Take a Look at Yourself Through Your Customer’s Eyes – If You Dare!

When was the last time you wondered what it would be like to buy from you? Maybe you never have; maybe the prospect would be far too daunting. Imagine arriving at your office, was it easy to park? Were there reserved parking spaces for customers/clients? Close to the front entrance? And when you approached reception, what response did you get? Did you feel welcomed? Valued? Important?

What were the surroundings like? Did they convey the impression of a company that will look after you? Were you made to wait an inappropriate amount of time before someone came to greet you? Were you offered refreshments whilst you waited?

Or maybe your first contact with you was via the telephone: How many rings before someone picked up the phone? Were you connected to the person you wanted to speak to quickly? Or did you encounter the dreaded voice-message? If you did, were you immediately re-directed to someone else?

Perhaps you decided to connect with yourself via your website: It is probably very sexy with loads of images and customer testimonials that nobody is ever going to check out, but is it “user-friendly?” Could you navigate round it easily? Find what you wanted? Make contact quickly? Did you get back to you promptly?

After that initial experience during which you decided – possibly in the first ten minutes, or even 90 seconds online – if you might want to do business with you, what happened next?

You have a requirement so were you made to feel part of the process or merely part of the audience? Were you talked up or down to? Did you genuinely feel that you thoroughly understood your requirements? Did you ask yourself enough questions? Were you confident that you could supply a solution that exactly met your requirements, or were you prepared to sell anything to you at any cost knowing it was not going to fit what you really needed?

When you presented your solution to yourself, did you open with loads of information about your company; your customers; your successes – and made yourself yawn? Or did you directly address your specific needs, and present a genuine value proposition containing a realistic ROI case with sufficient uniqueness (based on your in-depth knowledge of your competitors strengths and weaknesses?)

We have now moved on, and you are very pleased with yourself, you gave you the order: You sorted all the T’s and C’s and you are ready to deliver. Mentally, although you haven’t actually received payment yet, you have spent the commission – job done? Well no, not quite. You see, as the person who has patiently seen this deal through – maybe with your team, who have also helped you sell to you – you do have some responsibility to ensure that delivery and installation goes smoothly, even though you are relying on others.

Did it go well, were you satisfied with your company’s post-order performance? On time? In the right place? In the right way?

So, now you have completed the cycle all the way through from the foreplay to the cigarette, and you’re thinking, “Phew, job done, didn’t I do well, I satisfied me” Well no, not at all. You still have to look after your future needs. You want to cultivate the relationship with you. That was just the first order of what could be many, so whatever you do don’t get complacent with yourself – and this is where so many organizations fail – but not you?

How did you do? Would you really buy from you? If you wouldn’t, why should I?

Be assured, more and more companies are becoming far more introspective in order to gain a competitive edge, and if yours in not one of them, expect to be left behind.