Emotion plays a significant role in the relationship between a business and its customers, coloring every moment from when they walk through the door to when they use leave again. Happiness and satisfaction, frustration and disappointment: nothing impacts customer-retention rates more than these feelings. And good interactions lead to more than just repeat business; they also result in personal recommendations and positive reviews, which are just as important.
On the other hand, bad interactions can be just as impactful and actually sabotage loyalty, resulting in negative reviews and bad worth-of-mouth. This is why it’s so important to listen to customer feedback, address customer concerns and complaints directly, and demonstrate empathy and understanding towards their needs; businesses that succeed at this part become known for their superior customer experience, the kind that leaves a lasting impression.
First Impressions
First impressions are critical in business-customer relationships because they set the tone for the entire interaction and can influence the customer’s perception of a business. When a customer interacts with a business for the first time, he or she forms a quick judgement that can be quite difficult to shake.
A positive first impression is obviously more likely to result in a positive attitude towards the business overall, more likely to create a sense of trust and confidence in the company’s ability to deliver on expectations. In contrast, a negative first impression can make customers feel unimportant, unappreciated, or unvalued, which inevitably leads to frustration and dissatisfaction.
Therefore, businesses need to ensure that they manage first impressions carefully by making the customers feel welcome, valued, and respected from the moment they step foot through the door. A friendly and professional greeting, learning and using the customer’s name throughout the conversation, demonstrating good knowledge and expertise about the company’s products and services, as well as demonstrating good listening skills are the best ways to set the tone. In doing this, employees can ensure they’ve laid the groundwork for a satisfying customer experience.
Last Impressions
Last impressions are important in a business-customer relationship because they are what is most likely to influence the lasting memory of the customers experience. It is the final opportunity to make sure the customer feels happy and appreciated.
In order to guarantee a positive last impression, employees remember to thank customers for their business, asking them about their experience and if there is anything that could be improved, and providing them with any necessary follow-up information or resources. This includes sending follow-up messages to again thank customers and also to demonstrate the business’s appreciation for their patronage, and to offer further assistance if needed.
Positive last impressions dramatically improve the likelihood of repeat business, good reviews, and recommendations to friends and family. A customer who feels well taken care of and appreciated is that much more likely to be loyal.
A Model to Build Around
At The Brandt Group, we’ve long advocated for using the GUEST model when managing employee-customer interactions. GUEST is an acronym that stands for Greet-Understand-Explain-Secure-Thank. Each term is a phase in the customer experience, and it’s so important that we try to implement its principles directly into our mystery-shopping surveys to help our clients offer the very best experience possible. This model literally brackets this entire process in the beginning and ending with Greet and Thank.
The Greet phase is more than just how your customers are greeted. It’s also about the face your business shows to them when they walk in; this includes cleanliness, organization, branding, and merchandising. And on the other end, the Thank phase is more than just how your customers are thanked; it includes how welcomed, appreciated, and supported they feel.
Ready to learn more? Please consider browsing our website to check out all the services we offer. And we really want to hear from you, too! Let’s work together to improve every facet of your business, including how it manages both first and last impressions. If you want to create a great lasting impression with your customers, the kind that leads to loyalty and referrals, drop us a line today.
