The Built Write Blog

“If you build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.”

-Jeff Bezos, founder, president, CEO and Chairman of the board, Amazon.com

This past weekend, Jason and I experienced an opportunity of a lifetime by attending an event we’d been waiting on for close to 20 years. We traveled over 300 miles to see Alice in Chains in concert at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut. And not only did we get to see the concert, we actually knew the right person who could score us some VIP passes so we could meet the band!

There were approximately 30 of us that had the privilege of meeting the band, and I was a nervous third in line (Jason remained his Ranger-self: cool, calm and collected as the fourth person in line). When it was my turn, I walked up to a sun-glass-wearing Jerry Cantrell and asked (as any fan would), “Hi. Would you mind signing my CD case?” He gave me a smile (like he didn’t see that question coming, right?) and said, “Sure.”

As I made my way from band member to band member, I realized that even though these guys are rich and famous, not once did I feel like they were “put off” by having to do a “meet and greet” with their fans. Instead, I got the impression that they were actually having fun meeting us. Jerry was just recovering from having the flu earlier in the week, so he wasn’t too talkative, but both William DuVall and Mike Inez happily signed our memorabilia and talked with us. And when it came time to get a photo with the band, Jason asked them, “Where do you wanted us?” Mike responded, “Hey, you’re the fans. Where do you want us?” Now I am no expert on dealing with celebrities, but how many other rock stars would do that? Probably not too many.

Meeting the band was certainly an awesome experience for us. Not only will we continue to be fans of Alice in Chains, but because the band members made it such a positive experience, we will spend the rest of our lives telling anyone who will listen how amazingly cool they are as people, too. How about that for reinforcing fan loyalty?

And this is just the type of talked-about experience you should be creating for your customers.

Think about it. If the band members of Alice in Chains had been arrogant or ungrateful, do you think we would have enjoyed the concert (even though we’d been waiting 20 years for this opportunity)? Nope. And we certainly would have thought twice about ever purchasing their music again … no matter how much we liked it.

Creating an experience for your customers can go either way. You can choose to be unresponsive and decide not to fix that nail pop and squeaky floorboard because the customer has lived in their home over one year (and you aren’t obligated to do so anymore), or you can happily fix it, knowing that someday that customer may be in the market for another home and will want you to build it for them, again. Every day the choice is yours in how you deal with your customers.

There is a remodeler I know who rents his customers PODS (moveable storage boxes) before starting a large remodeling project. He knows that one of the biggest concerns any homeowner has before a remodeling project begins is where to store their stuff. So to combat this issue, he arranges for storage. This way, they don’t have to worry about their belongings getting dusty or, worse yet, destroyed. In doing this, he is creating a positive experience for his customers.

I frequently work with Synapse Print Management in Lancaster; they do many things right, in my opinion, but one that I appreciate the most is that they automatically send me samples from every project I do with them. While I coordinate print projects on behalf of many of my clients, I don’t often get to see the finished product, since it is delivered directly to my clients’ place of business. Synapse knows this and before they deliver the product to my client, they will put a few in the mail to me. And I NEVER have to ask. They just know to do it. That’s what makes working with them such a great customer experience for me.

It doesn’t matter what business you are in or whether you sell a product or service, you can ALWAYS create a positive experience for your customers. It can be as simple as saying “thank you” for their business or developing a system so you can stay in better communication with them (like a newsletter). One of the best ways to create a positive experience for your customers is to identify their concerns and find a solution you can provide. So ask yourself: at what level are you creating an experience for your customers (high quality, low quality or somewhere in between?)? What could you do to make the experience your customers have with you even better?

I’ll end with this quote I saw recently on Facebook from Jim Palmer – the Newsletter Guru. “Success Tip: If you simply make it easy for someone to do business with you and you are polite and courteous, you will have happy customers. If you go just a few extra steps to make your customers’ experience memorable, they’ll be singing your praises from the roof tops!”

Give your customers an Alice in Chains experience … they’ll shower you with loyalty if you do!

Thank you for reading the Built Write blog!

Tess Wittler Writing Services • Dedicated to giving your visions a voice.