Loyal customers are vitally important during difficult economic times like we’re currently experiencing because they’re less expensive to sell to: you don’t have to spend weeks sometimes months building credibility because they’re already sold.

But what if your business is relatively new and you just don’t have many customers who are coming back yet? Or what if you just lost several of your business customers and you need to cultivate new relationships?

Can you do something to accelerate the process of turning casual customers into raving fans who sing your praises?

Enter the art of creating a fully satisfying customer experience.

=========================================
A Satisfying Experience is the Key
=========================================

A “satisfying customer experience” means that the many ways that your customers interact with and use your products are designed to satisfy in a meaningful way.

This goes far beyond solving the customer’s basic problem.

And this is where the magic can happen.

=========================================
Dimensions of a Fully Satisfying Experience
=========================================

Customer experience is all about “how” a problem is being solved. And this “how” can be broken down into different types of experience including:

The more of these dimensions that are touched in an appropriate way, the more satisfying your customer’s experience will be.

=========================================
Customer Experience: Albuquerque Turkey
=========================================

I can’t think of a better product that we can all relate to than food so I’ll talk about my experience at Spinelli’s Market, a local deli/grocery store to which I love going–especially for their awesome sandwiches.

Although Spinelli’s sells some mainstream brands of snacks and soft drinks, the best parts of the store are the aisles of imported Italian foods, pastas, sauces, and olive oil and the deli counter where they sell salads and cut to order deli meats.

The awesome sandwiches are made at the deli counter in the back of the store.

You give your sandwich order along with your choice of sides (pickle, a deli salad or fresh fruit or chips) to one of the guys working behind the counter and they make your sandwich while you wait.

I usually use the time to browse through the stores aisles and pick something to drink.

When your sandwich is ready, the counter guy will call your name. You then take your sandwich wrapped in white butcher paper along with whatever else you’re buying to the front to pay.

Sometimes I eat my sandwich in the store at one of the little metal tables in the front and sometimes I take my sandwich home.

Those sandwiches always make an impression. Every time I’ve brought a family member or a friend or a business associate to Spinelli’s for sandwiches, they will ask from that time forward “when are we going to that great sandwich place again?”

Spinelli’s sandwiches are a great example of a supremely satisfying experience. Here’s why:

My heart feels full too because I’ve eaten something prepared with thought and care and because buying lunch from a local business is contributes to the health of the community I live in.

Now take a moment and compare this experience with visiting a big franchise place like Subway or Taco Bell.

=========================================
Creating a More Satisfying Experience for Your Customers
=========================================

So what about your business, what can you do to create a more fulfilling, satisfying experience with your prospects and customers?

Here are four steps I recommend to get you started.

=== Step #1 Remember Why You Started a Business to Begin with

Before jumping into the specifics, I think it’s important to take a moment to remember why you started your own business. Was it because:

And make sure your heart is fully engaged too. When your heart is fully engaged you enable customers to engage with their hearts as well.

=== Step #2 Ask Yourself, “How is the Reason Behind my Business Showing Up in My Products and Services?”

If you started your business because you care deeply or have a passion or have a true innovation, I imagine it’s showing up in the products and services you offer. Even without deliberate effort.

Take a look at what you currently sell and in what ways is the care and love for your business showing up in your products and services.

For example, the Spinelli family supports the Slow Food movement, a grass roots movement which encourages people to eat locally grown and produced whole foods.

In addition to sandwiches, the Spinelli family produces and markets a line of Italian sauces and sells made-from-scratch entrees that busy customers can heat and eat at home.

=== Step #3 Ask Yourself, “Are There Ways Customers Can Experience More of What We Care About?”

My guess is that if you sell something special, your customers know.

But if you aren’t talking about what goes into creating your products and services, they may not know how to articulate this difference to other people.

If this is the case, you and your customers are missing an opportunity for word of mouth marketing.

For example, one of my clients creates girls dresses using patterns and fabrics from the 1950′s and 1960′s. I love her work because the dresses are cute without being frilly or fussy.

But there are lots of cute kids clothing lines out there. I felt her products were something special

I suggested to her, as part of her marketing, to share the story behind how she found the pattern and why it appealed to her.

Her stories are funny and entertaining and they help store owners who carry her lines and the customers who buy the outfits feel involved in something special and unique.

=== Step #4 Choose One Small Change to Make so Customers Feel More Engaged and Satisfied

By far, the easiest change you can make is to tell your story to customers so they understand why you have the business you have and sell the products and services you sell.

Sharing your story helps people feel more engaged and satisfied for several reasons:

(1.) They have a way to articulate to others a reason for trying your products and services. Referring others helps your customers look good to others and you want to make it as easy as possible for them to do so.

(2.) It allows customers to feel like a part of something larger. When you share your story those who share your experience or point of view find a kindred spirit to be with.

(3.) Stories are easy to understand and remember because they touch us not only intellectually but emotionally. Human beings seem “pre-wired” to absorb and integrate information that comes in narrative form.

=========================================
Bottom Line
=========================================

To create more raving fans it’s important to understand what makes your products and services uniquely satisfying to current customers.

This satisfying experience goes beyond simply solving a problem… a satisfying experience engages the senses and emotions as your customers use your products and services.

Four steps I recommend for creating a more satisfying experience are:

1. Think back to why you started your business to begin with

2. Ask whether that reason is reflected in the products and services you sell

3. Find ways in which your clients can experience what makes your products and services special

4. Find an opportunity to tell a story and more fully engage your Customers

Author’s Note: This article also published here.

…

Judy Murdoch helps small business owners create low-cost, effective marketing campaigns using word-of-mouth referrals, guerrilla marketing activities, and selected strategic alliances. To download a free copy of the workbook, “Where Does it Hurt? Marketing Solutions to the problems that Drive Your Customers Crazy!” go to http://www.judymurdoch.com/workbook.htm

You can contact Judy at 303-475-2015 or judy@judymurdoch.com

Read more articles written by Judy Murdoch

My colleague works with managers who are struggling with software development projects helps get those projects back on track.

He’s great a what he does, loves his work and has tons of great ideas for creating information products.

But he hasn’t made much progress around creating an information product.

Why?

In his own words, “I’ve created one product but no one bought it. I’m not sure why but I’m worried that what I know just doesn’t translate well into something people will pay for.”

It’s a common issue: you love your work and the clients you work with love your work too. But you wonder whether what you do will translate well if you’re not doing it in person.

================================================
Love Market Need = $$$
================================================

If you want a product that practically sells itself and that you feel good about offering to your customers your product must meet two conditions:

#1. Your product is based on your talent, expertise, and joy

#2. Your product helps other people solve a problem that is bothering them RIGHT NOW

If the product doesn’t meet condition #1, it doesn’t matter how much people want it, you will not be able to solve their problem because you lack the expertise and passion to do so.

If the product doesn’t meet condition #2, people won’t buy your info product because they don’t want or need it.

================================================
Finding the “Sweetspot”
================================================

The “sweetspot” is the set of problems which meet both conditions: the problems you are good at and enjoy solving AND for which there is market opportunity (problems customers REALLY want solved).

Envision two circles whose edges overlap so that they share a common area (like the Mastercard logo). The area of overlap is the sweetspot for your product.

If you’re going to create just one information product this year, you want to create one in this sweet spot.

There are 4 steps for identifying products in the sweet spot.

=== Step 1. List Common Problems You Help Customers With ===

Take a moment and think about the customers you’ve been working with over the last three months or so.

Once you have some specific customers in mind, jot down all of the problems you helped them with. (Although your clients typically come with one specific problem, there are usually several others related problems or you may uncover a larger, more basic problem as you learn more).

For example, here are common problems that a project management consultant deals with:

=== Step 2. Identify Your Favorite Problems to Solve ===

Looking at your list put a check mark next to the ones that evoke an “I want to do that more!” response in your heart.

Don’t over-think this. The response you’re looking for is a sincere “More!” not a “should want to do more.”

Shoulds, woulds, and coulds lead to products that don’t sell.

Now, do the same thing but this time check ones in which you feel genuinely proud of the results you helped the client achieve.

Also include those which are still works in process but you feel good about your contribution so far. Again, don’t overthink this step.

Now circle all the problems you listed that have two check marks.

These are the product ideas that go into the “Love” part of the equation.

For example, our project management consultant looks at his list and realizes that some of the problems are “people problems” (right people with right skills and knowledge) and other problems are “tools and resource problems” (right software and procedures).

Because his background is in software design he decides the problems he really wants to create products around are the tools and resource problems.

=== Step 3. Identifying Marketplace Needs ===

Now that you have identified one or two problems that you enjoy helping people with and excel at providing, let’s look at opportunities in the marketplace.

Some specific actions to find those opportunities include:

As you look at the marketplace, jot down the problems/questions that keep coming up.

Important: A “gap” doesn’t necessarily mean there are no products or services out there providing solutions.

If a question seems to be coming up again and again it suggests there’s a need for fresh insights, perspectives, and voices. Maybe yours.

Example: Among the problems our project management consultant sees coming up:

=== Step 4. Finding Sweetspot Product Ideas ===

You’ve identified problems you’re good at solving; you’ve identified gaps in the marketplace, now it’s time to identify the “Sweet Spot” for your products.

Looking at the problems you circled in Step #2 and the problems and questions you listed in Step #3, look for any problems that satisfy both conditions:

#1. Problems you are good at solving and enjoy solving

#2. Problems that continually crop up in the marketplace

Create a new list with the problems that meet both conditions. These are your “sweetspot” product ideas. Products that, with the right marketing message and support, will practically sell themselves.

Example: Looking at both lists, the project management consultant chooses the following problem as a basis for his next information product:

Since his expertise and interest is in process improvement, it makes to create a product that will help teams find and eliminate steps causing bottlenecks.

================================================
Bottom Line
================================================

You can create products that will practically sell themselves if your products solve problems you love to solve and solve problems that your customers keep asking about.

With one or two products that meet these criteria plus a good marketing message and timely promotions to your prospective buyers you really can make a difference and grow your bottom line.

Editor’s Note: Also published here.

…

Judy Murdoch helps small business owners create low-cost, effective marketing campaigns using word-of-mouth referrals, guerrilla marketing activities, and selected strategic alliances. To download a free copy of the workbook, “Where Does it Hurt? Marketing Solutions to the problems that Drive Your Customers Crazy!” go to http://www.judymurdoch.com/workbook.htm

You can contact Judy at 303-475-2015 or judy@judymurdoch.com

Read more articles written by Judy Murdoch