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Educating Your Customers
Nelson Mandela once said, “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” If yours is the world of business, then you already understand the value of being educated. You may even have purchased a few books to augment your education recently, thus contributing to the $3.3 billion dollars worth of business improvement books sold each year. Hopefully, your employees are also educated and regularly engaged in continuing education activities.
But what about your customers? How much time do you commit to educating them? Companies have been hesitant in the past to provide customer education initiatives for fear that a well-informed customer is a customer that is better equipped to shop around for other options, place blame when things go wrong or worst of all, use that information to compete against them.
However, recent studies indicate that the opposite is true. First, the more you educate the stronger the business and the human bond will become. Customer education, by definition, requires that service employees demystify the service process, which introduces a level of clarity and certainty that is the basis for building a trusting relationship. People like to do business with ethical people they can trust.
Second, customer education ensures that customers understand what a company is offering in terms of products and services. Education efforts require increased dialogue between service providers and customers, which enables a better understanding of customers’ needs and expectations.
Furthermore, customers who have a better understanding of a firm will be better able to express their needs in the context of the firm’s capabilities. Service firms will be more likely to match customers’ requirements with the right service products which could very likely lead to increased sales.
Building Trust Faster
The results indicate that customer education has a significant, direct, and positive effect on customer trust. In addition to helping customers use critical information, investments in customer education are likely to build further credibility with customers about the sincerity of an organization’s efforts.
Customer education should begin with information about your product or service, then your company, followed by any information about your industry that would be useful for them to know. Keep current on industry trends, developments, and forecasts. As you receive information that you think would be of benefit to your prospects and customers, pass it along to them. Remember, we are in the information age. People want and need information that will help them.
The more information you can give to your customers that you know will help them without any selling on your part, the more they will feel that you genuinely care, and have their best interest at heart.
It is with this in mind, that National Processing spends considerable time and money providing basic, helpful information about ACH processing and credit card processing on our blog. We also employ a knowledgeable, friendly sales staff and technical team to take your calls and answer any questions you have about payment processing, whether you are a beginner or seasoned veteran.
