10 Things Your Customers Wish You Knew: Part 2

We're back with the second portion of the 10 things your customers wish you knew about them.

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In the first portion of the 10 things your customers wish you knew about them, we discussed the first five items. Below are the final five items on our list of the top 10 things that your clients or your customers wish you knew about them:

6. Customers will stick with loyalty plans and programs if you get them started. Consumer psychologists Nunes and Dreze found people are twice as likely to stick with you and your brand if you get them on a loyalty program, like the gas points Safeway gives us to use at Chevron gas stations. What's a customer loyalty program you could input today?

7. Customers love brand stories. Selling through stories is incredibly powerful. Research from Melanie Green and Timothy Brock shows that using a story is the most persuasive way of writing or speaking to a customer or past client. What story can you tell to bond other people to you as the right person for whatever they need?

8. Customers are a great source for innovation. Consider the “Angel Effect.” People want to talk about themselves all the time, but nobody wants to see that, so the Angel Effect is so much softer and easier. Basically, just give your clients your phone and have them record a video in their own words. It's more powerful than any ad you could run in any publication, online or offline.

Stories are the most persuasive way to speak to your customers.

9. Selling time over money helps customers see the value of your brand. Think of beer brands like Miller Lite or Corona. They aren't necessarily the best beers, but you make a connection to the beach with Corona and a connection with "Miller time" with Miller Lite. What can you do to emotionally engage with your customers and clients to help them see that you're giving them time, not just a product or service?

10. Bringing up money makes customers more self-centered. Psychologist Kathleen Vohs found that if people were primed with images of money, they become more self-centered and self-interested, and less interested in helping others. If you're selling luxury items, you want people to focus on your product, but it can backfire on you if you're trying to do something more promotional or philanthropic. How are you marketing to your customers and what images are you subconsciously sending them?

As you've probably realized, these topics don't have anything to do with real estate, but we want to help you grow your business. However, feel free to reach out to me if you're thinking about buying or selling a home. We're here to help!

10 Things Your Customers Wish You Knew: Part 1

There are 10 things that your customers want and wish that you knew—I’ll go over the first five today.

Looking to buy a Bay Area Home? Search all Bay Area homes for sale. Selling Your Bay Area Home? Use our home evaluation tool.

There are a 10 things that your customers wished you knew about them. I’ll cover the top five today.

1. Customers value good service more than fast service. In today’s day and age, people are tired of things like automated phone systems. They want a service that will treat them like a human being. So, what can you change in your business right now to give good, quality service? One report found that customers cited rude, incompetent, and rushed services as their No. 1 reason to leave a brand; 18% of customers left simply due to slow service.

2. Customers love personalization, and they are glad to pay more for it. The Journal of Applied Psychology ran a case study and found that waiters would get a 23% increase on their tip when they included mints with the check. If the waiter then came back with a second set of mints when they deliver your change or your card, they got an extra 7% tip. What can you do to bring the second set of mints to your customers?

Random acts of kindness create
goodwill with your customers.

3.  Customers will remember you if you remember their names. This is something that I struggle with because it’s easy to get so concentrated on the conversation at hand. One trick that I like to use is to come up with some kind of mnemonic device. For example, if someone met me, they’d notice that I’m a fairly tall guy, so they might remember me as “Greg, the guy with long legs.” Something like that can help you remember your customer’s names and strengthen their connection with you.

4. Customers remember and talk about pleasant experiences. For example, even though Zappos doesn’t advertise that they will up you to overnight shipping so that you can get your product sooner, people talk about it so much that it’s just common knowledge. We like to bring a box of See’s Candies to buyer consultations or listing appointments; we also send a box to thank people for referrals.

5. Create goodwill with your customers. It doesn’t need to be expensive, but creating goodwill is really important. A company called Sweetgreen increased their business by over 300% through random acts of kindness. You can do the same by negotiating a discount with your local vendor, printing those coupons, and handing them to your customers when you see them out and about. You could also buy a bunch of $5 gift cards to pass out, send out friendly Facebook messages, or even just give someone a nice compliment that really makes their day.

Start working on these five things and keep an eye out for the next five things that your customers wished you knew. In the meantime, if you have any questions, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!