Customer experience is a strange thing. No matter what, it always exists for every company and every customer in every situation at Scorecard Sales. Why is that? Because customer experience is based entirely on feeling; the way your customers feel each time your company and brand become a part of their world. This is the heart of customer experience management. It’s pretty intense when you think about it, but the best way to describe customer experience is the emotional bond the customer has with your brand. That can be positive, negative and everywhere in between. It’s hard enough to get your head wrapped around that and asking you to control the customer experience sounds as practical as telling the wind which way it should blow. Nevertheless, it can and should be done.
The most important thing to remember when it comes to customers is this: First we feel, then we think. Realities are formed from beliefs and customers must believe that the customer experience they have with you will manifest in their purchase and validate their emotions. This is why it is so important to utilize an integrative sales improvement process to maintain that bond. Processes will make or break your efforts to deliver a consistent, predictable and positive experience, so let’s review what the best sales process is for customer experience management. It’s also important to understand that once a customer starts to believe a notion, they will automatically seek out information that supports their beliefs. That’s why they scroll past 20 good online reviews if they are mad at you just to read one bad online review and proclaim, “See, I told you so!” That alone should help you understand why it is so important to control the customer experience. Processes will make or break your efforts to deliver a consistent, predictable and positive experience, so let’s review what the best sales process is for controlling the customer experience.
Step 1. Identify the desired outcome: Your sales process takes the customer through a journey that should give them the safest path to bridge the gap between what they want and what you offer. This usually requires several steps. You can read more about these stages on our blogs page. This usually requires several steps that include items such as discovery, demonstrations, quoting, selection and so forth. Each of these steps should have a predetermined optimal outcome. In other words, where do you want the customer to be after this step in the sales process that benefits both you and them?
Step 2. Identify the desired emotion: The journey passes through stages of emotion. You can learn more about us and how we prioritize the human element of sales. Reviewing options? Feeling understood. Closing the deal? Feeling excited. This emotional alignment is a key focus of professional sales coaching. Initial meeting? Feeling safe. Reviewing options? Feeling understood. Reviewing proposals? Feeling confident. Closing the deal? Feeling excited.
Step 3. Make a Wow! Factor: Add something to the stages of your sales process that establishes an emotion that corresponds with that step and enforces the emotional bond you want the customer to have with your brand. Initial meeting? Feeling safe and wowed with customer reviews. Reviewing options? Feeling understood and wowed with free samples and case studies. Reviewing proposals? Feeling confident and wowed with the solution, design or product. Closing the deal? Feeling excited and wowed with a customer onboarding gift.
Step 4. Create Consistency:
A process is only an idea until it is implemented with consistency. This is how you truly master customer experience management. You must institutionalize this with everyone on your team throughsales methodology training.
Limit deviation as much as possible from your process and you will create the best possible experience every time. If you need a partner to help build this consistency, our sales consulting services are here to help. You can request a quote for a tailored plan today to start transforming your customer interactions.
