Customer Delight, the Key to Retention

In the final module in the HubSpot Academy's Inbound Methodology course, I learned that customer delight is the key to customer retention with my company.  Building trust is at the core of this relationship.  Interestingly, customer delight doesn't begin with the customer, it begins with team members.  Delight begins with the three customer delight core pillars:  Innovation, Communication, and Education.  The best customer delight starts with an organization's team members feeling empowered to offer their best as they engage the customer.   Customer experiences are formed in every interaction from the moment a customer first engages to the post-sale.

Constantly challenging the status quo among team members is very important with regards to employee empowerment and delight.  Change is better than maintaining the status quo.  Creating a list of core principles that team members can live by and developing autonomy among each member will empower employees. This includes everyone at any level of the company, not just those who work directly with customers.  Personal communication is better than impersonal.  Each team member should consider themselves an educator, adviser, and consultant when working with customers.  Customers need to feel that I am building report and that I am seen as a thought leader within my own communication with them.  This will keep them coming back as they consider current and future buying decisions.

Education is the third principle in customer delight.  Educating customers with good content relevant to their needs is everyone's responsibility.  Educating people is more important than ignoring people.  This is true for both team members and customers.  Traditional outbound, seller-centric selling has been replaced by inbound selling and marketing.  It's important to not 'sell' at customers, but inform and educate them by adding value.

All team members should see themselves as problem solvers, provide recommendations, and just be themselves.  Customers today are more informed and perceptive than ever before in the information age.  It's estimated that 60% of customers have already most of the information they need before ever talking to a sales representative.

So, in conclusion, the most important thing to delight customers is for the team members of an organization to feel empowered to serve their customer base using the best innovation, communication, and education available to them.  Simon Sinek said, "Customers will never love a company until it's employees love it first."  Happy customers start with happy employees.