To understand why customer recognition is so powerful, let’s take a minute and put ourselves into our customer’s shoes.

Cathy Consumer is a 35-year-old mother of three kids, all under the age of ten. She and her husband work full time. Cathy loves her kids and is a devoted mother, but they’re a little weak in the recognition and appreciation department.

Maybe on Mother’s Day and her birthday when Dad takes them shopping for a card and a gift, they show some appreciation. But the rest of the time her kids are mostly a lot of hard work, and they rarely appreciate her efforts on their behalf. (After all, what kid appreciates being told to do their homework, clean their room, eat their vegetables, take out the trash, and get ready for bed, even though it’s ultimately in their best interest?)

Cathy works as an insurance adjuster. Other than her bi-weekly paycheck, her boss doesn’t give her any recognition. The public, whom she deals with during insurance claims, doesn’t give her recognition. Neither do her co-workers.

Her husband, while devoted, is overworked and stressed out. He’s tired all the time, and mostly just watches TV in the evenings, so he doesn’t give her as much validation for her efforts as she would like.

Cathy is craving recognition and appreciation, but she’s not getting much of it in her day-to-day life. It’s the same story with many of your prospects and customers. Even those who receive sufficient recognition on a day to day basis wouldn’t turn down a little more.

Customer Recognition Strategy

If you were the one to give Cathy Consumer and all your other customers the recognition and appreciation they are craving, it would:

  • Give them great, positive feelings about you and your business.
  • Strengthen their loyalty, so next time they might not be so quick to get seduced by a ‘free installation’ offer from some box store.
  • Make them more likely to refer you.
  • Help you create deep connections with your list of past customers.

Let’s look at some customer recognition and appreciation strategies you can put in place immediately.

Beverage Menu

After welcoming a walk-in and thanking them for visiting, hand them a beverage menu and ask them what they’d like to drink. That will make them feel instantly appreciated. Not to mention, create total differentiation from competitors.

Hand-written Thank You Cards

Send these to customers after every completed installation. That is something you virtually never see from any business.

A Customer of the Month

In your newsletter and e-newsletters feature a customer of the month, and honor them by sending them out to dinner. People love to see their names in print. Also, people will open your mail to see who your customer of the month is.

Public Thank You

Thank Customers Publicly. In your newsletter, email, and social media thank customers for their business. Post photos of their installed floors, along with their comments. Make them into mini-celebrities just by buying from you.

Referral Recognition

Acknowledge referrals. In your newsletter, have a section thanking the people who sent you referrals. Remind everyone about your referral incentive program.

Welcome Whiteboard

Put a whiteboard on an easel inside your front door. When you know that a customer is coming in for an appointment write, “Jimbo’s Floors Welcomes Cathy Consumer” on the board, so she sees it when she walks in.

By implementing an on-purpose customer recognition strategy, you will give yourself a huge advantage over the boxes and other competitors.

 

To Tons Of Customers!
Jim Augustus Armstrong is The “Coach”

Jim Augustus Armstrong is the President of Flooring Success Systems, a program that equips dealers to double their profits, cut their work hours in half and beat the boxes! Many dealers have totally transformed their businesses and their lives for the better after joining Flooring Success Systems.
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