We ask a lot of our employees – be knowledgeable about the products, provide outstanding customer services and sell, sell, sell the product! But did you know there is another important task that we need to have them do? Yes, we need to start educating the customers on the products and services.
Education is not the same as marketing, and when you educate your customers, they feel empowered to make greater decisions. Customer education happens when you present the facts. According to the article by Customer Think, when you educate your customers, you “equip customers with the knowledge & skills needed to make the most out of your product or services.”
So, how is that different from marketing? With education, you are only presenting them the facts to help them solve their problems or meet their goals. With marketing, you are getting emotionally involved and persuading them to purchase a product or service through elaborating on features and benefits of the product or service.
Although marketing is key to making the sale, let’s explore the three key benefits to providing customer education.
- Build Customer Trust. Any time you provide information and take time to present that information, you are communicating with your customers. Communication builds trust and trust builds loyalty. According to the Customer Think article, people will trust a business that has presented several solutions to their challenge; not just tried to sell them one product that will do the job.
- Reduce Complaints. When the initial trust is built between the customer and the business, the number of complaints will decrease. Furthermore, when the customer is fully educated about a product or process, he or she can do some of his or her own troubleshooting, which will free up your support staff’s time.
- Enhance Customer Loyalty. The customer trusts the business because the business took time to provide information. The customer understands the benefits and challenges of the products and how they will help achieve goals. Because of the trust established, the customer will usually remain loyal to the brand or the business.
Now that you’ve learned why you should educate your customers; how will you accomplish it? You are probably already doing several things to provide information but remember to think about the basics when it comes to providing information.
There are several avenues you can use to deliver information to your customers such as producer meetings, in-store meetings, on-farm visits and via social media channels. Use these outlets to provide the most current information about the products. To stay relevant and current on product information, be sure to take advantage of the resources BioZyme ® provides like Master Dealer Training, Dealer Retreat, Online Dealer Center and other communication tools.
Informed customers make informed choices, have trust in a product and company and become loyal customers. Yes, your plate is full, but the time you spend educating your customers will just help you grow your business even more.
Resource used in this article: http://customerthink.com/educating-your-customers-the-benefits-how-to-achieve-it/