“The single most important thing you can do for your business is to get to work building true customer loyalty, one customer at a time.”

– Micah Solomon

When you get a chance, read Micah Solomon’s Article  on customer loyalty.  Micah dropped a customer service truth bomb on his readers that had us at SnapScapes standing up and cheering.  We really do need to get back to our roots and do the hard work of actually serving customers and serving them well. No matter what product or service you offer, you have competition. Having loyal customers who see your business as the only one in your market space they will deal with is critical to you continued business growth and success.
What we are talking about isn’t a loyalty program. We are talking about having a personal one-on-one relationship with your customers that keeps them wanting to do business with you and only you. But how do you make that happen?

1.  Understand what your customer experiences. You don’t have to be profiled on Undercover Boss to learn what dealing with your company is like from the customer’s perspective. Put yourself in your customer’s place. Visit your Website, and look at it through their eyes. Call to place an order, and find out how customers are treated. Send an email, or use the online chat feature.
2. Act quickly and be helpful when there is an issue. Nobody likes being put on hold, and nobody likes playing transfer ping pong. Empower employees to find solutions to problems, and train them to own the issue until it is resolved. If other departments or a supervisor need to be involved, then your employee should become the customer’s advocate coordinating with the others to find resolution. No customer should be transferred more than once, or told “There isn’t anything I can do. It’s just our policy.”
3. Remember your customer’s preferences. If, for example, you know Ms. Jones prefers a certain style of clothing, let her know when you get in some new outfits she would like or make her aware when items similar to what she purchased before will be on sale. Remembering personal preferences will make the purchase experience worry-free, more satisfactory for the customer, and helps solidify the personal relationship you have.

One last thing… There was only one thing we didn’t agree with in Micha’s article and that was his advice to, “stop tinkering with technology.” SnapScapes is a tool especially created to help you build long lasting relationships with your customers, build trust, and create a whole lot of good, organic customer loyalty. But in his defense, maybe he hasn’t heard of us.

Want more ideas of how SnapScapes can help you build and keep customer loyalty in your business? Contact us for more information.

I ran to the office, downloaded the image, clicked ‘print’, and grabbed a marker. Somehow I inadvertently printed two copies of the photo and hurriedly attached them to a clip-board I’d found. I think I made it back to the poor woman just before she was about to give up and go home without a solution to her problem. “Here,” I said, gasping for air from the ¼ mile/minute run. “Where were you pointing?”

She regained her interest in getting her project finished as we used the pen to draw the plants over the image I had printed off. We walked through the greenhouse and picked out the plants I’d suggested in the drawing.

As I was loading the plants into her car, she asked if she could take the picture home for reference so she could remember where everything goes. I obliged and she left with the marked up photo. I was left in the parking lot holding the second image of the side of her house thinking, “There has to be a better way.”

I also imagined the number of times people have ::shudder:: left without buying something because they couldn’t visualize the benefits of our products.

So that was it: The world’s first instance of visual customer support. Kinda. OK, not at all. I knew, staring at the piece of paper, that this happens to tens of thousands of people across the US and hundreds of thousands of people around the world every day. I imagined the number of sales that I’ve lost because neither the customer nor myself could easily communicate our ideas. I also imagined the number of times people have ::shudder:: left without buying something because they couldn’t visualize the benefits of our products. Worse yet is thinking of how many times people have given up on their hobbies, design projects, or other household items altogether simply because no one had come up with a way to help them with their frustrations.

It took re-enacting that ritual of squint, print, and sprint over and over again to tell me that I had a problem that needed to be solved. I looked for a solution to this problem where every self respecting millennial would look: the internet. I came up with a bunch of solutions that were solving more general customer support problems like CRM (customer relationship management) software, support ticketing, and file-sharing systems like Dropbox and Google Drive. Each of them did a little of what I needed but they had to be cobbled together in a fashion that was no more efficient than an email and run to the printer. That’s when I decided to make it myself. Why not?

…it’s about keeping millions customers happy and coming back for more.

I’ll have to leave that part of the story for later because this blog is about why and not about how. So, to summarize, SnapScapes was built out of a frustration with an outdated process and a dissatisfaction with an inability to understand fellow human beings. But, in addition to that, it was also assembled with the mindset that helping others comes with rewards. And it does.

I still have that picture of the side of that taupe suburban house that reminds me of why I’m working on this project. SnapScapes is all about making life a little easier for the millions of sales associates around the world who must share specialized knowledge about their products with customers to make a sale. Perhaps more importantly, it’s about keeping millions customers happy and coming back for more.

Steve Ruprecht – SnapScapes Founder