“Happy Customers become your Marketing Program” –TSG (T. Scott Gross)

This is one major idea I got from Scott’s materials. It’s also called Viral Marketing. Some Gurus call it Buzz. It’s what happens after they leave your store. Talking to you may have been the most exciting thing they did that day. They will talk about the experience of being in your store whether you like it or not.

Of course, you don’t solely rely on happy customer referrals to build your business. You also advertise (to attract new customers). But concentrating on Outrageous Customer Service is the way to guarantee growing your “Herd” of customers.

Scott has called this Outrageous Customer Service. I call it selling. Let’s go over some of the most important parts:

It’s not the price, packaging, or location that causes people to buy. It’s that the customer feels Good about doing business with you.

This is hard for some retailers to take. It’s easy to blame poor sales on suppliers, the economy, the weather, or your competition. Certainly these things can be a factor. But the vast majority of the reason someone doesn’t buy from you, at your store…is that they don’t feel good about buying from you.

The customer doesn’t need fixed.

What are you doing to make the buying experience something the customer will talk about to their friends at work the next day?

Here is a quote from one of Scott’s books;

“Random and Unexpected. Out of all proportion to the circumstance. The Customer is invited to play or is otherwise highly involved. It creates compelling, positive word-of-mouth. Positively Outrageous Service is the service story you can’t wait to tell.”- T. Scott Gross

When the customer walks out your door, you want the first word out of their mouth to be “Wow!”.

The above quote pretty much expresses the theme of Scott’s books.

Why am I quoting him? Because when I first read that quote, I said aloud “That’s it! That’s what I’ve been trying to say.”

“But Claude, this guy is talking about customer service. I sell”. Yup. This “Wow factor” can be pre-emptive. You don’t need to wait for a customer service issue to arise to show the customer what you’re made of. You can WOW them right after they buy, before a problem comes up……

You can WOW them when they first come in.

Favors are only talked about if they are unexpected. If you advertise that you’ll give away a free vacuum cleaner belt (as an example) it’s expected. Nobody talks about it the next day.

But if you gave it to the customer graciously…..unexpectedly…..now, they will tell their friends. It’s not the “free belt” that creates the “Wow”, it’s the way you give it. The whole experience of being in your store.

The “free belt” part of it is the smallest part.

In my speeches, I mention giving away belts for free. “Free belts” is a metaphor for creating an exceptional experience for the customer…whether they buy right then or not.

“Out of all proportion to the circumstance”……Now you carry the product out to the car (if it’s heavy at all). Now you register the warranty in front of the customer. And you include a Thank You gift after the transaction is over. Now, what are they going to say as soon as they leave? “Wow!”

Let’s say the customer comes in & asks “Do you sell the (whatever)?”

And you don’t sell it. Assuming your store isn’t packed with buyers, what do you do? You could say “Nope, we don’t sell that. Sorry.”

Aren’t you being Mister Helpful.

How about “We don’t carry that, but they do at …..” I’m assuming that you can’t get what they want.

Now you’re being more helpful.

Think. If you are the customer, how does the answer to your questions affect you?

Let’s say you walk into a store that sells coats. Just coats. You ask the person there “Do you sell boots here?” If he says “Nope. This is the coat store. Sorry.” , you won’t talk about how great he was.

What if he said “Boots? We don’t sell boots, but I know they have a nice selection of boots down at ___ . Would you like me to call them to make sure they’re open?” He might add “Would you like directions?”

Now, you are taking the first step in becoming part of this salesperson’s Herd.

Your service can be memorable.

“The customer is invited to play…” Do you invite the customer to play with what you sell? If you are doing a demonstration without the customer handling the product, you are only as effective as a DVD.

Customer participation forms a relationship. It provides a framework to build an “I was Wowed!” story around. The word-of mouth created from these little drama’s create phenomenal profits. How do I know? Because that’s what it’s doing for me.