Editor’s Note: Here at Dispatches, we are always looking for ways to help our readers do things. For some of our readers, that means helping navigate the working world, for others, it means assisting in the ever challenging question, “what’s for dinner?” For still others, it means figuring out how to balance family life with everything else. In an effort to aid in all of these endeavors, we have collaborated on this article written specifically for our readers.
There is plenty that affects the likelihood of a customer using your service, buying your product, or coming back for more. One of the things that can make a difference is the nature of the first impression that they have of your business. This is true whether they meet one of your representatives in the flesh, or they communicate with you via twitter or email. First impressions matter and can be one of the main reason a customer keeps coming back.
Brand Loyalty
You need to first make sure that you are encouraging a good degree of brand loyalty in your business. This is important because it influences the way your business appears to the customer, and the more loyal the brand is to itself the more professionals trustworthy the business will come across. You can achieve this sense of loyalty by encouraging and promoting brand consistency across all channels throughout your company, and by ensuring that you keep the brand both simple and effective. Do that, and you might be surprised at how much of a great first impression you can provide for your customer, no matter how they come across your business in the first place.
Customer Service Advisors
In many cases, you can control the first impression more effectively if you are working on the actual customer service first. The way in which people speak to your customers in person is extremely important, and there is often always work to be done in this area for most companies. There are so many things you can do here, from training your staff more frequently to ensuring that you have a unique opening line. But something that can really help is the introduction of an appointment manager. This individual could be able to introduce the customer to the company and achieve a better sense of welcoming and customer-centric practices.
Promise & Deliver
It goes beyond the actual initial meeting, however, and you also want to make sure that you are impressing them early on in other ways. Arguably the most important way to do this is to make sure that you are delivering on whatever you happen to promise without exception if at all possible. If you can do that, you will find that it makes a difference to how well they see your business, so this is something that you really don’t want to overlook. In fact, the better that you master this, the better off your company will be. Providing a great first impression for the customer is often easier to do than you might think.