With Valentine 's Day last week no doubt you had plenty of messages about love, but will all those who sent you these messages still love you tomorrow; or was it just a flash in the pan?
 
Make your customers feel loved every day, not just on Valentine's Day.
 
Consistency in customer service is without a doubt a key ingredient to keep your customers happy. Being all over them one day, and ignoring them the next simply leaves them confused and they'll soon be off elsewhere!
 
So just what are you doing to show your customers a bit of love every day?
 
Here are my 5 ingredients to help you do this…
 
Ingredient 1
 
Define the experience you want your customer to have. What will they be saying about you, doing or feeling as a result of buying from you? Focus on this every day with everything you do, and share this with your team

Ingredient 2
 
Review the whole of your customer journey from end to end. How well does this deliver the experience you envisaged above? What's their first impression when they visit your website, a review site or social media? What's the very last impression, the last thing they see, hear (or even smell) on their way out, or after their purchase?
 
Ingredient 3
 
Recruit people who have pre requisite skills and attitude to deliver the experience you're aiming to give. Then give them customer service training to give them the skills, knowledge, confidence and authority to deliver this day in day out, so you don't need to worry about what they're doing whilst you're not there. And your customers get the same level of service whoever they're served by.
 
Ingredient 4
 
Check your resources and systems are designed around your customer experience expectations, to make it simple to deliver not hinder every step of the way. Too much red tape, insufficient manpower for peak periods, out dated systems, mal functioning equipment all have an impact on the customer as well as testing your team's patience.

Ingredient 5
 
Engage your team, so they're enthusiastic and happy. Nothing will impact a customer more than the emotional state of the people who serve them.
 
So just 5 things to think about and focus on to give your customers consistency.  Of course if you need any help with any of these, drop me an email to caroline@naturallyloyal.com  and we can talk…

Caroline Cooper is founder of Naturally Loyal who helps businesses to get more sales through their existing customers. Caroline specialises in working with hospitality, tourism and leisure businesses, helping them build loyalty through giving customers outstanding experiences and staying on their radar to trigger repeat business. She is author of the ‘Hotel Success Handbook'.