Thought Bubble - Why You Need Happy Customers
VIDEO: 5:19 mins
AUTHOR: Robert Craven
What do your customers really think? How do they feel? Are they really happy? And most importantly are you delivering a service that makes them want to carry on working with you? Listen to Robert having a quick chat about the subject.
Transcription:
Robert Craven 00:06
Okay, I'd like to talk to you about what the customer really thinks. So okay, I have a kind of a, not a vested interest, but I wrote the book "Customer is King". And I have this this position that that what the customer thinks is so very, very important that we don't always come from customer first positioning, we think about what we want, how we want it, and what we're trying to do to do the right thing for the customer, rather than actually, what does it feel like to be the customer. In recent weeks, we've done two surveys on behalf of digital agencies talking to their customers. And actually, the the feedback, as I predicted, is quite alarming, which is that the clients love you who say they love you, which may be like five or 10% of them clearly do love you, and they think you're great, and that's fantastic. But the point is, there are a whole a whole load of clients who aren't as enamoured with you as you think they are. So you're doing a great job, your your, your processes, and your systems are doing what should be done, you're really making stuff happen. That's, that's cool, from your point of view. But from their point of view, it's not so great. Let me explain why I think that is so one, you only have to have one kind of digital agency at a time, but like an accountant or a lawyer, so you don't actually know whether what you're getting is, is that great, or whether someone else could be better or, or worse.
Robert Craven 01:36
So that's a note to self, we need to improve how we communicate the awesomeness of what we've done, you know, typically on average, in your field, in your field, in your sector, the Ri is expert, we're delivering x plus 20%. Second thing is that the promise that the industry gives, which is about measurability about ROI about about about clarity about what's going on what you're paying for, it doesn't feel like that from the clients point of view, the client doesn't really know what they're paying for. They don't really know who's doing what, whether it's a an 18 year old with white Sox doing the work author is a senior and and they kind of get really confused. And then they get this idea they could maybe take it in house, or maybe they could sell it or rather have it done in Bangalore. So there's some real confusion going on there in their minds. So they're not they're not in love with you. They don't know, you're doing stuff really, really well. And I guess the final thing is about how much time you spend us, should we say an advisor working in the boardroom with the big high level discussions against how much you're just selling, being an expert, you know, and the phrase is, you know, people hire experts, but they keep advisors. If I'm a client, I am thinking consistently, do you understand me? And what I'm trying to do? Do you understand business and how business works? Do you understand how my business works? Do you understand my marketing strategy, my marketing plan what I want to achieve? You know, and also do you understand how digital marketing works, you know, whereas most agencies say we're awesome at digital marketing, but often, they don't go far enough in explaining they how they understand other stuff. I'll finish by a reference I've often made, which is I love my accountant.
Robert Craven 01:36
And why do I love my accountant, my accountant presumably does exactly the same as all other accountants, the same software, same hardware, same numbers. But I think I love my accountant. And that's really to do with that whole concept of marketing isn't a battle of the product is a battle for the mind of the customer. Being a digital marketing agency, exactly the same it's about it's about a fight for the mind of the customer. And that is not just about they want more, more sales and more results, they want more transparency of the metrics and they want more, more. For less, not just that they want that but they want to feel good about us. You know, they want to feel that they've made the right decision hiring us and they want to feel that as a result of working with us. They've made the right decision and it's going to help them grow their business. As the title says customer is king or queen or whatever you want to call the title now. But it's really about you know, are your customers really happy because if they are happy, they will pay more if they are happy, they will tell more people if they are happy. They they are easy to deal with if they are happy, they'll forgive you if you make mistakes. And you know the advantage of juicing clients leaving if you can just reduce the number of clients leaving new by by 5%. That'll put somewhere between 25 and 90% on your bottom line. So it kind of makes sense to focus on making happy customers. Thank you very much for listening.