Do you know what your customers are experiencing when they first find your business?

This summer, my wife and I decided to sign-up our twin girls for the dive team at our neighborhood pool.  This was only our second year as pool members, but our first experience in working with the dive team. 

We really did not know what to expect.

To our surprise, we found it fairly difficult to actually sign-up the girls as we had to talk to four different people to figure out what needed to be done to get them enrolled and pay for them to join.

In addition to this, there have been several unexpected pieces of information that could have easily been explained at the time we originally signed up.

While I really don't mean to pick on the dive team in this post (my girls are absolutely loving it!), this experience left a slightly bad taste in my mouth.  It is something I keep in the back of my mind.

The real problem for them is: this was my first impression of their organization.

In business first impressions are absolutely critical for building long-term customer relationships. Both overwhelmed, and underwhelmed customers are given opportunity to look for alternative product options with competitors.

Therefore, the first experience your customers have with your organization should leave them with a positive impression.

When is the last time you went through your new customer workflow in the shoes of someone who is meeting your business for the first time?

ACTION ITEM:  Experience your business as a first time customer by walking through the process yourself.