What are some of the best ways to raise customer satisfaction? Having a sale on popular items? Offering a free money back guarantee? Having a well-staffed customer service department so that any customer who’s upset will have someone deal with their issue immediately?
The truth is, all of these things are important. But one thing that covers all of that and more is one simple word. Caring. That’s right, the best way to increase sales and customer satisfaction is by actually caring about your company, your product, and your customers. Caring is more than wishing.
What Does Caring Mean?
It may seem ridiculous to say “you should care”. Obviously one has to actually care about their company and their product if one is going to make a profit. You wouldn’t be in business if you didn’t care, and your employees are paid a fair wage to care. Clearly, anyone associated with your company cares!
However, caring in this context means more than just a general desire for things to go well. In this context, caring means to actually put forth the extra effort. Not just to set up shop and ensure there are employees, not just giving a customer what they want so that they’re happy, but actually ensuring that customers get a quality product at a fair price from a competent and caring staff.
Caring will actually increase the feel good chemicals in the customer. This especially means oxytocin, the hormone of love and bonding, and serotonin, the neurotransmitter of calmness and satisfaction. If your product is especially one that women buy, it’s especially important as women statistically are involved in 87% of purchases. As women typically are low in oxytocin and serotonin, they respond especially well when those are increased. But even with men, they respond positively with caring and increasing those chemicals.
Quality Products, Fair Prices
Cheaper is better, right? Obviously, if you can sell something cheaper, then you’ll have a step up on your competition. More customers will come to you, and even though you’re not making quite as much on each sale you’re making it up in bulk.
However, that’s a great way to race towards the bottom. When you sell cheap, you have to buy cheap. And when you buy cheap, you don’t get a quality product. Eventually, corners have to be cut, and the product you’re selling simply isn’t that high quality. The truth is that many customers would rather pay a bit more if they know it means they get quality and better support.
In addition, don’t just give an upset customer something to “make them happy”. All you do is teach your customers that if they complain they get free stuff. Once you start teaching customers that, there’ll be no end to it. Not to mention, it makes it hard for your employees to care.
Getting Employees To Care
A paycheck isn’t enough for an employee to care. Even if you pay better than average for your area, it won’t matter if you’re not paying enough to live on. Beyond that, the more you show your employees that you’re more concerned about cutting costs than ensuring they’re safe and cared for, the less they’re going to care. So it’s important to have a company culture of caring for everyone.
Ultimately, caring is about more than just wanting things to go well. It’s about accepting that sometimes you have to make people unhappy to create a better sales environment. It’s about knowing that you’ll have to turn away a few customers if you want employee loyalty. All in all, it’s about ensuring the company you’re creating has longevity and not just immediate profitability.
