Maguire here. Every once in a while I’m auditing, updating, organizing my files and I find something that was once shared only with one client that has great relevance to virtually anyone who deals with clients, customers, the public at large.

This time, I ran across some coaching notes I’d made for an executive of a large company. He was on his way to Hawaii to meet with the rest of the management team and he wanted some help writing a speech. He wanted to convince the rest of the team that the “Customer Experience” was so critical to their business that they should be making a large investment in training everyone who touched the customer to go above and beyond, to add discretionary effort, to go the extra mile.

If you’ve ever had trouble getting your boss or your team or anyone to understand why this “customer care thing” is so important, here’s your opening argument…

Customers become “regulars” when we provide them with what they need. When we provide them with the product they seek, at a price that is fair, in a way that is easy and a sales location that is pleasant.

Customers become “loyal” customers when we consistently create a Positive Emotional Experience for them. Loyalty is an emotional attachment, one with a big pay back. Single-digit increases in customer retention and loyalty cause double-digit increases in profit.

Customers get attached when we provide for both their business needs (product, convenience, safety, price etc.) and their personal (emotional) needs (courtesy, respect, trust, comfort, security, recognition). According to studies that were done originally by the Rockefeller Institute and then by US News and World Reports,  68% of the customers that quit going back to a company do so because  they think, perceive or feel that the company does not care about them.

Customers bail when you fail to take care of them. In short, when they feel a company is indifferent to them or their needs, they are open to the idea of  leaving that company. That “care thing” is looming larger in the scheme of things, eh? Food for thought.

More next time. Frank out.