5 Ways to Create Unexpected Services Customers Will Love
Published by Linda Rolf on 8/31/2020 and updated 10/1/2021
"Price is what you pay. Value is what you get."
--- Warren Buffett
You and your customers have built relationships of mutual trust. But how do you continue to meet your customers' expectations day after day?
Here are 5 ideas for keeping those valued relationships alive.
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Success 1. Ask your customers what they want and need from you.
Customers love to be asked what's important to them. They feel like more than just another buyer of your products and services. They feel uniquely valued.
Your customers aren't the only ones to benefit from sharing their insights with you. It is only natural that you value the work you do for your customers from your inside-looking-out view.
Over time the day-to-day needs of your customers will change. Their customers, markets, and strategies continually shift. It's important that your services stay aligned with and anticipate their changing landscape.
Listen with the ear of opportunity --- "what can we provide that we have never considered before" --- instead of --- "that's not a service we offer".
Connecting the dots in unexpected ways creates new growth opportunities for both you and your customers.
Here are 8 questions your customers will love to answer for you. You will find these and more in the
Growth Strategy Series Part 2 Workbook.
1. What would you like for us to do for you that we currently don't provide?
2. If we could do one thing to help your company right now, what would it be?
3. What expertise or knowledge would benefit your company?
4. What does success look like to you?
5. What are the biggest challenges you're facing right now?
6. How are you overcoming these challenges?
7. If time, money, and resources weren't concerns, what would you do differently?
8. What do you think could help your company reach its goals?
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2. Create a weekly What's on Your Mind brainstorming session.
Invite a group of non-competing customers to collaborate, share, and discuss whatever is on their minds. You become the valued connector and thought leader. Your customers expand their network of business connections.
Here are some ideas for getting started ---
Carefully select customers who will appreciate the opportunity to collaborate and connect
Include some customers who are natural connectors
Create a personalized invitation for each customer
Ask your guests to share questions and suggested topics in advance
Introduce your guests before the first meeting
Ask for feedback after the meeting, share it with your guests, and then turn feedback into action
Create engaging action items for each guest to keep them involved and connected to the group
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3. Get creative with an innovative bundling of your products and services.
Your competitors are already delivering the same expected services that you are. What related services can you creatively bundle together that will set you apart from your competition?
What did you hear from your customers that you had never considered before – or just haven't had the time to explore? Now is the time to become their strategic, innovative solution provider.
Some examples to get the ideas flowing ---
If you're an accountant, create a monthly subscription service that trains your customer's team on day-to-day efficiencies.
If you provide driver training to teens, provide a monthly subscription service for cybersecurity education. The entire family will become immediately engaged.
If you are a technology provider, a monthly learning subscription will give your customers the independence and control to do more of the day-to-day routine tasks themselves.
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4. Create partnerships with complementary service providers.
Go back to your customer's wish list of services that are important to them. What services do you not provide? Instead of taking the typical approach --- dismissing what is beyond your core offerings – ask yourself this question instead.
"What expertise does our team need to deliver what our customer needs?"
This is more than the quick "here's someone to contact" referral. Develop a strategic partnership with all partners committed to building lasting value.
Now your menu of services expands, your company grows, and your customer's commitment to you deepens.
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5. Create a collection of everyday productivity tools.
What are the some of the biggest challenges your customers say they are facing day after day?
What are some of the things they can do differently that will make your services to them more effective?
It's amazing how simple tools can make everyone's day more productive, efficient, and a little more hassle-free.
Here are a few ideas to kickstart your team's brainstorming –-
Create a series of checklists for routine activities. Share these with your customers on your website knowledge hub or collaboration application.
Instead of saying "Why can't they get the information we need to us on time?" create automated advance reminders for them. Include a checklist.
Implement some simple collaboration tools that automate tasks and action items.
Create a collection of financial calculators that explain the concepts you understand but your customers might not.
Share your list of recommended apps and then help your customers successfully implement them.
Explore your customer communication channels such as CRM, incident reporting, chat, emails, social media comments, and call logs. What are the frequently asked questions and recurring problems your customer need help with? Create a library of videos, how-to-guides, and eBooks to share with your customers.
Tags: Business Strategy
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Linda Rolf is a lifelong curious learner who believes a knowledge-first approach builds valuable client relationships. She is fueled by discovering the unexpected connections among technology, data, information, people and process. For more than four decades, Linda and Quest Technology Group have been their clients' trusted advisor and strategic partner.
Linda believes that lasting value and trust are created through continuously listening, sharing knowledge freely, and delivering more than their clients even know they need. As the CIO of their first startup client said, "The value that Quest brings to Cotton States is far greater than the software they develop."
