“If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude”. – Colin Powell
Companies may claim that they are focused on their customers and they know what their customers really care about, but how accurate that is, depends on whether customers believe the claims to be true. There are a number of things that could be important to customers based on their individual needs, expectations, business, and current situation. Despite their individual requirements, existing customers and prospective ones, would check on the information about a company online to assess service quality and market reputation, making these two among the top things that customers really care about. With online reputation becoming extremely important, it would be a self-defeating move for companies to ignore these aspects, especially because they are important to customers.
The fact is that customers are now a highly informed and intelligent set of people, who can easily sift genuineness from false claims and only appearances of being focused on them. Only those companies that are completely honest in their dealings, remain transparent, and display integrity in every aspect of their business, would gain long-term favour with customers. Even a hint of dishonesty and attempts to fool customers, could lead them to ‘punish’ a company in several ways. What matters to customers most is that they can trust and depend on the company they are in business with and would not need to check back son the association. Customers expect that they would receive top quality products, great service, and competitive pricing without having to lay claim or emphasis no these seemingly obvious things. Surveys and research have revealed beyond doubt that these are things that customers really care about and expect companies to know it.
It becomes the onus of companies therefore, to consistently improve their processes and strategies to ensure that they keep pace with customer needs and wants, and do whatever it takes to improve the overall experience their customers have with them. Even minor changes to certain processes could affect the relationship between customers and a company – leading to happier customers and a company that truly knows and understands what customers really care about and would keep them loyal. As mentioned, customer needs change and their behaviour too does not remain constant, which poses challenges for companies to ascertain the best way to keep them happy. Sometimes customers themselves may not be aware of why they would react to a company in a certain way and how their experiences and beliefs would be moulding their behaviour – making it even tougher for companies to do exactly what they want.
Among the things that customers really care about, is getting updated information that is useful and interesting. Customers cannot always know what is out there – in terms of both companies that exist and products available. It becomes the onus of companies to spread awareness by communicating with customers – both existing and prospective – about what they can do to benefit customers in their business and the latest offerings of the company. Such information is highly sought after and appreciated by customers. Customers tend to view such companies with more respect and are happier to continue or start doing business with them. Over time, customers tend to become loyal and willingly refer the company to others – gaining more business and a wider audience for the company.
While some companies may receive responses from customers immediately, some customers may take their time to evaluate the offers from a company and would respond only when it would be suitable for them. This wait period may be tough; however, companies can utilize it by sending value-added information sans the angle of selling, to the prospective customers, which they can use to better their lives and or business. Doing so would keep the company in the forefront with customers, and let them know that their business would be highly valued – things that customers really care about and would draw them closer to a company. Companies could also use the time between their offer and customer acceptance to gain more knowledge about the customer and train their employees how to respond better to customers and build empathy. A customer-centric culture and focus would enable a company to be naturally inclined to offer the best to their customers – gaining the appreciation and business of customers long-term. Whatever a company can do to facilitate customer engagement and loyalty must be done since there are many competitors ‘lying in wait’ to ambush the unsure and or unhappy customer.
What also customers really care about is the way each interaction is handled and the kind of experiences a company is able to give them. A single lapse on even one interaction could destroy an experience for the customer, making them wary of the company. Customers do not like the feeling of being cheated or being treated slovenly and they would rather make the effort to seek out a new company to do business with, rather than stick with one they do not trust. The fact is top class customer service possibly tops the list of what customers really care about and companies need to remain mindful of this need, at all times.
In order to create a culture of service, a company must ensure that each person in the company understands the significance of customer service and its role in making or breaking a company. Everyone must have the best interest of the customers in mind, and this should not be solely the responsibility of the customer facing teams. Each person must strive to make customers feel valued, unique, important, and welcome, at all times – ensuring that customers refuse to look beyond the company to conduct business. With so much business and a large number of transactions having shifted online, the danger of ‘killing’ the personal touch is very real. What customers really care about is a company’s ability to keep the association humane and lend a personal touch to every interaction – whether offline or online. By making customers feel important and providing customized solutions, a company would keep every relationship humane. Small things like remembering a customer’s name, or sending them token of appreciation on an occasion, or wishing them if they are in the news for an accomplishment – are all things that customers really care about and tend to prefer companies that do so consistently.
The fact is that when a company takes the initiative of doing something nice for its customers – that would be beyond the ‘lines of business’ – customers are sure to reciprocate with good reviews, referrals, recommendations, and or other such goodwill gestures. What customers really care about is doing business with someone they like and someone who likes them – when a company goes out of its way to show care and respect to its customers, it makes them want to return the feelings. In business, these feelings of reciprocity build trust and over time that much required loyalty from customers. Showing customers your company cares, would not cost you much but the pay-offs are huge, significant, and long-term.
What customers really care about is whether their needs and expectations guide a company, its vision, and its practices. If a company can display this consistently and in everything it does, it would not be hard to keep customers loyal and profitable, and trounce their competitors even in an overcrowded ‘market’.
