corporation has rewards programs. They work. There's a reason that every single time you go and get coffee, you earn points. Once you get so many of them, you get the free coffee. It's because these incentive programs work. This is really just missed in the online space. Like if we can take some of these brick and mortar principles that are proven and implement them in every business type, even if you're online, the sustainability for your business and brand is going to grow exponentially. Other ways to just reward and acknowledge customers would be write a thank you note. Like, how hard is it to just, just genuinely write a note to your customer and tell them how grateful you are for them. I'll tell you, I have been a customer online, you know, for quite some time. Like in this online space, like with programs and Masterminds, big money masterminds, big money groups. And of all of the different people I've worked with and spent so much money with them, it blows my mind that only once have I ever gotten a thank you card. Like one time and it was actually from the person I spent the least with. But I remember that. I mean, how crazy is that? Half the time here you are like you're the customer, you're spending tons of money and you can't even get a return email. Like, it is the most bizarre thing I have ever heard and it blows my mind. And if there's one thing I want to do is that I want this space to be different. I want everyone listening to this to be able to create a standard, anticipate your clients needs and really reward, acknowledge and recognize them. When a customer is spending money on something with you, like, that is something I take very seriously. And I guarantee you that like you're not going to, I'm not going to. We're not always going to hit the mark. Like we just aren't. We are not going to be able to do everything we want to do. But one thing that you always want to make sure, and one thing I always want to make sure is that people work with me. They know that I appreciate them and I acknowledge them. Another simple way that you can do this is you can have cool events for your customer. Like if you owned a brick and mortar and you had events, like maybe bring in experts to talk about something. Or if you have a product, like doing free tasting or sampling of your service. Not only is this going to help your customers become more educated, but they're going to appreciate your service. They're going to be more valuable to your business too. And if you're in the online space, you can do this by maybe running a free webinar or a free coaching session, or you know, running a free blog or podcast. Like I'm doing, like, this is a free platform that people can get free information and content that they don't have to buy. It's just a way that people can get the most out of the products and services that you offer and the information that you have have. But remember, like, you don't have to break the bank. Like a birthday card, an impromptu coffee, a short video sent via text or even DM can go such a long way with just letting people know how much you value and appreciate them and like little gifts. Like I love to give gifts. It's like I get so excited like Valentine's Day, just even Picking up a gift for Valentine's Day to give like made me so excited. And I love to give customers gifts. I was always paying attention to something that they like. And so whether it was their birthday or their Christmas for like special customers that worked with me for a long time or spent a lot of money with us, I always wanted to give them just something that showed that I remembered them, I appreciated them and I paid attention to the things that they like. If you have a large group of customers, this could be something as far as coffee mugs or makeup, mirrors, nail file, like you name it. It's just something that's a gesture to thank them for doing business all year long. Again, you don't have to spend a lot of money. It can be a five dollar gift card to a place that they talked about. It could be maybe a book that even you already have that's sitting on your shelf that you think they would enjoy. If you have online customers, it could be a program that you thought would be really valuable to them and you just want to give them free access. Or like I said, it could be a loyalty program just like the other companies. It works. Customers love that red carpet treatment. So making something, just doing something, it doesn't have to be complex. Keep it simple, but make sure that it's something that you're doing to acknowledge your customers. Even as easy as doing an annual discount on their anniversary of when they became a customer or on their birthday.
- [29:03]
Candy Valentino
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.
- [29:30]
Sean Ryan
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- [29:42]
Unknown Speaker
+ see terms@walmartplus.com for 20 years without fail, we gave birthday cards with a gift card inside and it was always for the spa. So you know whether it was 10, 15, 20, I don't remember the exact amounts. Over the years I think it fluctuated and changed. But we always sent out birthday cards with that gift card and as we got larger and had tens of thousands of people on our database, then we would send out postcards with like a little scratchy and underneath was either 10, 15 or 20 off their next service. There were people that waited all year to get that in the mail to the point. Whereas if we had a change in staff or somehow dropped the ball and didn't get them out in the exact time, people would call and be like, I didn't get my birthday card like they expected it. We were acknowledging and rewarding our customers so much that they expected it. But that was a great thing because some people waited the whole year and that was their only time they could treat themselves. And that gift card for their birthday brought them back in and reactivated them. Another way to reward customers under this R category would be social media. Like you can do simple things. We established this program called the Share and Win where we would have a post that went up and somebody would have to like it, share it and comment underneath that. They did both of those things, right? So in order to do that, then they would be entered to win a hundred dollar gift card and we would do these say maybe once a month, once every other week, depending on the promotions that we had going out. But this was a great way. Again people, when we stopped doing them, they were like, hey, where are those sharing wins? We would get hundreds if not thousands of shares, have direct access to everyone's social media network of friends just by offering $100 gift card. The other thing you can do is having people post check in comment, right? Like hey, when you check in at this business, show us your phone and we'll take $5 off your pancakes today. Or you know, hey, when you leave us a 5 star review, we will send you a 20% off coupon for your next product service treatment. Like whatever it looks like for you. There's so many different ways that you can do this that you can reward them. It like a golden opportunity for you to solicit feedback too. But it also creates and identifies who your like brand and business ambassadors are. Like, who are those cult like customers? You'll really start to see who the voices of your business are. All right, we can go on and on this forever because again, it's something, oh I just, I loved, I love, love, love our customers and I've loved them in every business that I'm in. But I think you get the point. There are so many other ways that you can superize and delight. You can just kind of hit a couple of lists that I wrote down here. A donation in their name. Having a Christmas party or a customer appreciation party. Like we used to always have these martini parties that people loved or doing things like wind down Wednesdays for a customer's appreciation day. Like they're just the list is endless. So just make sure that whatever it is that you maybe take 1, 2, 3 of these things that I rattled off if you're not doing them, and just make sure that you employ them in your business and create part of your customer service standards around them. So that brings us to the last letter, E. Exceed their expectations. Another word for this, but it doesn't line up with my E. Enneagram, or whatever it's called is going above and beyond. Always make sure that whatever their expectations are, that you're exceeding them. Now the first step with that is you need to know what their expectations are and have an understanding of them in order to exceed their expectations. So you really need to get to know who your customers are, are what they want, and what their expectations are compared to those of your competitors. Right? Like that's the first step in making sure that you can identify these things. And the next is like, what promises do you actually make and can you keep them? Like, if you can't respond to an email within 24 hours, don't say that. Like you would rather under promise and over deliver all day long. Because there is nothing worse than promising something and under delivering it to your customers. I want you to write that down. Always make sure that you create a situation that you can exceed the expectation. If it's really, really hard to confirm that you're going to respond to an email within 24 hours because maybe you don't have that person in place yet, or you don't have enough people in place, then do not say that. Make sure you say 48 hours so that if you respond to them within six hours, they're like, oh, wonderful, they already got back to me, me. But if their expectation is in this, you know, on demand world, that they're going to hear back from you within an hour, or a competitor in your space is doing it in six, well, guess what, they're going to be upset. So make sure that you know the expectations so that you can deliver. Otherwise you're truly just setting yourself up for failure. I mean, another way to exceed their expectations is keep it simple. Like we went for gosh years with just using receptionists and spa coordinators that answered the phones. And we never had a fancy phone system like, like we picked it up within two rings, we had four lines. They had to like, manually put everyone on hold and you know, thank you for calling Platinum Salon Spa. How can I provide you with exceptional service? Like, that was what they said every time, all the time, within two rings. And Even if they had to put someone on the phone, they said it can I please place you on a brief hold? And then they would go to the next call. And they literally managed all of those inbound and outbound calls. We got this fancy phone system that, you know, it was like an auto attendant that picked up customers hated it. Like, they loved to be able to have that human on the phone when they answered. So that was something that we had to invest in. We started investing in two or three different people, depending on the volume, to be able to answer the phones and do all of the functions that we needed. You have to know what your customers like and what they don't like. And people just like us don't like to get on the phone and push buttons and repeat their problems multiple times using multiple channels and still not getting the help help. So make sure that you're keeping it simple, especially if your customer has a problem, like they just want an answer. And the one thing I would encourage any business owner listening is really empowering your team to handle those problems. And the best way to handle them is immediately. But the only way that you can do that is to make sure that you're training them on a standard and a protocol of actually how to solve those issues. Delegating problem solving to your team, the ones that actually come face to face with your customers. That's the most powerful thing you can do. Because then your customers don't have to go through chann or wait for some approval or talk to a manager. Like, give people who work with your customers the authority to whether it's comp a service or return a product or replace something that's broken, like just take care of the customer. I know there's so many people because I was in that place too. Truly I was. There's so many people saying, oh, but people take advantage of it. And yes, that is true. But I will tell you, there are far less people that take advantage of that than there are good people in the world. Good people just want a solution and they want you to handle the problem. We all know how frustrating it is to deal with customer service representatives that have an attitude or just really don't care about helping you out. So really making sure that your team is on board. I mean, what I actually did was my team had the ability to a certain dollar amount to just handle the problem. They didn't even need to talk to me because one, it alleviated me to be able to do what I do well, which is, if you remember, when I talked in One of my previous episodes, I was talking about eliminating and delegating and how to actually create that person that you need on your team. So for me, when I eliminated and delegated that responsibility, you can't then jump back in and over them. You need to give them a framework to be able to run on and then empower them to make those decisions because it takes it off of your plate. And really, what's the big deal? Like, if they gave someone a $65 comp service, but I was going to give them $25 off, is it really worth the time, stress, pressure, energy to like, have the conversation of $40? Just take care of the customer and the rest works out. At the end of the day, you just want your customers taken care of. That was literally my principle. Just take care of them. It is that simple. If someone comes in and their it's late, that's unacceptable. So we need to take care of that customer or compensate them for their time in some way. Another way to exceed expectations in today's world especially, is being consistent. If you're doing great service and you're doing all of these things to care about your customer, you want to make sure that you're doing it all the time. Otherwise, you're setting their expectation from a previous experience and you're going to be setting yourself up for failure if you're not consistent. So making sure that you can deliver on your promises every time, all the time. Like, even when it's not convenient. Like, that's why I always say commitment over convenience. That's playing the long game. That's what wins. And remember, like, listen. Listening to your customers feedback, to their opinions, they're teaching you all the time. They're giving us the keys to the kingdom of how to make our businesses better. But a lot of times, business owners have so much passion and heart and ego that they let that get in between what they want and what their customers want. When we allow our ego to get between those two things and we think that the vision for our business and our organization is greater than what we're hearing from our customers, the only thing we can do is lose. Because it's so easy for issues and problems to not be seen by the business owner, even your team sometimes, right? Like, it's like the difference of working in something as opposed to working on it. It's like when your vantage point changes, right? Like when you're standing on the ground, you have a certain of the world around you. But if you stand six rungs up on a ten foot ladder, your vantage point instantly changes and you're able to see so many different things. So making sure that you're not having a negative impact on your customer experience because you're not listening to people managing the customer relationships, excelling in the customer experience in a way that really helps you exceed their expectations. That is what's really going to help create cult like customers in your business business. And I know it's not easy, but nothing worth it ever is. So do the hard work, play the long game because your customer service is your reputation. Hey guys, thanks for tuning in to this episode and if there was something that you loved or you had a specific takeaway, share it and tag me at Candy Valentino. And if you haven't already, grab a copy of my latest book, the 9% Edge Life Changing Secrets to create more revenue for your business and more freedom for yourself. You can pick it up anywhere books are sold, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or your local independent store. And once you do, head over to 9% edge.com and claim $1500 in pre order bonuses, including a chance to join me on this very show. Thanks so much for tuning in and spending this time with me today, guys. We'll see you next time.
- [40:41]
Sean Ryan
Former Navy SEAL Sean Ryan shares real stories from real people from all walks of life on the Sean Ryan Show. Former US Navy Admiral Tim Gallaudet.
- [40:52]
Unknown Speaker
How did you get involved in this whole UFO thing?
- [40:54]
One day I get this email on the Navy Secret Network. If any of you know what these are, tell me ASAP. F18 pilots captured video of this UFO UAPS orchard over the water. Just a little round sphere. And so I knew right there that was something not ours.
- [41:07]
Sean Ryan
The Sean ryan Show on YouTube or wherever you listen.