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BLOGS
You’ll be at your business every day, and, as such, you probably won’t “see it” in the same way that your customers do. It’s like with your house; you get so used to the environment that you essentially function on autopilot while you’re there.
That has benefits to you — it allows you to work well — but it can also be a hindrance. For example, it might cause you to overlook certain aspects that influence your customer’s experience of your business. Ideally, it’d impact them positively, but that won’t automatically be the case. Let’s take a look at some of the things you might be missing that your customers will notice.
The Greeting
Remember on the first days of running your business, when you’d greet everyone who walked through the door? After a while, that enthusiasm can begin to wane, especially if you know that you have enough customers to survive. However, it’s important to think about how a prospective customer might feel if they were ignored upon arrival. They might not mind, but they also might — and if they do, then it wouldn’t be a surprise if they turned around and walked away. You and your team should always greet new customers as if they were your first.
The Cleanliness
You can learn a lot about an establishment by how clean it is — or at least, that’s what your customers think, anyway. You’ll probably be keeping up with the general surface cleaning of your business premises, but you might not be as diligent when it comes to deep cleaning. Over time, your carpets, driveways, and other high-use areas can all become extremely dirty, yet because it happens slowly over the years, you might not even notice. So take a look: do you need to hire a commercial carpet cleaning company or rent a power washer to deep clean your driveway in order to restore your business back to its former glory? If so, then do so — your customers will be much more impressed when they see spick-and-span premises.
The Expertise of Your Employees
It’s not realistic that your employees know everything about all things related to your business or industry, but unfortunately, the general public will expect them to. Customers find it confusing to be told “I don’t know” when they ask a question. Hopefully, if your employees are well-trained then that’s unlikely to happen, but if you suspect that it could happen, then it might be worthwhile investing in some refresher training courses.
The Ease of Checkout
A lot has to happen to get to the point where a customer wants to pay for an item. Yet oddly, sometimes businesses fumble it at this late stage, and it’s all for an easily avoidable reason: the checkout process is too complicated. In this day and age, consumers expect to be able to pay quickly and efficiently via their preferred method, be it with cash, physical credit card, or their phone. If you haven’t already, look to make as many options available as possible.
