March 23, 2023 – Repertoire Magazine recently sat down with Shep Hyken to discuss how sales leaders can meet the rapidly changing environment head on and deliver better results for their customers and their businesses. The founder and CAO (Chief Amazement Officer) of Shepard Productions, Hyken is a customer service and experienced speaker.
Do you know why your customers choose to stay with your company? Better yet, do you know why some customers leave for other companies? Hyken and his team facilitate workshops for clients by walking them through a six-question process that is designed to help business leaders find what sets their companies apart from the competition:
- Why would someone do business with me over someone else? This is your competitive advantage – find something unique to the experience that your customers have engaging with your brand. Hyken said, “Don’t say, ‘Oh, we have great customer service.’ Everybody says that. You need a true differentiator.”
- Why would someone do business with someone else over me? You need to know the competitive advantages of your competition. What makes what they offer more attractive to your customers than what you offer? Do they have different processes? Better customer service? A different array of products?
- What is the competition doing that I should be doing? Is your competition doing something unique to draw business in? This isn’t an opportunity for you to copy exactly what your competitors are doing, but it’s important to understand how they approach marketing and selling a product that might be similar to yours. This is part of the equation where understanding your differentiators can be very useful.
- What are companies outside of my industry doing for their customers? Looking at a different industry can give you a fresh perspective on what customer service and the customer experience should look like. “If we open these up to an audience, they’re going to say things like, Amazon and Apple,” Hyken said. “Or their favorite restaurant that recognizes them when they walk through the doors. We write down all these companies and we add why we like them. What are they doing specifically? Let’s get really tangible with our examples.”
- Is there something they are doing that we could be doing? Bring in ideas and solutions from outside of your industry. When you look at the companies that are doing the best work in customer service, you can redefine what the customer experience looks like for your customers.
- Why would someone do business with me over someone else? The circular nature of this process is intentional. By taking your ideas back to where it really matters, you can have a much clearer, thoughtful discussion on why someone would choose to purchase from your organization.
Read more in the latest issue of Repertoire Magazine.