Help Your Customers Love You

It’s worth it to do whatever you can to build a business others can become fans of.  Why?  Because fans are LOYAL.

My husband is a football fanatic.  In 11 years of marriage I think the best gift I gave him was tickets to a Steelers playoff game for his birthday.  He had to fly from Alaska to Washington, DC, drive several hours to Pennsylvania, and make quite a trek to get there.  But I’m sure he’d say it was 100% worth it.  And if the Steelers hadn’t won that game he’d still have been thrilled to be there because he’s a loyal fan.

What’s your favorite sports team? Favorite place to shop? Favorite restaurant to eat in? Favorite author or actor? What is it about those people and places that makes you love them?

Take some time to consider what it is that makes you a fan of the companies, products, services and people that you’re always raving about, and then figure out how you work that into your own business and build your fan base.

We choose sports teams to cheer for based on location or family loyalities, but think about the last time your team didn’t make the Superbowl or the playoffs or whatever the big game is in your favorite sport.  How’d you decide which team to cheer for?  Was it the amazing behind the scenes stories of the men or women?  Was it the heart you could see them putting into their game?

I love to watch the Olympics and my favorite part is hearing the stories behind the athletes–what they’ve overcome and how much they’ve put into getting to the games.  In a way it renews my faith in the human spirit to see what determination can accomplish.  It gives us something human to connect with and root for.

My favorite restaurants and coffee shops I love because I know they’re consistent. The food or coffee is always good, the restaurant is always clean, and the servers are helpful and listen when I make requests (eating out with serious food allergies is more difficult than I ever imagined).

My favorite places to shop are consistent in quality and experience, too, but they also offer brands that engage me emotionally. It feels good to buy from certain websites or catalogs. I like supporting companies who I know I’ll get quality merchandise from but who are also treating their workers fairly and making a difference in the world. It also helps to know that the returns process is easy if I accidentally order the wrong size an need to make an exchange.

My favorite authors and actors I became a fan of because I know that anything they write is worth reading or anything they act in is worth watching. Either they stay in similar plots, or they’ve got the rare talent to be able to do anything. I can confidently recommend them to friends even before I’ve seen or read their newest project.

Apply this to your business:

• Are your customers able to have faith in quality and consistency from your business?
• Are all of your points of contact with the customer focused on being helpful and serving them?  (For online businesses this would be you, your virtual assistant, your support team, etc.)
• Is your brand and customer experience emotionally engaging?  Do you draw them in and help them feel a part of something larger in the world?

What can you do to help customers feel more connected to you and your business?