Think of the first day you turned up for a new job or the first day you did anything, even use your latest phone. You were probably really excited and keen to get started. Here at Finesse Group, we like to call that the Day One Effect.

Now it’s easy to feel really excited on day one. But your customers aren’t just there with you on Day One, but Day Five, Day 10 and Day 300. And trust us when we say there are a lot more Day 300s than there are Day Ones!

So, it’s important to think about how you can maintain that Day One feeling for yourself, your team and your customers in the long-term. This way, your clients always feel like they matter to you and your company, and that all-important consistency of service is maintained.

Here are some dos and don’ts to help you create the day one effect in your own business:

Do feel genuinely grateful for your customers.

We all know that customers can be tiring at times. But the flip side of not being able to give them your all is not having customers at all. And we all know that’s worse. At the end of the day, you want your business to be a success, and one way to ensure that is to always be grateful for each and every customer.

Do cultivate consistency in your company.

If your clients loved what your company gave them the first time they bought a product or service from you, they’re going to expect the same quality the second, third and fourth time after that. If they don’t get it, they’re going to be disappointed. To help you cultivate consistency, set standards and let your team know what’s expected from them on a daily basis. This will help cultivate Day One thinking in your team and business.

Do reflect on what goes right and what goes wrong with your team.

Things can go wrong in a business, but there’s also plenty that goes right. It’s easy to focus on the negative instead of the positive. Our tip is to regularly have a conversation with your team about what goes well to help them look back on their day with a sense of happiness. The more people are happy in a team, the more likely they are to do a good job for your customers. In turn, that’s exactly what will make your customers loyal to you.

Don’t normalise it when things go wrong.

Now it’s true that things may go wrong from time to time, but you don’t want that to become the norm. Instead, if something goes awry, be OK with having a difficult conversation with your team member/s: tell them what went wrong and pinpoint how they can do better next time. Yes, in the short term it might feel easier to just sweep something under the carpet but, in the long term, you’ll wish you’d dealt with it as soon as possible. If you do, then you can set high standards and focus on improvement.

Don’t make excuses.

There’s always going to be a very valid reason why things go wrong in a business. But don’t give excuses to your customers. Simply apologise to them, explain why the situation went wrong, and take responsibility for fixing it next time.

Don’t skimp on training.

If there’s one thing we’ve learnt from working with our customers over the years, it’s that there’s always a way that things can be done better. Having a can-do attitude and a positive approach to learning is a good thing. Question the way you do things everyday and encourage your team to learn. That way, there’s always an opportunity for them to do better.

Those are our quick tips on how to cultivate a day one mindset. We are genuinely passionate about helping businesses achieve this in their teams, so to keep receiving more tips like this, subscribe to our newsletter below!

Have a question ? Email [email protected], we’re be happy to help!