Yesterday my daughter and I went for a walk at a gorgeous local park.
We stopped in at a coffee shop for a break. The coffee shop was clean, but the bathrooms were absolutely pristine. I was shocked.
I’m not saying I’d eat off the floors, but I can’t remember the last time I saw a bathroom in a public establishment this clean – let alone in a coffee shop.
There was one of those checklists on the wall where employees had to put a checkmark each time the bathroom was cleaned. Sure enough, there were checkmarks every single hour.
Now, I know your business is bigger than the local coffee shop, but there’s an important lesson to be learned here.
Do you have step-by-step procedures in place for the early life stages of a new customer or a new client? If not, you should. Checklists are a simple yet highly effective way to manage the new customer process. Restaurant franchises use checklists for everything from how to assemble a cheeseburger, or how to clean the bathroom – as in the case of this local coffee shop. When you board an airplane, your pilot runs through a preflight checklist to ensure you get to your destination safely.
Regardless of the size or scope of your business, you should have a new customer/client checklist.
Sure, it’s easier and far less stressful to just let customers come and go on their merry way, but your business will never reach its full potential if you follow this path.
If you want your business to become Evergreen, you should have (and use!) a new customer checklist for the first three months of the life of a new customer or client.
Even if they’re just using the bathroom.
Today’s Key Questions: Have you carefully thought through the new customer experience?
Do you need checklists in place for your customer-facing employees to follow each and every time?
If you want to improve the customer experience and maximize customer profitability, I can help.
