Ever get that feeling of buyer’s remorse? You know it – you’ve walked out of the store with this killer new gadget from one of those Sharper Image knockoff stores that does 12 different things, you go home feeling great, and then immediately come to realize that you don’t need to do any of those 12 things with any semblance of regularity? Regret.
That feeling of regret is a business’ enemy. It not only guarantees you that the Decision Maker will likely never purchase from you again, but also that that person will probably never recommend your product or service to anyone. The feeling of regret is so powerful that even if the Decision Maker begins to wonder if they’ve made a mistake, you’ve already lost most of the battle.
So how do you combat buyer’s remorse? After the Decision Maker purchases your product or service, it now becomes your job to make sure that they never regret investing the money in the first place.
For many consumer goods, that often means focusing on the product itself, along with a heavy dose of branding to continually affirm the “feel good” warm fuzzies. When it comes to a B2B customer/vendor relationship, things get a little more complicated.
Prioritize The Interactions
Start with a prioritization of the most important interactions customers have with you. It could be your call center, your commercials, your sales reps, your direct/online marketing, your social media, your technology. Whatever is at the top of your list, make sure that is rock solid. An impenetrable fortress of reliability.
Understand The Gaps
Proceed down the list and perform a gap analysis of where the big holes are. Also make note of the little holes. Then, have another team of people do the same thing. Compare the two documents. Are there similarities? Differences? Understand why – this is another blog post in itself, which I will write soon.
Take Ownership and Communicate
You’re not perfect. Everyone knows that. What you will be held accountable however, is for the expectation that was set with the Decision Maker when s/he purchased your product or service. Make sure you are forthcoming in your communications, take ownership of the situation, and make things right as quickly as humanly possible.
Close The Holes
Proceed with some model of “fixing” and “evolving”. Every business will fix and evolve different aspects of the Customer Experience, but every business will go through the same process.
Annie Tsai 