Is your business actually easy to do business with? The answer could impact your revenue as well as your reputation for service. Here are a few questions to ask yourself to help you view your business from a new customer’s perspective.
First Impressions
What is the first image of your business that your future customer sees? Is it your website, a sign in your office window, an ad, or something else? Whatever it is, take a look at it with fresh eyes, like you’ve never seen it before. You may have several images to consider if clients approach your business in many different ways.
What do you notice first? Is the website well-designed or cluttered? Is your sign rusty and crooked, or new and cute? Does your ad truly encourage potential customers to do business with you? Finally, do you need to make any changes based on what you see? If you’re having trouble looking at these images from an unbiased standpoint, try asking colleagues, friends, or family members what they think.
Voice Time
Next, consider how prospects and clients interact with you. If a customer calls, how many times does the phone ring before someone picks it up? Does the voice sound inviting and excited that someone called, or just the opposite, as though you were interrupted? Or worse, do they get a recording?
If they walk in to your store or office, how are they greeted? Is the person welcoming them either warm and friendly, or aloof and standoffish? If you have a waiting room, how does it look?
Service
You should also think about the quality of the service you provide current and potential customers. Are you able to answer a prospect’s questions? Do they feel comfortable with you, or are they intimidated? Also, are there any ways you can go above and beyond with your customer service?
In particular, what do prospects have to do in order to become clients? Are there lots of forms to complete? How organized are you in getting the client started and serviced for the first time? Are you respectful of their time if they are in a hurry?
Mystery Shoppers
You’ve probably heard of “mystery shoppers” who some companies hire to give their opinions of what their client experience was like for them. They go through a similar process by evaluating every client touch-point and suggesting ways to make it a smoother experience. This may be something you want to pursue if you’re still having difficulty looking at your business’s interactions from a client’s perspective.
In conclusion, almost every business could benefit from periodically reviewing the client experience to discover where the weakest links are and how they can be fixed. So start by asking yourself these questions to see where you can improve your client’s experience and make it easy to do business with you.