What is your customer experience? Simple question we have recently asked of our clients, but the answer has not come so simply. In fact, very few have really had an answer at all. And here’s the real kicker…
In our 2015 Equipment Finance survey, 61% of obligors would not readily return to their most recent provider.
Let’s marinate on this for a minute. When an additional equipment finance need arises, only 4ish out of 10 WOULD eagerly jump to calling the financier they just closed a deal with. Batting 400 gets you in the baseball hall of fame, but in the equipment finance…it’s indicative of a merry-go-round of transactional activity and export of profits you’d rather have in your pocket. So, again, what is your customer experience?
Most people believe their customer experience is “good”. Some even say “exceptional”. Some can put flowery marketing language around it—“our customers come first”. Let me rephrase: what ACTUALLY is it? Meaning…write it down. Try putting 3 of your top people through this simple written exercise about the customer experience:
- How do they hear about us?
- What do we tell them?
- What gets them interested in us?
- How do we follow up on their interest?
- How do we learn about them?
- How do we create solutions?
- How do we present them?
- How do we underwrite and negotiate?
- How do we gain commitment?
- How do we document the transaction(s)?
- How do we fund?
- Do we follow up? Post transaction? Throughout the term? End of Term?
- Are we flexible when business changes happen?
- Are we easy to reach for account management issues?
- How does end of term work?
Now compare and contrast the responses. Is it consistent? Does it feel right? For half of you…you really do have a good customer experience. You just have never taken the time to articulate what it is. And that’s a shame. It just might be one of your largest value added differentiators in the market. Maybe even something you can sell up front to make a prospect feel more comfortable with moving forward. For the other half of you…you’ve got some work to do. The exercise has identified inconsistencies, questions and some opportunities to handle simple things better.
Whichever camp you’re in, this exercise is a simple one that if done right might just keep ‘em coming back for more. And one thing is for sure, if you are not thinking about the customer experience, where are your 6 out of 10 customers going…if not back to you? If you ever wanna chat…give us a holler.