Build a “bomb-proof” comfort zone for your customers

Posted: February 27, 2020 | Categories: Customer service, Sales

The simplest and most accurate description of selling that I have seen is to “create and keep customers”.  That sounds nice.  We just need to be careful we don’t gloss over the second part of this statement…KEEPING CUSTOMERS.  I find that this part is often overlooked.  To keep a customer we need to build a comfort zone around them that is so powerful it cannot be penetrated.

I have a comfort zone story:  In the summer of 1974, I had just moved up to the Chicago area and was looking for a barber.  My current barber was outstanding, but he was in Kansas.  I was forced out of my comfort zone.  So, Mike and I began.  He was a great barber, and I now had a new comfort zone.  He was with me through the times of my life, including the haircut he gave me to look good for my wedding in June, 1978.  We were born the same year, so hi age was perfect.

The years rolled on, and in 1989 I moved to a suburb 40 miles away from Mike’s shop.  That’s OK.  I made the drive each month to get my haircut from Mike.  Then, one day I called for an appointment, and Mike had no openings.  I needed a haircut, and I was forced out of my comfort zone.  I went to another barber locally.  Scott took care of me, and did a good job.  He wasn’t Mike, but then again, Mike wasn’t him.  31 years later, Scott is still my barber.  I never went back to Mike, but I did give him a courtesy call and thanked him for the years of service. This experience taught me a lesson:  Comfort zones are very powerful, and if we don’t create them for our customers, they can easily be snatched away.  Do you have a strategy and specific action plan for keeping your valued customers, or do you take them for granted?  Remember the old dental commercial:  “Customers are like teeth…ignore them and they will go away!”

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