In a recent blog [http://customerthink.com/the-right-tool-makes-client-engagement-easy/], I talked about the perfect tool for building relationships that are meaningful and more effective based on the rich data you’ve captured about your customers. Now that you’ve captured all this information, let’s look at how you can drive meaningful engagement with your entire customer base consistently and quickly.
Today’s sales and service professionals are under constant pressure to improve and expand the ways they engage customers and prospects. Products have become commodities and to stand out among the competition, companies are forced to differentiate with customer experience.
While it is necessary to reach out to your contacts with offers and product information in order to sell, it’s also important to create interpersonal relationships based on knowing them on a more personal level so you can add value to their lives. Much like you nurture a relationship with a friend, you’ll want to encourage and support your customers’ passions and hobbies. You’ll 
want to show you care with frequent, simple, and genuine communications. You’ll want to recognize moments that matter to them with a simple recognition or meaningful gesture. And you’ll want to be there for them when they have a problem or issue (not necessarily with your product or service). Michel Falcon, customer experience expert, defined these interactions as micro experiences: “micro experiences are small, subtle, affordable and memorable touches that resonate with your customers for years. They are the simple things that we neglect to do because they are so small we don’t believe that they can have too much impact; but they do!”
For example, in your conversations with one of your customers you discover that his back is aching after shoveling out from a recent snow storm. Imagine how you would make him feel if you sent him an email asking how he was doing along with a link to some back stretches to relieve the pain. Something as simple as the email and link would show your customer that you listened to him and are genuinely concerned for his well-being. How much do you want to bet that you’d get a thank you email from your customer? I know I have when I reach out like this.
WOW Plans: Making Every Interaction Memorable
Throughout the lifetime of your relationship with your customers, you’ll want to WOW them every time you connect. And that means making every interaction memorable. Let me show you what I mean.
Let’s say you work for a wealth advisory firm in Atlanta, GA. You have a prospect named Rick who you’ve been trying to convince him to sign on as a client for months with no luck. He takes your phone calls and opens your marketing emails, but so far that’s been it. You have to assume he’s being ‘courted’ by other firms, but you can’t figure out why he hasn’t become a client. Through your conversations with Rick, you know he’s married, his birthday is this month and he heads up the marketing team at a large accounting firm. He also has one son who is graduating high school next year who is looking at schools that that have strong political science programs. Rick also loves antique cars, specifically the Austin Healey.
You set up a WOW plan to convert Rick to a client. You decide you want to reach out to him three times every month with personalized and relevant content outside the normal marketing emails. Early in the month, you send Rick a link to reviews to colleges his son is interested in. The next week, you send Rick an email letting him know about a local Austin Healey event going on in his area along with a link to the event. Later in the month, you send Rick a copy of Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow for his birthday knowing he’ll enjoy it based on conversations the two of you have had.
After consistently WOWing Rick for two months, he signs on as a client and lets you know the reason he chose you and your firm is that “you really seem to know me and my passions and goals beyond the money aspect of the relationship.” Now imagine recreating this process in just a few minutes a day with all your customers and prospects.
The key to any WOW plan is creating a process that can become a simple habit to incorporate into your daily routine. A plan where you take just a few minutes a day and, through meaningful gestures, make a positive impact on your customers. Establishing WOW plans should incorporate the following items:
1. Set Goals. We have goals for everything else in life, so why not set goals for developing personal relationships with our customers. Start with manageable goals such as planning to connect with customers on a quarterly, monthly or weekly basis. You decide what’s best and act on it.
2. Identify Moments That Matter to Them. People have their own unique passions in life. Focus on moments that matter most to them. For example, is their son or daughter applying to colleges? Send links to several reviews of the colleges they’re looking at. Or maybe send a book about paying for college. You’re going beyond the default messages available on Facebook and LinkedIn and genuinely connecting with your customers.
3. Think Simple and Personal. Not every gesture has to be big and lavish. Share things that are simple and personal, that are useful or make them smile. Try sending information about a local event, or a relevant article that will help them at work or in their personal lives.
4. Refine. Not everything you try will be an instant success. Try several things and then see what your customer likes. Then adapt your approach.
5. Be Consistent. Do these things frequently (based on the goals you set in #1). And keep doing them.
With the right tool, you can create customized WOW plans that will help you build deeper relationships and drive meaningful engagement with your entire customer base consistently and quickly.
