Today, we’re delighted to be interviewing a truly unique individual! We have Joey Coleman, the guru of customer experience and customer retention, joining us as our guest. Joey has had some incredible experiences! He is number two on the Wall Street Journal’s bestseller list for his book, Never Lose a Customer Again, he is an award-winning speaker, he has worked as a criminal defense attorney, he’s sung in the Grammy Award-nominated Washington Men’s Camerata, he’s worked at the White House, and he has even been with the Secret Service and the CIA.
Joey is the perfect person to learn from when it comes to customer experience and customer retention. In today’s episode, he will be sharing his eight-point methodology that can be applied to any independent business, and he will also share some brilliant stories to illustrate how things could be done better.
In 2020, you have to provide more than just value
Joey shares a wonderful story about a meeting he once had with the head of sales of an energy company, who was crazy about golf. The moral of the story is that at the end of the day, humans don’t want to be sold to- they want connection and value. So, if you can provide both connection and value, you will get the sale, you will get the revenue, and you will also get the opportunity because it’s not enough anymore just to provide value.
In 2020 and beyond, you have to provide some level of connection, some level of affinity, and some level of rapport, to succeed.
The dentist story
Very soon after moving to Boulder, Colorado, several years ago, Joey needed to see a dentist urgently. Being new to the area, he didn’t know where to go, so a friend recommended a good dentist. When he called, the dentist not only agreed to see him within an hour, but she also decided to send him the paperwork straight away, so that he was able to get it all done online beforehand and save some time when he got to her office.
When he stepped into the dentist’s office, the receptionist welcomed him warmly, and the dentist had everything ready for him. She was prepared to take care of his problem immediately. She even called him later that evening, and a member of her staff called him again the next day, just to make sure that everything was okay after his dental treatment.
The moral of that story is that regardless of the industry that you are in, there are always things you could be doing to make your customer’s experience even better.
It takes time, not money to make things better
Joey points out that it usually takes time for business owners to sit down, think, look at the arc of their customer journey, and then evaluate the level of value and connection that they are providing for their customers at every touchpoint.
Business owners also need to carefully consider whether or not they are making things easy and fun for their customers. Joey assures us that if all that has been done the rest of business will take care of itself.
Making things happen is easy
Creating remarkable experiences for your customers is what you need to be doing to make your customers want to talk about you.
It’s all about going above and beyond.
Creating experiences for customers
Joey explains that the more money business owners spend on creating experiences for their existing customers, the less money they will need to spend on marketing.
Getting to know your customers
There is a huge amount of value for business owners in familiarizing themselves with the personal details of their customers, like whether or not they are married and have children and the names of their spouses. All that information is easily available online today, and it is extremely helpful in creating both connection and rapport with customers.
Getting customers to stay
For the past twenty years, Joey has been figuring out why customers leave, and what can be done to get them to stay. In his research, he discovered that between twenty and eighty percent of new customers decide to stop doing business with someone before they’ve reached the hundred day anniversary.
So Joey devised a methodology that looks at the customer journey, from day zero up to the time they become a raving fan advocate of your business.
Eight different phases
Joey’s methodology looks at eight different phases:
- Assess
- Admit
- Affirm
- Activate
- Acclimate
- Accomplish
- Adopt
- Advocate
Although not every customer will reach the advocate stage, it is still very important for business owners to set things up in a way that will result in them getting a significant number of their customers to become advocates.
Creating connection and rapport
Ultimately, it’s the connection and rapport that you have with your customers that will allow you to maintain an ongoing relationship with them.
Incentivizing people to do surveys
Joey points out that incentivizing people to do surveys will motivate them to take the time to give you their honest opinion about your business and the services or products that you are selling.
Committing to the things you used to do
Ultimately, it’s not about money or having a big enough team. It’s simply about your willingness, as a business owner, to commit to doing the things you used to do when you started your business.
Resources:
You can find us at www.eventbusinessformula.com
You can find us on Facebook
Joey’s book: Never Lose a Customer Again
Connect with Eric:
On LinkedIn
On Facebook
On Instagram
On Website
If you’d rather watch the video of this interview, subscribe on YouTube
