Your Customers’ Moments of Truth- Guiding Them Through

Customer business

A customer’s “Moment of Truth” is the crucial moment at each step of their dealings with your organisation, so a customer might have several Moments of Truth before they enter your premises, make a purchase or decide to return again!

Have some of your managers, staff or even a few friends complete a quick Moments of Truth audit when they have a moment. You’ll need to adjust the specifics to your own business, but it should look something like this: 

Pre-Engagement                                                                                     Score 1 (low) – 10 (high)

 

  • Website/Brochure/Advertising/ Prospective Customer Communication
  
  • Telephone/ Email Enquiry Communication
  
  • Convenience of Location and Access (Parking, etc.)
  
  • Experience/ Perception/ Reputation/ Word of Mouth
  

 

Engagement                                                                                          Score 1 (low) – 10 (high)

  • Ambience & Atmosphere, Lighting, Colour, Décor, Music, Hygiene, etc.
  
  • Store Layout, Store Flow, Signage, Ease of Navigation
  
  • Staff Appearance, Uniforms, Personal Presentation, Name Badges, etc.
  
  • Staff Pleasantness, General Customer Service Disposition, Attitude
  
  • Customer Needs Investigation Skills, Product and Technical Knowledge
  
  • Selling Skills, Closing the Sale Skills
  
  • Ease of Payment and Exit
  

 

Post-Sale Engagement                                                                       Score 1 (low) – 10 (high)

  • “Purchases to Destination”, Delivery, Installation
  
  • Product and Process Instruction/ Ease of Use
  
  • Supports/ Help & Assistance
  
  • Warranty/ Guarantee
  

 

                There’s a long list of potential moments where your customers could be swayed one way or the other by a whole host of possible factors. The idea here is to get people – your managers, your staff – to think about when and where those moments may occur, and how best to address them – to make sure that the customer is swayed one way rather than the other.

Once your staff are in the habit of thinking in these terms then new Moments of Truth applicable to your own business will suggest themselves, and with proper engagement by your managers and staff (and a little bit of imagination), you’ll find concrete improvements in your business performance in every category!

Goals and Achieving Them! 4 Simple Steps to Improve Your Business Performance

Achieving Goals

What goals have you put in place for your business to achieve this year? In these competitive times, the everyday activity of your business can become all-consuming. As you know, simply supplying your product or service to your customers requires a huge effort of planning and activity. With that in mind, it’s easy to put certain things on the long finger, to focus your attention on what needs to be done today, and simply never to get around to a proper analysis of your strengths and weaknesses. At Customer Perceptions, we’ve work with thousands of clients, and we know that putting in place a proper analysis of your business performance and staff behaviours, arriving at an achievable but ambitious set of goals is an exercise that often never moves off the to-do list. In this article, we have some simple tips to help you implement a proper set of business goals and targets, and to achieve them!

Try this simple and effective performance enhancing exercise:

1)      Monitor the number of visitors you have engaging with you, visiting your business. Set a goal for an achievable improvement in this number within a fixed period, eg: increase new visitor numbers by A% in B months.

2)      How many of your current visitors purchase/buy from your business? Again, set a goal to improve this ratio by C% in B months.

3)      What is the average value of a sale? Again! Set a goal to improve this ratio by D% in B months.

4)      How many customers return to your business? One last time, set a goal to improve this ratio by E% in B months.

These are four very simple-to-do techniques, they cost nothing to implement and they could end up making your business money, right? Well, yes and no. Each step on the chain requires certain specific things:

1)      Increasing new visitor numbers requires examining and improving your marketing communications and social media activities.

2)      Increasing your customer purchase ratio requires improving your customer engagement and identifying more specifically customer needs.

3)      Increasing the average value of a sale requires improving your staff selling skills and a commitment from them always to “sell up”.

4)      Increasing the number of customers returning to your business requires improving customer service skills, staff attitudes and behaviour and driving relationship-building with your customers!

The point, ultimately, is that goals and a plan won’t on their own help your business – it requires a serious commitment on behalf of your managers to implement the processes necessary to achieve them. It requires a sincere attempt at understanding what your customers really think about doing business with you, and how your staff feel about working for you. Finally, it also requires excellent communication, training and involvement at every level of your business.

And here’s the thing: all of the above, when you’ve planned it out, done it, achieved every goal – all of it’s nothing more than a good start. This process is ongoing forever, it doesn’t end ‘till your business ends and amounts to nothing more than a relentless drive to achieve a never-achievable state – Perfection.

Career Opportunity – We’re Hiring!

handshake

Client Account Supervisor Role

The Company:

Customer Perceptions Ltd. is a rapidly growing Consumer Research Company, based in Dundalk, Co. Louth since 1995. Our specialist services include: Mystery Shopping Programmes, Client Satisfaction Surveys, Web based Surveys and Training (primarily Customer Service programmes). We work with clients in the Financial, FMCG, Hospitality/Tourism, Telecommunications and other service sector businesses.

You can learn more about us here.

The Job:

The Client Account Supervisor reports directly to the Customer Perceptions’ Managing Director and is responsible for the efficient & effective working of the Account Management Team.
Responsibilities include:
• Supporting the Account Managers in managing consumer research projects/ mystery shopping programmes.
• Following up with all relevant parties to ensure deadlines and output targets are met.
• Assisting in the recruitment of new field researchers/mystery shoppers.
• Assisting and enhancing in the quality process i.e. proofing reports, analysis, systems etc.
• Generally contributing to the business management of the Consumer Research Division.

The Candidate will have…

• A 3rd Level qualification in a Business or Research related discipline.
• Considerable experience of building and managing a team in a B2B, office environment.
• Excellent communication skills (oral and written).
• Strong career track record of success and achievement.
• Experience / knowledge in using excel, word, outlook and PowerPoint.
• Basic IT skills in media / graphics / ability to make client presentations.
• A car with a full driving license and ability to travel to Dublin or Belfast on occasions (expenses reimbursed)

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The Person will be…

• Ambitious, Motivated, Innovative and Career focused
• A strong team player and who can also work unsupervised.
• Able to accept responsibility, take pride in achievement and meet deadlines / output targets.
• A good time manager, organised and disciplined in their work.
• Have the ability to cope with a busy and sometimes pressured work environment

The Reward…

Customer Perceptions provides a pleasant and dynamic work environment with very significant opportunity for career advancement. Salary will be commensurate with the selected candidates’ experience and competencies.

Applications… please send your CV and relevant information by email or using the contact form provided to emma.harte@customerperceptions.ie  before 30th January 2015.[/one_half]

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Please attach your CV below:

[contact-form-7 id=”2543″ title=”job app”]

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Making Your Customers Comeback Kings!

boomerang customers comeback kings

Most businesses spend a lot of time trying to attract new customers. Advertising, promotions, social media – you’re probably doing it all. It’s necessary, of course, and no organisation should neglect trying to attract new customers who might be interested in doing business with them. Here’s what they might be missing, though, in the headlong rush to attract new customers.

Try this exercise:

  1. Calculate ALL the costs associated with attracting new customers every year (advertising, online, etc.)
  2. Divide that number by the number of new customers who engaged with you this year.
  3. This is your new customer acquisition cost.

 

Depending on how much (or little!) a new customer spends in doing business with you, you may actually LOSE money on doing business with some of your new customers!

There is a type of customer, however, that doesn’t incur these costs: a returning customer. Every returning customer starts as a first-time customer, obviously, but an exercise like this one helps to focus the mind on exactly why it’s so important to build a relationship with each and every one, and keep them coming back!

Consider this: we here at Customer Perceptions have reported on over 350,000 “consumer engagements” over the past 19 years of our existence: again and again, year after year, we are amazed at the vast investments made by the retail and service sector in premises, facilities, fitouts and furnishings, technology, stock and wages – all while ignoring the key factors that annoy customers and have them spend their money elsewhere, and that should be the key consideration. Remember, a returning customer isn’t arriving into your business with a negative euro amount hanging like a cloud over their heads!

The great Sam Walton probably said it best:

“There is only one boss and that is the customer… he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”

A new customer is a great thing, folks, but a returning customer is better. Find out what they like. Find out what they don’t like. Find out what they want more of, and give it to ‘em!

3 Key Moments in Transmitting Product Knowledge to Your Customers.

Product Knowledge and your customer

The importance of product knowledge is a feature of your customer service that it may be easy to overlook. We don’t think you should, and here’s why:

At Customer Perceptions, it’s our job to figure out what your customers are thinking, to pick up on the things you may not. With that in mind we recently conducted a survey on the Retail and Food & Beverage industries. We asked YOUR customers what they felt were the key elements in determining a positive experience in a retail store or restaurant. There were some interesting results that might help direct some of your energies going forward.

The top result in the retail sector was perhaps obvious: 99.7% of respondents rated friendly and courteous staff as either important or very important. What may not be as obvious was the second most common result: 99.3% of respondents rated knowledgeable staff as either important or very important. Even in hospitality, 98.6% of respondents cited knowledgeable staff as important or very important. That means in hospitality, while it was regarded as less important than hygiene (rated 99.3% important or very important) or clear menu and pricing displays (99.7%), it obviously still represents a hugely significant element of the customer experience. That being the case, it’s worth spending some time considering how best to communicate product knowledge to your customers.

Moment 1 – Clear display

The survey underlines a difficulty inherent in all customer service – different people want different things. One customer suggested “I feel that Staff (sic) should be trained on approach to customer and staff should be willing to engage with customers…”, then the next suggested “I prefer to ask for assistance than to be badgered about whether I would like assistance…” Even in the hospitality sector the same grey area was in evidence: one respondent suggested that “Servers should be attentive without being annoying”, and another wrote “Never leave customers for too long but don’t be over at the table every 2 minutes…”Obviously these are judgement calls for your staff, and what constitutes badgering for one customer might for another customer constitute lack of attention.

It’s therefore important to emphasise the significance customers place on clear display of prices and product range, etc. This was especially true in hospitality, where 99.7% of respondents selected it as important, but even in retail 98.3% suggested that attractive display and clear pricing were either important or very important. Therefore the first and potentially most important way to impart product knowledge ought to be by display. There’s very little detail possible by this method, but key elements like price and range can be imparted to the customer in this very effective and direct way, and our surveys confirm customers like and actively look for it. It has the added bonus of taking some pressure off your staff – if customers find the information that they’re looking for right out in front of them, it may help your customer service or waiting staff judge better when their attention is required.

Moment 2 – Staff interaction

The second avenue through which product knowledge can be imparted is the most obvious and the most important – your staff. The percentage of respondents who rated it important or very important (99.3% in retail, 98.6% in hospitality) was enormous. Even in the comments section, 62 of our 281 respondents mentioned product knowledge again specifically for retail, and 59 for hospitality. When a customer reaches an impasse and can’t find the information they are looking for they turn to the staff, and almost 100% expect the staff to be able to answer. The importance of training your staff in the products or services you provide cannot be over-emphasised. Your staff must understand the products they are selling, or at the very, very least be able to lead a customer directly to someone who does.

Moment 3 – Returning Feedback

So far, so obvious! There is one final step to consider though. It may seem redundantly obvious to say that customers want to feel confident in the knowledge and expertise of your staff, but how obvious is it to your staff exactly what product information is most important to your customers? Only a small amount of product information can go on display, so make sure you’re catching the customers’ imaginations with what you put up there. When a staff member is asked about a product or service, what are the key points that they should hit to engage the maximum number of customers possible? By far the best way to gauge that is through your staff- what are customers asking about? What are the aspects of this product or service (or indeed any other product or service you may provide) that most effectively meet these customer needs? The most attractive displays are useless if they’re not displaying the information most relevant to your customers, and likewise staff that can ream off a list of product features are not as effective as staff that can identify what specific features will be of interest to your customers.

The product knowledge process should be seen as a circular one, where information is not only presented outward to customers, but returned from customers also. It’s a process that requires some investment of time and consideration not only in your in-store marketing/display and staff training, but also in a willingness to adapt and change in response to the feedback you’ll certainly receive.

In-Store Advertising – How Do Your Customers Feel About It?

in-store advertising customer basket

Customer Perceptions has spent two decades working with clients across a wide range of sectors – now we’ve asked some questions about in-store advertising.

Retail has always been a highly competitive sector, and it’s only getting more so. So what’s the best way to inform customers of your offers, guide them to best value and bring them into your shop again and again? This time around, we’re looking at one specific method and analysing how effective it is, and how to maximise that effectiveness: In-Store Special Offer Advertising. Here’s 5 simple points to help you maximise its effectiveness.

1st – Customers and In-Store Advertising

We asked over 140 customers: Do you think supermarkets use too much in-store advertising to promote special offers? As might be expected in a sector where advertising and salesmanship is so well examined and refined, the most common answer (over 48%) felt supermarkets were using “Just the right amount”. About 28% felt it was used “a little too much”. 17% felt it was not used enough and only 7% felt it was excessive. On the whole then, it seems in-store advertising is something that stores can use very effectively – the vast majority of people like it, with a significant minority (that 17%) who would welcome more of it.

2nd – Who does it best?

In terms of best practice, Tesco comes out way on top, with almost 45% of respondents choosing them as the most effective user of in-store advertising. Super Valu came a distant second with around 18% of the responding customers choosing them. The other contenders – Dunnes Stores, Marks & Spencers, Aldi and Lidl came distant, distant runners up, the lowest being Dunnes, which came in at just under 8%. The others all hovered around 10% each. Tesco is the store to beat, here – retail customers seem really to respond to how they handle in-store advertising.

3rd – The Special Offers Leaflet

                Asked if they would pick up a special offers leaflet at the door, overwhelmingly our responding customers agreed that they would, at least some of the time. While only just under 23% suggested that they would make a point of picking up the leaflet every time, almost 54% responded that they would pick it up some of the time, and only just over 23% declared they would never pick one up. Between the “every time” and “some of the time” customer responses, that constitutes almost 77% of customers who have some interest in leaflets which makes it a simple and effective way to reach a very healthy swathe of your customer base.

4th – How effective is it?

                Apparently it’s very effective. When asked whether in-store special offer leaflets enticed customers to spend more than they’d intended, almost 71% of respondents answered yes. Most customers find themselves convinced to part with extra cash by the special offers leaflet. It’s perhaps understandable, given the answers from responding customers to question one – people like in-store advertising, therefore when it advises them that something is good value, they tend to trust it.

5th – Why? And how do I maximise?

                In-store advertising (especially the special offers leaflet) is a very effective form of communication between you and your customer – with responses like the ones we’ve seen, it seems obvious that it should be an absolute cornerstone of any retail business’s customer communications policy. As we’ve said, people like in-store advertising, so they trust it. Also, in-store advertising by definition is advertising directed to people who have already chosen to engage with your business. They’ve come into the shop! Therefore they’re more likely to be coaxed through to a sale. These facts make it an absolutely crucial element of your sales strategy, and it’s foolish to neglect it.

One thing to think about, however, is who exactly this advertising is aimed at. In-store advertising isn’t some cynical marketing trick aimed at pumping a little more money out of unsuspecting consumers. Rather, it is aimed at the more long-term, sustainable goal of bringing customers back. The in-store advertising should be a way of drawing customers’ attention to new products, new offers – things that might represent genuine value, savings or novelty for them. The special offers leaflet is two things – a treasure map, showing where in your store the best deals are waiting, and also, while it’s in their hands, a  reminder to your customers of your own commitment to value.

It is a reminder that you’re working for them, to give them the best value they’ll get anywhere in this crowded and competitive marketplace.

Why Your Customers Aren’t Online Shopping

Online Shop Customer Perceptions

“Things Got So Bad, I Shopped Online!”
– Why Your Customers Aren’t Online Shopping.

Customer Perceptions has been in business for 20 years, providing mystery shopping services, customer satisfaction surveys and consultancy services to businesses across Ireland and The UK. We’ve picked up some insights over that time, and the last topic we turned our attention to was online shopping. We got 365 responses to our online shopping survey, and they turned up some interesting results about why potential customers won’t be using your online shopping service, and of course some insights as to how you can fix that.

1st– The Numbers.

The first thing to consider (and so the first question we asked!) was simple: how many people have done a grocery shop online? If you’re trying to entice customers off the street and onto an online shopping service, then the results should be encouraging – more people had shopped online than not. Almost 53% of respondents said that they had done a grocery shop online. That initial good news gets punctured immediately, however – of our 365 respondents, over 92% have grocery shopped online less than once a month, only about 5% grocery shopped 1-2 times a month, with a tiny 2.75% shopping online 3 or more times a month. The question then presents itself- why the dramatic drop off? And why do people choose to shop online in the first place?

2nd – The Reasons.

We asked the respondents to explain a little, and the first place answer as to why they would shop online was that it was more convenient – 45% of people said that. 31% didn’t have time to visit a store, while almost 16% felt it was easier for them to budget by shopping online. About 8% shopped online because there were better deals to be found, and another 8% lived too far from the store. Immediately it should strike that there are two themes – the people who found it more convenient, the people who didn’t have time to visit a store and the people who lived too far from a store constitute 84% of respondents, and all these reasons are convenience and time-management related. Only 24% of respondents (the people who felt it was easier to budget and the people who liked the online deals) seemed to be taking value and money issues into consideration. 24% of respondents also gave us some other specific reasons, which should shine a little more light on what ultimately drives people to shop online.

3rd – The Problems

Almost 24% of respondents went to the trouble of giving us specific comments, and these are some of the most enlightening elements of our survey. 6 people specifically mentioned access to a car – when it broke down or wasn’t available, they went online. 2 mentioned injury or acquired disability as a reason, while 5 mentioned an event or circumstance that required them to move online – a family gathering in one instance, a new baby in another. A further 7 people used the online option as a result of a particularly large or heavy load. That’s a total of 20 people who turned to online shopping in an emergency or exceptional circumstance. 7 People mentioned that they tried it out due to an offer on online shopping at the time (most commonly free delivery) and 6 people tried it simply from curiosity or novelty value. It seems clear – most people view online shopping as a reasonable option in an emergency or exceptional circumstance, but are slow to adopt it as a regular method of grocery shopping.

4th – So What Can I Do?

There’s a resistance to online grocery shopping. We also got some comments suggesting people feel more in control of their shopping when they’re actually shopping for themselves in-store. People are happy to turn to Online Shopping in an emergency or exceptional circumstance, but apparently they rarely embrace the experience as their standard method of doing “the big weekly shop”. However, 24% having tried it due to reasons of budgeting and online offers is not insignificant, so it certainly seems worthwhile to promote those ideas. Also, if the majority of people are turning to online shopping as a response to difficult events, they’re probably in no position to sit down and work through any better value they did receive on those occasions that they did shop online. If a customer has tried online grocery shopping as a one off, it may be useful (after a reasonable period) to get in contact about the value the customer did receive on the occasion that they shopped online, and the value they could receive by doing it again. Emphasize the control the customer has – mention how they can choose their own substitutions and how they’re free to return any substitution that doesn’t suit.
You can’t control the circumstances that initially bring these customers to you, but it’s by answering these reservations that you can bring one-off online customers back again and again and again.

Six Ways to WOW! Your Customers!

Wow Customers!

We’ve been talking to some of your potential customers, (because that’s our job!). We asked them to recount a time when they were wowed by a hospitality experience, and to explain exactly why – to identify the individual elements of the experience that contributed to them being blown away by an establishment. We called it the WOW! factor, and we’ve dissected the information we were given to try and understand exactly what a WOW! factor consists of, and to figure out how to build them every time! We got 93 responses to our query, and we broke them down based on their importance – how many people specifically mentioned each factor. Take a look at this information, it comes directly from hospitality customers, and it’s the anatomy of a WOW!

  1. Complimentary elements. Free stuff!

This might surprise you, but while it did inevitably merit a mention in the poll, it didn’t feature as anything like the most important factor. In fact it tied with our next category for least important. Customers certainly like it when they get something for nothing, but it’s really not a deciding factor for them. Also, while we had one respondent relate the extravagant story of hotel upgrades when the staff discovered her future-husband was proposing, for the most part people were mentioning things like loyalty cards that entitled them to a free coffee after so many purchases. Little things can go a long way, because ultimately this isn’t what most people are looking for. It’s a nice-to-have for customers, not a must-have.

  1. Facilities.

Tied for bottom in importance with complimentary elements was facilities. That should probably be a relief, since facilities can be expensive to change. Parking, for example, was mentioned once or twice, but can be something largely out of your hands – the space you have around your business isn’t something you can realistically change. What is within your power to change – and made up most of the comments about facilities, by the way – was cleanliness. With some staff diligence it’s simple to implement and it’s important to people, especially in the hospitality sector. Chances are, in this sector, people are coming to you for food. Seeing evidence of a real commitment to cleanliness puts your customers’ minds at ease.

  1. Price.

It might be surprising that out of 93 respondents, only 28 specifically mentioned price as a factor in their WOW! experience. Now, we’re not saying value for money isn’t important to people – after all, even in this poll almost a third of respondents mentioned price specifically, and that’s a significant percentage – but in terms of what blows customers away, it’s not as important as you might suspect. There’s also a distinction to be made about what factors initially draw a customer to your business – the WOW! factor is very much about drawing people back to your business a second time, and in a survey about trying out a new restaurant price might have featured more highly. BUT! With those provisos in place, and in terms of wowing customers, it seems like people are willing to pay for experiences they find to be exceptional, which should be encouraging!

  1. Atmosphere.

We’re getting into the more important factors now, with about a third of people citing atmosphere as a crucial factor in their food and beverage experience. Like facilities, this is an element that in certain ways it might be difficult or expensive to do anything about – a few of our respondents mentioned things like mountain and sea views or medieval castles – obviously difficult to organise if you’ve got a small town-centre café. What should be encouraging, though, is that for the most part, when they talked about this category, respondents mentioned a “welcoming” atmosphere. That’s something well within the reach of any establishment to achieve – a little attention and a polite, warm attitude from staff might save you having to find a castle to stick on the premises!

  1. Food and Beverage Quality.

This one almost goes without saying. It was the second most important factor for respondents to our poll. Food and drink is the lifeblood of the hospitality industry, it’s ultimately what gets your customers’ bums onto your seats, and it seems that it features heavily in terms of what wows a customer too, so take care and invest in it. There are some ancillary elements to food and bev that might be easy to overlook – presentation was important to people, but also staff knowledge about the menu – when a customer asks a question about an item, they shouldn’t be met with a blank stare. Ideally, they should be met with a confident understanding of the product.

  1. Staff/Service.

72 out of 93 respondents specifically mentioned this factor, making it the most-mentioned factor in creating a WOW! experience in our poll. More than three quarters of our respondents felt it was worth specifically mentioning, but if you read over the other factors, you’ll see how many of them rely in some measure on your staff. Certainly, it’s possible to argue that of the six factors we identified, four of them rest on staff behaviours and competencies (the cleanliness of your facilities, the welcoming atmosphere, etc.). It’s a striking reminder of just how valuable an asset your staff is, and should give pause for thought – how well-trained are your staff? Do they need more guidance in the performance of their duties? Answer these questions well, address the issues that they raise, and our poll suggests you’ll have spent your time and effort well.

Ultimately, as turns out, it’s people who WOW! people.

Still Blasting Customers Out of It

Customer Music

Customer Perceptions Ltd. have recently updated a survey they first conducted in 2008 and it suggests that over 70% of Piped, Background and Store Music serves to satisfy the taste of staff but is often disliked by customers.

Over 400 Customers and 200 Staff were surveyed in 70 outlets across the Island of Ireland in June. The outlets ranged from fast food outlets to middle class restaurants and top hotels, from fashion boutiques to department stores, auto accessories shops, mobile phone retailers, small and larger supermarkets and stationers & newsagents.

Customer Perceptions has experience of compiling some 340,000 “Mystery Shopping” reports for its clients over nearly 20 years but as Company Director, Emma Harte, explains; “We looked at this subject of in-store music about 8 years ago and we think it interesting that the findings have changed very little. The original idea of the survey started in our own canteen, most of our team agreeing that music in stores was often too loud or inappropriate for the target customer of the store in question”.

This year’s survey shows:

  • 86% of outlets staff selected the in-store music and its volume
  • 63% of cases, no formal policy exist regarding the background music selection
  • 88% of staff “liked the music played in their place of employment” (other than at Christmas time)

However

  • 58% of the customers surveyed said that they often find music levels much too loud
  • In-store music choices were disliked by 76% of the 45+ age group and 31% of the younger group
  • 59% of customers thought the music was “inappropriate for that specific store”
  • 28% of customers said that the piped music or radio was occasionally the cause of them leaving a store before they would otherwise do so or avoiding it altogether
  • 32% thought the music / radio in the background played “a significant role in the atmosphere and image created by the outlet”
  • 22% of customers said they never notice the music / radio one way or the other