Your Friday Lesson with Richard Branson

The First Impression is Everything. So is the Second.

The first impression you make on customers will probably be when you acquire them. The first impression is extremely important, says Richard Branson, but the second is equally as important.

The second time a customer usually contacts Virgin, it’s because he or she is having problems with the product or service. How you present yourself and your brand in these situations says a lot about how your brand maintains good customer relationships and handles obstacles.

Your Friday Lesson with Richard Branson

Build a Corporate Comfort Zone.

Employees must feel free and encouraged to openly express themselves without rigid confines so they can do better work and make good, impactful decisions.

"This may sound like a truism," begins Richard Branson, "But it has to be said: It takes an engaged, motivated and committed workforce to deliver a first-class product or service and build a successful, sustainable enterprise."

Your Friday Lesson with Richard Branson

Perfection is Unattainable.

"There's an inherent danger in letting people think that they have perfected something," says Richard Branson. "When they believe they've 'nailed it', most people tend to sit back and rest on their laurels while countless others will be labouring furiously to better their work!"

For this reason, Branson never gives anyone a 100% perfect review of their work. He believes that no matter how “brilliantly conceived” something is, there is always room for improvement.

Business Tips: Customer Delight not Satisfaction is the New Goal

Customer Delight

Satisfied customers defect at a high rate in many industries. Because satisfaction alone does not translate linearly into outcomes such as loyalty in terms of purchases, businesses must strive for 100 percent, or total customer satisfaction and even delight to achieve the kind of loyalty they desire.

Current studies attribute a higher degree of emotionality to the dissatisfaction end of the satisfaction continuum than in the past. For example, customers who have experienced service failures feel annoyed or victimised. 

Although victimisation is felt at a deeper emotional level than irritation, both can result in outrage. By focusing on more intense customer emotions, such as outrage and delight, we can understand the dynamics of customer emotions and their effect on customer behavior and loyalty.

What strategies do you use that help gratify and delight customers?

I hope you found this information on the Customer Delight helpful. Let me know how you apply this knowledge in your life and in your business.

Just one more thing before you go … I’d like to ask you to do one important thing for me – spread the word about this article.

That is all -

David