Creating Raving Fans

A raving fan of your business is better than a salesperson. They will rave about you to all their friends with added credibility of not being paid to do it. In the modern world, a raving fan can even be completely public on Social Media, potentially creating much more visibility for your business.

Raving fans can’t help but share your messaging and products or services, with genuine enthusiasm, helping you to grow your customer base.

By developing an ideal buying experience for your customers, meeting and even exceeding their expectations, you can make them feel valued and turn them into raving fans.

Customer Service

It all starts with your customer service. True customer service is listening to your customer, making them feel heard and acknowledged. Show that you genuinely care and engage with them. It may feel like your customers are all the same, they have the same problem, after all that is why they are searching for the solution you can offer. But get to know them on a more individual level. While it may seem difficult the larger your business gets, you do have access to some data that can provide insight.

Meet your Customer’s Expectations

Good customer service comes down to meeting your customers expectations. If you are not sure what they are, just ask. Not only will it help you create a raving fan, but it adds to the customer being seen and heard when you ask what they would like from your business. They will feel appreciated and valued when you meet their expectations. To turn them into raving fans, you need to go the extra step and…

Then Exceed Expectations

Give your customers more value than they expect. Use your Critical Non-essentials to exceed expectations. You can read about those here. A simple thank you can go a long way to make your customers feel appreciated.

You can use your data and insights to customize your customer experience. Address your customers’ needs in ways that may differ from your competitors. Provide them with extra value that relates to what they have already purchased from you. This added value will pay off when you customer starts telling all their friends about you and your business.

Make it Realistic

Although customer service should always be at the forefront of our businesses, creating a process to turn customers into raving fans can take some work. Make sure the process is realistic. Any recommendations for changes to your customer service process need to be the best that you can, but they need to be attainable. Work out how you might achieve creating some raving fans and document it, making sure your team is on board. Empower your staff so they feel they can provide additional value to your customers, knowing their decisions will create customer loyalty.

Put a Goal in Place

It is hard to put a goal or measure on customer service, but you can use things percentages of successful deliveries, percentage of return customers or number of referrals. Create some goals and put a timeline on them. Then measure your success and…

Refine the process

Turning customers into raving fans may take some time and effort. It will also take some trial and error. Look at your goals, measure how well you are doing and refine the process. Measure your customers reactions. Again, if you find it hard to tell if the process is working, ask them. Increased repeat customers and referrals are a great way to tell that you are creating some fans in your business.

Then you can enjoy the fact that your raving fans are bringing you in new business. As long as you keep improving your customer experience, your fan base will keep growing.