Addiction isn’t a casual interest or a take-it-or-leave-it attitude .
When customers are addicted to a particular organization, they are “all in” as long as they continue to receive the value that converted them to raving fans in the first place. And, their loyalty can even tolerate the infrequent disappointment.
Every organization covets the habitual user, but they’re not just out there to be taken; they have to be created .
The problem today is that many organizations are so driven to flog their wares, they don’t focus on doing what is necessary to turn the casual buyer into the raving fan with “the habit.”
Here are 5 things you can do to create habitual users:
1. Don’t focus on the immediate sale . If you do things right, you will not only make the immediate transaction, you will earn a steady income for a long time to come. This is about changing the culture of the organization away from short-term results being the top priority to an obsession with deepening customer relationships as the raison d’être. As long as quarterly earnings are paramount, the behaviors necessary need to create addicts will be stultified.
2 . Make relationship-building your top recruitment priority. Look for individuals with a demonstrated track record of serving people with sensitivity and care. The “product flogger” is an easy hire; those with an innate desire to serve others are tougher to find, but are worth the effort.
3. Humanize your customer contact systems . Is it easy for a customer to enter your organization and get what they want? Is your website easy to navigate? Can they reach a human being if they need to? Do you force people through a complicated voice response system with too many questions to answer? Simplify your processes. Ask for customer input and make operations human-friendly.
4. Have a strategy when you screw a customer over (and you will). Recovering from a service oops! has amazing implications when it comes to creating customer addicts. Fix it and surprise ’em is the formula that will turn an angry ready-to-leave customer into someone who will follow you anywhere. If you do it right, the mistake is forgotten and your recovery is all they remember.
5. Declare a “ we don’t care about our competitors ” policy. Organizations that are overly concerned with what their competition is up to are not generally very effective in being proactive to do whatever it takes to serve their customers. Place your emphasis on preventing your customers from leaving . If you do this well, you won’t have to worry about the “hordes” at your door. Observe your competition; ACT for your customers.
In Sum
Habits are created when you provide something that people can’t do without. Something they crave.
Look around your organization. Can you see “ habit forming behaviors ” being demonstrated by people in the workplace?
If not, do whatever you can to help change things now.