Your Business Can Be as Good as Amazon

foreign
here customer service and experience
expert and today I'm going to talk about
comparing businesses to Amazon so for a
number of years I preach that our
customers no longer compare us to a
direct competitor but instead to the
brands they enjoy doing business with
the most in other words the ones that
provide the best customer service and
experience and many of my customer
service and customer experience keynote
speeches I'll ask the audience to shout
out the companies they love doing
business with and without fail someone
actually usually many people mention
Amazon now Amazon has educated its
customer on what a great experience
looks like they've met and exceeded
consumer expectations and now consumers
and customers want hope and expect that
every company they do business with will
be as good as Amazon now I don't care if
you're B2B or b2c everyone you do
business with is a consumer at some
level even if you're selling a big
machine to a factory there are still
expectations that are shaped by retail
experiences from customer focused
companies like Amazon now in the past I
refer to this as the Amazon nation of
the world so for this short video here
are three ways Amazon sets a high bar
that customers love and expect from you
number one super fast delivery now
sometimes Amazon delivers in one or two
hours not just one or two days as you're
watching how long it waits to receive
your order you might be thinking why
can't every company deliver that fast as
fast as Amazon well most of us realize
that Amazon has built its own shipping
and distribution system still they are
setting a high bar how fast do you
deliver whatever it is that you sell how
fast do you return calls or do anything
else that might get the customer to say
you're fast number two free shipping and
or delivery now you might say Amazon
provides free shipping which might lead
you to ask why do I have to pay a
shipping fee from other companies I do
business with well actually Amazon
doesn't provide free shipping to get
what appears to be free shipping from
them you have to pay 139 dollars for an
annual Prime Membership so free is not
really free so for some companies what
appears to be free is actually built
into the price or in Amazon cases a
membership fee but it's really not about
anything being free it's about perceived
value so what are you offering that
makes customers feel they receive value
whether it's free or not
and number three a sense of control
whether customers refer to this as a
feeling of control or something else
most people feel confident about their
Amazon transactions I refer to it as
having a sense of control even if you
aren't however their frequent email
Communications give you confidence that
the order has gone through that it's out
for delivery with tracking information
that's available if you want it and
finally when it's arrived this is an
easy one to emulate just set up
automated systems to inform customers of
the progress of whatever it is that
they're buying from you now you can wrap
these three ideas into the concept of
creating confidence customers can
predict their Amazon experience with
almost 100
accuracy the consistency of them getting
it right they're fast service the value
in the Prime Membership which gets you
free shipping and frequent communication
updates fuels the that confidence and
confidence turns into trust which can
turn into repeat business and even
customer loyalty and that's what Amazon
has mastered and it's something you and
your organization can do as well well I
hope you enjoyed this short lesson thank
you very much for tuning in this is Shep
hyken reminding you to always be amazing