Growing up to be 6' 5" can be both a blessing and a curse. A blessing, because you get picked first for all team sports. But a curse when it comes to buying ties, suits and, as I'm reminded once per decade, cars.
Heading out to look for some new wheels, I thought a two-seater sports car might be fun. I ducked into a Porsche dealership to live out a boyhood dream to drive a 911.
I saw all those beautiful cars sitting on the floor, so I asked the salesman, "Got anything in my size?"
He looked around the showroom, laughed and said, "Nothing you'd be comfortable in." Damn!
My search continued, eventually ending back at Audi and two competitors: BMW and Infiniti. In the end, despite a performance disadvantage (I do love turbos) and my positive experience as a previous Audi owner, the Infiniti M37 won out because of its
comfort, long term reliability and lower cost of ownership. These days, product loyalty ("stickiness") is truly difficult to achieve. With the Internet, customers have much more information and opinions about what to buy. But while many companies emphasize their comfort, performance or reliability to get the sale, Infiniti's execution
after the sale will likely beckon me back when I'm ready for a new car.
At Infiniti, I can call a
personal concierge from my car to make dinner or hotel reservations or even get the football scores, night or day. Automatic reminders alert me when maintenance is required. When serviced at
Herb Chambers, my car gets dropped off in a clean, warm and friendly reception area. While waiting for my car, I can work in a quiet, wi-fi enabled room, with hot coffee and fresh pastry at the ready.
It's execution dedicated toward continuously delivering customer satisfaction and enhancing the user experience. This same
"virtuous circle" can be adopted in your business. For example, if you're a professional services firm, could you offer a private phone number with 24/7 access for top clients? If a software business, could you route customers to unique resources or services via a password-protected paywall? If a products company, could you include an app to enhance the user experience?
The idea here is to build on existing relationships, offering valuable products and services that your clients will grow to rely upon.
While this level of
customer retention may be expensive, it's far less costly than the additional customer
acquisition expense that would otherwise be required. Infiniti understands this and has built in ways - in both the product itself as well as the post-sale experience - to keep me coming back.
What can you offer, in your business, to retain your customers and keep them coming back? I'll be grabbing a complimentary donut in the service area if you want to talk about it!
