Schlagwort-Archive: Expectations

Customers are everything – without them, everything is nothing

There are moments when we have the impression that we are not living in the same world. When we enter a shop in Japan, it feels like everyone is only waiting for us. The sales staff turns to us and welcome us with an Irasshaimase (engl. Welcome).
In Western stores, we recognize the staff by how they move away from us as soon as they notice us. In extreme cases, they are so ignorant that, even though we stand right in front of them and look at them questioningly, they execute routine tasks such as restocking shelves, checking off a list, or simply doing nothing. Above all, the unqualified staff gives customers the feeling that they are bothering.
Yet customer experience has been in the center of interest for years. Bad experiences destroy customer loyalty with unfriendly and incompetent services.

To close the gap between the experience and the original expectation, employees need customer focus.

  • Customers are people
    We all are a unique universe fulfilling various roles in changing contexts such as family, leisure, and work. To do this, we acquire a set of behaviors that we apply intuitively. We have skills adapted to the situation. We use our internalized convictions for perception, which also influence our thinking, behavior, and communication. All actions are dependent on the momentary mood. There is a positive explanation for every customer behavior that almost always has nothing to do with the salesperson. Be grateful for all shoppers who have found their way to you.
  • Customers have expectations
    If potential customers contact you at your counter, they follow an impulse. They have become aware of you and want to find out more. Perhaps they may already have specific ideas that need to be investigated. There may be questions regarding the application. Eventually, it could be about the final customization. These examples already show the different expectations that need to be fulfilled from you. Determine the expectations and adapt your advice to them.
  • Customers love a pleasing ambiance
    Prospects enter an environment that is entirely under the control of the provider. All senses are reached, whether you like it or not. Pay attention to the visual impression you make with your coloring, visualizations, etc. You influence the sound of your store with more than just basic acoustics such as reverberation, the sounds of doors or furnishings, or the noise level of your employees. It also includes sound sources such as subliminal music and the ringing of telephones. We are particularly sensitive to new smells. How do you want to smell? As soon as customers enter your sphere, they sense the furnishings, the floor, the doors, and so on. Whether you wish to appear cozy or eco, or busy, you should prepare your space. Examine your current ambiance from the sensual points of strangers coming in to see you.
  • Customers don’t just pay for what you offer
    It is always about deliverables that you propose. Hopefully, they have a fair market price that treats clients equally. With a product and a service, the deliverables should have the promised qualities. However, that’s not yet the whole package. It starts with the first impression when you are contacted, by phone or when customers visit you. They expect friendliness and know-how, and a respectful approach. A friendly relationship doesn’t end after the deliverable has been paid or provided. To keep customers coming back (or coming at all), you should continually serve them as the only customer, even if they are not billed for those add-ons. You determine customer loyalty by your generous support that goes beyond the original deliverables.
  • Customers come, return or not
    A biz without clientele is like a soup without liquid. For this reason, all people are potential customers. You determine whether another deal will happen by how you treat non-, regular, and occasional clients. To keep them coming, you should make enticing offers that you can deliver. Your customer contact is already part of the deliverable before the contract. However, it only pays off when it results in a deal. Do not destroy outcomes by ceasing your efforts after payment. Continue to support previous clientele. Even after everything is done, you are required. Existing customers know and appreciate you. Don’t risk losing them by misbehaving. Make your employees aware that 1) most customers aren’t even customers yet and 2) disappointed existing customers never come back.

Bottom line: Many vendors feel threatened by entrants from the Internet. At the same time, these virtual biz think that they do not have to take care of individual customers. However, they are also people with all their peculiarities. All offerors must respond appropriately to customer expectations. In the real and the virtual world, you should create a pleasant atmosphere. Besides the genuine offer, other deliverables do not result in an invoice but are rewarded by customers. Eventually, all providers have a significant influence on whether new customers come, return, or not. Never forget: Customers are everything – without them, everything is nothing.

Leadership nightmare

If it is sometimes not going in the direction that you desire as a boss, in the first place the others are responsible. We assume that the ideas of the superiors are thoughtful, and meaningful in a consistent and beneficial way. The feedbacks of the colleagues create the impression that it is the right way. For any reason, however, the employees do not move in the desired direction. Actually, a nightmare for the boss.

overlap

The nightmare begins not immediately, since one explains oneself the missing momentum with lack of commitment. At a closer look you find three aspects that contribute crucially, that the forces of all unite into a common direction.

  • Expectations
    The expectations of the executives determine, above all, how strongly they are satisfied with the outcomes. Depending on character, they have negative fears or positive hopes. The expectations include the actions that should be done, the results that you eventually hold in your hands, or the consequences that result in the following. The management of expectations is difficult, since rarely, if at all, only a few people take care of documenting them comprehensibly for everybody.
  • Strategy
    The long-term initiatives describe the direction of the enterprise. The individual aspects create the crash barriers for all employees, partners and even the customers. Here you find the vision that offers a conclusive snapshot of the future. It is supported by the mission that supplies the Raison d’être. During the management of everyday tasks the critical success factors, the weighted value disciplines as well as the descriptions of the strengths, the weaknesses, the opportunities and the risks help. The long-term direction needs clear messages, so that the enterprise builds upon it. The easily understandable and well documented strategy is the steering wheel that gives the enterprise the direction.
  • Activities
    The many actions that are accomplished on all enterprise levels can only be collected and listed with very, very much effort. In larger companies, they understood that this collection is not economical. The efforts of all appear in the common results. It is only important to find the right level of detail for the description of the positions and processes.

A crucial executive task is the controlling and coordination of the interests of all involved people.

It becomes a nightmare, if the three aspects mentioned do not overlap. This minus scenario means that the leadership team formulates their strategy outside of their expectations and nobody accomplishes the expectations or the future picture. The employees make something that does not go into the desired direction. The good news is that the staff orientates themselves on each other and moves them jointly in a common direction. In this case you can forego the leaders, since their contribution does not impact at all.

The plus scenario provides in any case a way out by taking consciously care of the three aspects.

  • This starts with the attitude. Should the employees only do, what they are told? Hopefully not, since otherwise the enterprise moves into a dead end. The creative ideas of the staff are what improve the enterprise. The minimum requirement is that they act into the general direction, however with enough free space for the new things.
  • The same is valid for the expectations of the executive team. A broad positioning increases the opportunities of the company. On the one hand that comes from the different functions of work (e.g. development, production, sales). On the other hand there are the personal interests and the ambitions of the protagonists.
  • The strategy should reflect as clearly as possible the results of the alignment of all involved people.

Bottom line: The executive nightmare that results from missing adjustment can be avoided. Clearly formulated expectations make the conceptions transparent. The sophisticated plan determines the general direction. The employees develop the actual implementation of the plans and realize the new operational sequences, the flat structures and a fruitful culture.