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If you’re in business, you may have found yourself researching strategies to make your business stand out.
You may even have searched on the internet and found results like 7 steps to stand out from your competitors or 30 ways to stand out from the crowd.
The biggest problems for businesses in Australia is that 68% of all consumers are passive about the experiences they get, it doesn’t stand out for them.
Put your customer shoes on and think of all the interactions you have with businesses.
At times you may have had a bad experience and vowed to never do business with them again. We’ve all been there.
Or, you may have brands that have exceeded your expectations. You choose to fly with one airline over another or you only purchase products from a home retailer over their competitor. There are many examples I could use here. Overall there is something they did that made them stand out to you.
From the moment you interact with a business, there are multiple touchpoints that occur.
These touchpoints are called ‘moments of truth’.
Moments of truth are interactions that occur that leave a lasting positive or negative impression on a customer.
If you think about an airline for example: you arrive at the airport, check-in, go to the gate or lounge, use retail services, have your boarding pass scanned and walk to the plane. You’re then greeted at the plane and have more interactions on the plane before you depart and collect your bags.
There are over 7 touchpoints from the moment you set foot into the airport to landing at your destination, each of these touchpoints are opportunities for the airline to create positive moments of truth.
It’s important to know where your moments of truth are. These moments are not huge gestures, they do not require large budgets, they’re small yet they have a big impact.
A business may have systems and procedures to be followed, but you can also allow some flexibility and give staff the freedom to inject their personality into their work.
I recently stayed at an Art Hotel in Bendigo and they left a note on my bed saying ‘jump on the bed, you know you want to’!
In all my years staying in many hotels, I’ve never been invited to jump on the bed. What this hotel did was completely different from any other hotel I have stayed at, of course, I was not going to jump on the bed, but this note stuck with me.
Other hotels have left a generic letter in my room which is expected once you have stayed with the same hotel before. On occasion, I have received a handwritten letter instead, or a note in my morning paper saying ‘hope you enjoy your day’!
For me, its enjoyable seeing staff having the freedom and flexibility to create these moments of truth that stood out to me and exceeded my expectations.
Every interaction is an opportunity for the customer to form an impression.
Do you know your moments of truth?