Does your company tell customers what to do? Or does it do it for them?

Whenever I get out of my car and leave the headlights on, my car starts to ding a little warning. This ding continues until I take action and turn off the lights. It is annoying, but that is the point: the car wants me to take action.

My wife’s minivan, however has a different philosophy. When I leave those lights on and get out of the car, I’m greeted with silence. No ding. No siren. No annoyance. Instead of barking at me, the minivan simply turns off the lights.

Do you see the difference between these two?

One repeatedly tells me what to do. The other understands the situation and does it for me.

So how does this apply to your business? Let’s look at a few examples.

Anticipate Needs

A customer comes into your store to make a return. You know the end result the customer wants. You can tell the customer to call your corporate offices, or you could facilitate the return and take action. Which do you choose?

Telling your customer to handle it themselves is the equivalent of the car dinging incessantly waiting for the driver to take action.

Expend Energy Wisely

Your business has some unused capacity, inventory, or supplies. The money has already been spent on those items. You can now use those leftovers to the benefit of your existing customers.

Our cars probably use about the same amount of energy to ding at us as they do to simply turn off the lights. Why not use your energy and activities to help the customer along?

See the Patterns

Your customers often form certain behavioral patterns. When you identify these, you can make logical guesses at what they will do or need next. When you anticipate customer needs you can not only “wow” the customer but create internal efficiencies that improve your profit margins and bottom line.

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