Why getting the basics right is so important

Snazzy product launches and gimmicks are no substitute for a great product or service.

Getting the basics right

When our customers buy from us, they expect great products and services. At the very least, they expect us to deliver on all the promises we made in our marketing. They will hope for more than that, of course. Keeping a promise really is no more than the baseline. It’s the start point. It’s not the destination. It’s just providing the basics!

It’s what we add to that experience, which turns customers into super-satisfied customers and passionate advocates.

Here’s what doesn’t work

What doesn’t work, is an average product or service wrapped up in lots of hoopla.

As customers, we don’t care if a company has a zany, media friendly image, if they fail to look after us – fail to get the basics right. It doesn’t matter to us that they have a snazzy looking website, if they fail to reply to our emails.

We want the basics. Simple things:

• We want them to pick the phone up when we call.
• We want them to take ownership of problems they create and resolve them – not waffle.
• We want them to listen to us, so they get our order right.
• We want them to deliver on time and on budget.
• We want them to care about us after the sale, not just during the sales process.

Unsexy

Getting the basics right may sound less exciting than dazzling people with ‘the sizzle’. However, those basics form the foundation of our business. We ignore them at our peril.