You’ve heard the saying… “You can’t put lipstick on a pig” right?

Well, that phrase is applicable in so many areas of business. However, there’s one area where it is especially fitting. But before I get into that… let me ask you this:

Do your customers have to think?

Yes, think. As in use their brain. Think.

Do your customers have to think?

Do they know what to expect?
Do they know how to get their questions answered?
Can they find the products and services they are looking for?
Can they easily give you money?

The entrepreneur’s thought process is so often “SELL -SELL- SELL!”

Which obviously, selling is very important. New customers are important. But how you treat your customers is even more important than anything else. Too often, customers get a lackluster customer experience… which sucks for the customer. Additionally, for the business, that lackluster experience translates into missing out on thousands of dollars.

Repeat customers are critical to the business’s long-term growth, and you can’t put lipstick on a pig.

Customers vote with their dollars.

If a person spends $1 in your business… the chances that the same person will spend another dollar goes up dramatically… but ONLY if they have a good customer experience.

Think about it – if you have a choice – do you ever go back to a place where the service is horrible? Would you want to sleep in a motel infested with roaches? Of course not.

Incredible customer experience will cause your customers to come back and buy more. The repeat business will have a huge impact on your future success.

But as the saying goes… “you can’t put lipstick on a pig.”

You can have the best marketing, the prettiest logo and a super sweet website. You can have a store that has everything your customers need. But if your staff is rude and disrespectful – forget it. The customers will leave.

The problem is you can’t fake a good customer experience. And faking good customer service is just like trying to put lipstick on a pig.

Customers will see right through it.

The key to providing amazing customer service is to understand what your customers experience. You have to look at it through their eyes.

The best experience does not make your customers think. The best experiences, like Disneyland, leave your customers simply following a pre-planned path, and unaware of what goes into the making of the experience.

The customer experience needs to be completely intuitive.

Ready to see how your customer experience stacks up?

I call it the “Rose Evaluation”

1. Reason – What’s the why? Does your customer understand the reason for this particular experience?
2. Organize – Is this organized? Organization helps to avoid overwhelm, and keeps your customer moving in the right direction.
3. Simplify – Is it simple enough that the customer can move from one step to the next, without getting stuck?
   Execute – Did your customer actually do what they were supposed to do? Did they execute their mission, or did they get stuck?
4. The Rose Evaluation is an awesome exercise that my clients love. And you know that every rose has it’s thorn…. But let’s give it a try. Pick any customer facing experience, process, or transaction and pretend you are a customer. Go through it as if you are a newbie.

But what if you don’t see your customers face-to-face? Then evaluate the experience however you interact with your customers.

Let’s go through an example on your website, where you have a new visitor that wants to get more information by giving you their email address. Remember – the goal of this exercise is to prevent your customers from confusion and distraction… so they don’t have to think.

Follow these steps:

• Take a screenshot of each step of the process you’ve chosen(i.e. the homepage, the landing page, the download, the emails they receive).
  • TRUST ME – There is magic in looking at a website, screenshot by screenshot. You simply see things in a different light and the process makes it easy identify where your customers are confused.
    Gather each screenshot sequentially so that you can go through them. That may be a photo album, a word document or a slide deck.
• Review each screenshot with a fresh pair of eyes and ask yourself the following questions:
  • Reason – What’s the why? Does your customer understand the reason for this particular experience?
  • Organize – Is this organized? Organization helps to avoid overwhelm, and keeps your customer moving in the right direction.
  • Simplify – Is it simple enough that the customer can move from one step to the next, without getting stuck?
  • Execute – Did your customer actually do what they were supposed to do? Did they execute their mission, or did they get stuck?
    That’s it. You’ve just been through an experience. And if it didn’t end up as planned, you know where things got off track, so that you can make it better for the long term.

The Rose Evaluation is a shortcut to a better customer experience, more repeat customers, and more money. Try it out on your business today and see where you can improve.

Here’s what you need to do now (or in your next marketing meeting).

1. Choose an area of your business.
2. Start thinking about the customer experience.
3. Complete the Rose Evaluation.
4. Remember, you can’t put lipstick on a pig.
5. Change things that need to be changed.

Are you ready to level-up your customer service? I’m teaching a FREE online class next week on Thursday, April 14 at 11AM CT and I’d love for you to join me.

Register by clicking here – “Learn to Make Customer Service a Profit Center in Your Business”