You’ve got
your branding spot on. You even have a style guide. You’ve got all the
employees you need. Your premises look great. Your website is sparkling. You’re
proud to be eco-friendly and sustainable, not a plastic straw in sight. You
have leads and appointments. You have a sales pipeline. You aren’t worried
about cash flow. Yet. You have it all down pat.
What could
possibly go wrong?
Have you
seen bad press for companies that give poor customer service? How you treat
your customers, even just one customer, can have a good or bad effect on your
company.
Customer
service is about every element of the purchase experience with your company,
from the initial research to after-care support. If you have a small business,
you’re more likely to be aware of how your customers are treated. If you are at
the top of a large company, this isn’t possible. How do you know how your
customers are being treated?
The main
reason why a customer leaves or doesn’t buy from you again is because they feel
you don’t care about them.
How can you
show them you care? It’s simple. Provide excellent customer service and be
authentic from the top down in your desire to give your customers an excellent
experience from start to end, which then becomes the start again –
there’s nothing better for the business heart and for the business pocket than
repeat customers.
From the person
on Reception who chooses whether to acknowledge the customer who has just
walked in or carries on talking to their colleague (BAD), to the car dealership which
sends you a personalised video every fortnight to let you know how your new car
is being built thereby keeping you in the loop (GOOD), it’s a choice each business owner must make.
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| Show your customers you care |
Do you have “We
provide excellent customer service” somewhere on your website, in your mission,
vision or values? Do you really mean it or is it something you thought you had to put on there?
There are
thousands of negative customer service stories on the web but relatively very
few positive ones. People tell many more people when they have a bad experience
than when they have a good one, and word of mouth counts. I am the sort of person
who takes to Twitter immediately I have dreadful customer service because it’s
absolutely not necessary and the offending companies need to be outed.
Here are
five ways in which you can offer excellent customer service for your customers:
1. Call back or respond as quickly as
possible
Doesn’t it
make your blood boil when someone promises to call you back and they don’t? In
my experience, I always expect the worse then I can be pleasantly surprised
when it does happen. I make bets. I’m not often wrong. And isn't it nearly always the mobile phone and utility companies?!
Rather than
an empty promise to call back, if you can’t do so with the information needed,
then call back anyway and say it’ll take longer. It’s amazing how much this
will alleviate stress on behalf of the customer, and it’ll give you extra
brownie points in the long run.
With the
thousands of emails we all receive, find a way of prioritising the important
ones and exercise good time management to get back to the others within a
reasonable period, say within two working days. A footer added to your
corporate signature explaining this customer service promise will make people aware. It’s good PR.
Ditch those
hated automated phone systems. Last week I was holding on for over ten minutes
while the message cut in every minute to tell me my call was important to the
company. It clearly wasn’t important to the company because if it was, they
would have a better way in which to answer their phones. And I don’t mean
outsourcing to overseas call centres who can only deal with customer enquiries
via scripts. It’s not the customer service assistants fault, it’s the fault of
the company which isn’t equipping people well enough to be able to offer
excellent customer service.
2. Know your
customers inside and out
Great
interactions begin with knowing your customers’ wants and needs; what makes
them buy; what mood they’re in when they buy; what time of day they buy; and
what is it that prompts them to buy from you.
If your
business is small enough, get to know your customers, remember their names and
previous conversations. If you have a larger business, use an effective CRM
system so that when someone calls your company, the person answering the
phone can see the last contact with the customer and effectively deal with the
query or update them on the previous issue.
3. Be
prepared to do something to rectify a problem
One of the
best ways to damage your reputation is by not taking responsibility if you get
something wrong. And even if you don’t think it was your fault, weigh up the
cost of putting it right anyway to avoid a disgruntled customer.
Consider
these scenarios:
You buy a
relatively cheap bunch of flowers for home from a low-price supermarket. You’ve used the
store a fair number of times and you’ve been happy with the quality of the
goods. You’ve purchased similar flowers and they’ve always been
fine. You’ve never had to complain before. You’re a good advocate of the brand.
On this occasion, the flowers died more or less overnight. You couldn’t get
back to the store because you were busy and it took several days before you
visited. The customer service assistant was arrogant, rude and tried to make you feel
small. You complained to the manager who was no better. Is the very small cost
of refunding a cheap bunch of flowers worth the rather large cost of the many
people you will tell about your experience?
On the other
hand, mentioning this to a friend who works for a higher-end supermarket, she
said their policy is to immediately refund or replace regardless. Now consider
which store you’ll visit in future.
There is a
direct correlation to the bottom-line profits of those who offer excellent
customer service.
4. Aim for
excellent and achieve it
Going above
and beyond will not only result in repeat business and happy customers, it will
have a positive effect on your reputation, arguably your most important asset.
Make sure everyone in your business, whether it’s one employee or thousands, offers
the same level of customer service. Regularly do mystery shopping to check. Make it a part of your business culture and get buy-in from everyone from the CEO to the delivery driver. Have consequences if someone lapses and find out why. Maybe there's something you can do to put it right. Always investigate and report back to the customer.
5. A
customer is for life not just for Christmas
Think long-term
and keep your customers happy, and they will be loyal. Customer retention is so
important. It costs much more to locate and convert new leads than it does to
retain and satisfy existing customers. It’s a no-brainer.
6. Buy five
and get one free!
If your
brand is known for excellent customer service always, then there is an argument
that says you’ll be able to charge a little more for the privilege or if not
that, then customers will buy more from you thereby increasing revenue.
Either
way, it makes sense. Can you afford to get it wrong?
Chimera
Communications can help you identify what’s going right and what could go wrong
in your organisation. We can work with you to get your internal and external
communications right. And we can show you how to make your customer service excellent.
Contact us now for an initial chat on info@chimeracomms.co.uk or 01903
812275.
