I don’t even know how many times I have purchased something, brought it home, and wondered why I bought it. For some reason, it just didn’t have the same appeal as it did while I was in the store. I was buying into the experience.

A great example of a store that knows how to create a customer experience is Bath and Body Works. From the smells, to the decorations and displays, they really know how to get customers caught up in the experience, ambiance, and design of their stores. For this reason (as well as phenomenal branding) Bath and Body Works can demand premium prices for their body care. If Bath and Body Works products suddenly became available at Wal-Mart all the appeal would be lost. People would no longer be willing to pay $10 and up for their favorite shower gel. The price of the product is justified because of the experience the customer receives when shopping at their stores.

How to begin optimizing your customer’s experience:

1) Find out what your specific customers are really buying. Ask yourself what your customer is experiencing when they walk in your door.

2) Talk to your customers. Get feedback from them. Ask them how they feel. More than likely, they will be pleased to help out since you are taking a sincere interest in their opinions.

3) Do not suffer from “tunnel vision.” Gain a clear picture of what is really going on and how it can be improved. Heed the feedback you receive with an open mind.

4) Get your employees on board. Every employee is marketing your business and playing a key role in your customer’s experience.

-    If you do not position yourself and communicate that position, your customer WILL do it for you. Like it or not, you already have a position. This may or may not be the opinions you would like them to have, but the formation of  those opinions is inevitable
-    The companies that try to be “everything to everyone” become “nothing to no one.”
-    Your positioning statement gives your company focus and without a solid focus, chaos exists.
-    Your company is already being perceived. Companies that win know how to influence that perception and turn it into positive differentiations.

Creating the statement is done through thoughtfully answering the following questions:
(1)    Who are we?
(2)    What do we do?
(3)    Who is our customer?
(4)    What needs do those customers have?
(5)    Who are we competing against?
(6)    What’s different about us?  -or- What is our key benefit?
(7)    Why is that benefit important to your customer?

Once you have a grasp on the answers to those questions ask yourself, “Is this positioning statement matching the position that already exists in the minds of my customers? If not, make that your goal to alter your communication and take small steps to bridging that gap. If so, congratulations! You are on the right track.

With so many restaurant choices available, how do restaurant owners gain, build and maintain their broad base of clientele? Competition is fierce and the decision as to where hungry patrons go lies completely in experience. You’ve seen it a hundred times! One restaurant has a 2 hour wait while the one across the street has empty tables. Restaurant owners will say time and time again, our food is better, our prices are cheaper, we spend more in advertising, but my competitor still has more patrons.

How do you build up such a loyal following, even if your food isn’t as good as the guy across the street? I challenge you to think about the experience you offer your customers. Does that experience match your advertising? What is your customer’s first impression? More importantly, what is the last?

1) Offer the experience you advertise. I had a client who, two years ago, promoted an event that turned into complete failure. Why? What was advertised and what he was actually offering were two very different things. When you build up people’s expectations, you better be able to deliver. His was offering a great product, it just didn’t align with what people were expecting. We made a few tweaks in his advertising, and a number of changes at his business. Patrons quickly turned around their opinion and became beacons, actually advertising his business for him.

2) Your staff is your marketing team. I feel like we say this all of the time. You may have the hottest place in town, but if your staff doesn’t love it and know it like you do, it doesn’t matter how great it is. You servers, bartenders, greeters and even bussers need to add to the atmosphere and experience. Every detail matters. They are the first point of contact and the last memory. Lackluster or even, so/so performance simply will not do. There are a number of ways to get your staff on board and cheering louder than you do, but that’s another blog!

3) What feeling does your restaurant create when someone first walks in? Are you helping people escape their lives for an hour or two? Do they feel rushed or panicked because the waiting area is packed? Do they feel on edge, or afraid to talk because it is too quite? Does the music match the lighting? Does color of the table cloths match the style of dining you’re offering? Does you restaurant make people hungry, happy or relaxed?

4) Do your patrons feel like they matter? We’ve all been to that restaurant where you feel like no one cares you’re there, or even worse, they act like they don’t want you there. Growing up I went to the same place every Friday night with my parents and grandmother. This casual dining Greek restaurant made decent food and the prices were good. But you could never get a table after 4:30. Why? Every patron knew they mattered. The owners, a husband and wife team, would walk around to every table and make sure to thank everyone for coming in and check on the meal. They took the time to learn everyone’s name. I mean everyone! How many names of your regular customers do you know? It makes a difference. Each person will either tell 2 people they love you, or 10 people they hate you. If they feel like they mean something, which do you think they’ll choose?

5) When you screw up, admit it. Nothing makes a stronger statement about someone’s integrity than when they can admit they’ve made a mistake. Turn off your ego for a second and think about the consequences of your actions. Is it worth the small investment of a comp’d meal, drinks or desert to get that person back? Yes! Of course, every place knows the repeat offenders and you can handle them differently. But always being willing to admit you’ve made a mistake and move on. Trust me when I tell you, it’s not worth the hassle.

Branding and marketing… it all comes down to one thing: image. Your image is the basis for everything. It is what causes people to associate certain feelings and perceptions with your brand, product, or service. As we have discussed numerous times, people will choose a brand over another because of these associated feelings.

Every aspect of your marketing MUST tie in with your image. This is crucial, and yet so often we see advertisers sending mixed messages to the consumer. For example, a restaurant that wants to portray an image of hip, young, fresh, and new needs to take that image into account with everything. This surpasses just logos and promotional materials and must span down to couponing, where to advertise…everything! Corporations spend huge amounts of money trying to change consumer perceptions that have been built up. It may be time to ask yourself…what image do I want to portray? And what image am I actually portraying? After all, perceptions are reality.