Flip the Funnel to Create Raving Fans

Have you noticed that customers will readily drop $20,000 on a new refrigerator for their kitchen renovation, but they balk at spending $500 on the most used appliance in their home, a new kitchen faucet. The fact that they may be without a place to cook for two months does not seem to bother them as much as a $200 change order. If you examined the things that drive your customers crazy, chances are they are not big picture items at all. Instead, it's the small, pesky inconveniences that send them off the deep end.

How can you eradicate annoyances that create negative impressions and leave your clients with a bad taste in their mouth? Flip the funnel. Everyone in your organization is a consumer. They purchase products and services. Have a brainstorming session and ask your team to relate the things that drive them crazy when they themselves go to a store or rely on a service provider. When you flip the funnel, you change perspectives and make problems easier to identify, claims management consultant Rick Houcek.

 

You are not asking your team to identify the complaints that your customers make, but the irritants that they actually experience when relying on others to provide them a service. Once they have identified the foibles that make them crazy, ask what they would do to eliminate them at businesses they patronize and then subsequently at your showroom. This is an exercise that should be conducted at least twice a year. When you eliminate the little details that leave negative lasting memories, you greatly enhance the opportunity to create raving fans who will recommend your showroom to their coworkers, neighbors and friends. Even if they don't, you'll save oodles of time and frustration from not having to deal with those little annoyances that drive your customers and you crazy.