It’s pretty well established that customers care about value. If you provide it, they buy from you, it’s as simple as that. But I wonder, are you getting all the value you could be from each customer relationship? Are your customers doing as much for you as you are for them? My basic premise for today is that your business will be more successful if “value” is a two-way street. And I believe that each one of your customers provides you with three distinct levels of value.

First is the value of what they’re buying from you now. Second is the value of what they could be buying from you. Third is the value of influence; the ways in which current customers can help you to develop new customers.

So, are you getting full value from all — or even most — of your customers?

First Level

The First Level Of Value is all about what they’re buying from you now. What’s important about the First Level Of Value is that you protect it. In other words, that you don’t lose customers! The key to protecting the First Level Of Value is to maintain a satisfactory customer experience.

That’s a very broad term. It covers everything from the quality of your product to the quality of the human interaction, before, during and after the sale. And the main consideration is that you know – not just think or hope! – that you have happy customers.

So how do you do that? Let me suggest two strategies, reflecting two scenarios.

First is the retail scenario. When someone comes to your store, you have two opportunities to know, not just think or hope. The first is immediate, the second is a follow-up opportunity. The first is a single question: How did we do today?

I went grocery shopping this morning. When I got to the check out, the cashier asked me if I’d found everything I was looking for. I think that’s meant as a customer experience question, but it doesn’t go far enough. My answer was yes, and that was true, but since I wasn’t directly asked, I didn’t mention that I felt I had to wait too long at the deli counter. Yes, I found everything I was looking for, but I did not have a completely satisfactory customer experience. If they’d learned that, they might have been able to do something about it.

The follow up opportunity is more complicated, and requires more data. But let me suggest how you might act on two pieces of data. Let’s say that you know my phone number, and let’s further say that I bought a new cleaner today. With that data, you could call me after an appropriate time to ask how it was working. Question: If I called you in that example, would you feel valued as my customer? Would you be more or less likely to return to buy from me again?

Here’s my recommendation for the retail scenario. Make “How did we do today?” a standard practice in your business. And try to find a few personal follow-up opportunities every day.

Now on to the second scenario. Let’s say you’re a maintenance contractor. Your crew services my pool on some schedule. On one hand, you could assume that everything is fine unless I complain. On the other hand, you could establish some interval to reach out to me. I don’t think it has to be “How did we do today?” after every service. But maybe it should be once each month, or once each quarter to ask, “How have we been doing lately?” The interval should be long enough that I won’t feel you’re smothering me. But it needs to be short enough to minimize the possibility that your crew will let me down and I’ll start thinking about changing contractors with you having the opportunity to salvage the relationship.

Second Level

The Second Level of Value is all about what they could be buying from you, in other words, beyond what they’re already buying from you. That raises the question of how you describe your product line. A supply store might say anything for your pool or spa. A contractor might say comprehensive pool care services. In either of those examples, I’m sure that you, as an industry professional, know what the words encompass. But the question is, do you customers make the same connection? I use the term civilian to describe anyone with a “less-than-professional: understanding, and I feel pretty safe in saying that most of your customers fit into that category.

The key to maximizing the Second Level of Value is customer education. In the retail scenario, I’ll again offer two strategies. The first is to produce some sort of take-away document that can be handed to every customer at checkout. Probably an obvious example would be a brochure listing all of your products. But I saw an innovative variation on that theme recently. It was “10 Things You Probably Never Thought You Could Buy Here.” Two of those things were (a) things I use, and (b) yes, things I never would have associated with that business. I left the store with about $50 worth of one of those things. The second strategy, when time permits, is to take customers on a “guided tour” of your facility. Do you see the opportunity for customer education combined with customer experience?

In the other-than-retail scenario, I suggest this strategy. First, make a list of your products and/or services. This may need to be categories, rather than individual

Third Level

The Third Level of Value is all about influence; the ways in which current customers can help you to develop new customers. Here we’re taking about two things, referrals and testimonials.

In order to fully appreciate this opportunity, let’s understand that there are referrals and then there’s something called word of mouth. That term is often used to describe the phenomenon by which one of your customers says something nice about you to a friend or colleague or family member, and that person in turn initiates contact with you. Word of mouth is really more of a testimonial than a referral, but more importantly, it’s mostly a passive strategy. By that I mean you’re probably appreciative when word of mouth brings you a new customer, but you don’t do enough to encourage it.

Encouraging it is simple. Just add an element to your “if you want to know, ask” practices. When you ask a customer if you’ve met or exceeded his/her expectations, and the answer is yes, go the extra step and ask your customer to tell someone else about the experience of doing business with you. It’s been proven that it might happen if you say nothing. Doesn’t it make sense that it might happen more often if you encourage it?

By the way, if the answer is no, that’s the wrong time to ask for a testimonial. But if you learn that you have a problem and then fix it to your customer’s satisfaction, it becomes the right time again.

Referrals and Introductions

Now let’s go back to “I don’t have any interest, but I can tell you who might.” This is a real Third Level opportunity, but that won’t get you maximum value. Here’s another question I often ask in seminars: “Is there anything that’s even better than a referral?” The answer is: “Yes, an introduction!”

Let’s consider word of mouth, referrals and introductions in order of value potential. The first one, as we’ve discussed, is essentially passive. Yes, you can encourage word of mouth, but you still have no guarantee that the person who’s been “referred” to you through word of mouth will take the next step and contact you.

The second one put you in a more proactive position. If you have the referral, you have the opportunity to reach out and make contact. The only negative here is that this usually puts you in the position of making a cold call.

Many salespeople have argued this point with me, telling me it’s not cold at all to be calling someone and telling them that you’re calling because So-And-So told you to. I think it’s cold, though, any time you appear out of the blue, whether it’s a phone call or an e-mail or in person. And I think cold is always bad in selling, at least to the degree that warmer is always better.

Let’s consider the relative temperatures of a referral vs. an introduction, and let’s set the baseline as a “pure” cold call — no referral, no previous contact — and set that temperature at 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

“Hi, my name is Dave Fellman. John Smith gave me your name and number. He told me that you’re the person who buys Product Z for your company, and I’d like to talk to you about that.” That’s a referral call, right? But I’m still rating the temperature of that call pretty low, maybe 45 degrees. It might be higher if John Smith is a good friend or a valued colleague. Don’t forget, though, it might also be lower if John Smith is not one of those things. Here’s some Fundamental Wisdom that applies to any referral/networking activity: The value of the referral is highly dependent on the quality of the relationship that exists between the referee and the referrer. I once called a guy because I had been referred to him in this manner, and he said: “Listen, I don’t really like John Smith. So I don’t see any reason to like you any better.” Then he hung up.

The Power of Introduction

“Hi, this is John Smith. I want to introduce you to someone. His name is Dave Fellman. I buy a lot of Product X from him, and he also sells Product Z, which I know you buy a lot of. I think it would be good to get the two of you together. Can I have him call you?”

That’s an introduction. It can be delivered by phone, or by e-mail, or even in person, which is probably the best of all possible worlds. Now, who would you rather be, the person making the “John Smith gave me your name” call or the person calling to follow up on an introduction after the referee expressed interest or at least willingness to talk to you? I think this brings the temperate up considerably, maybe to 65 or 70 degrees. You haven’t made the sale yet, but you are almost certainly starting from a better, warmer position.

Maximum Value

Let me end this by asking you a question. What percentage of maximum value do you think you’re getting from your customer base right now? If your answer is 90% or higher, you still have some opportunity here, but I’d say you’re doing a really good job of getting value from your customers. If your answer is 70% or below, though, you have a lot of opportunity, and depending on how well you’re protecting the First Level of Value, you may have a lot at risk.

Please give some thought to where you should go with that knowledge!