Would you say that your customers are satisfied with the products and services provided by your organization?  Do you think that having satisfied customers indicates that your organization is one that provides exceptional customer service?  If so, think about what the word satisfaction really means.    When your customers are satisfied, it simply means that you have met their service and performance expectations.  It’s like earning a “C” on your report card.  Your performance is average – not worse than expected, but not better either. 

If you want to be recognized as an outstanding provider of customer service, you have to consistently exceed the expectations of your customers.  This is how your organization can build customer loyalty, which is much more important than customer satisfaction.  Satisfied customers aren’t angry or upset with you, but they still may choose to do business with your competitors.  Loyal customers, on the other hand, are those who choose to keep coming back to you, and choose not to purchase from your competitors.  Customer loyalty is based on the relationship between your organization and its customers.  

Organizations that are recognized as exceptional providers of customer service are the ones that have incorporated customer-focused behaviors into their daily operations.  You can do this at your organization.  

Customer focused behavior requires:

1. Make the Customer #1· Positive initial contact· Establish rapport· Don’t keep customers waiting.

Read More

Word of mouth advertising is the most effective marketing tool for any business. Positive word of mouth is directly proportional to your customer’s perceptions of the quality of service they receive from you and your organization. Customer service is the key to fostering positive word of mouth advertising and generating repeat and referral business.
Customer Service is important to the success of all businesses, especially those that provide services rather than products. It is a simple fact that in a service-oriented industry, you don’t manufacture anything. What you are selling is your service. It costs almost nothing to develop and maintain policies that help ensure quality service. On the other hand, not developing those policies can cost you a fortune.

The customer service your company provides is what separates you from your competition. The less your company focuses on service, the more difficult and expensive it becomes to attract business, and it becomes impossible to retain customers.

Smart service providers know that their customers are the bottom line, both literally and figuratively. Customer focused organizations never lose sight of the fact that keeping customers happy is the key to long term success.

Customer service is more than something that you put on a to-do list and check off every day. Providing exceptional service is a way of thinking, even a lifestyle. Customer service has to be woven into the philosophy with which you approach your business. Respect, fairness, and a true desire to serve the needs of your customer base should motivate everything you do and say.

Customer service means different things to different people. In reality, the only perspective that matters is the customer’s concept and perception of good customer service at the time service is needed and delivered.

Read More

Are you spending money constantly trying to attract new customers?  Realize that you could possibly be sitting on a goldmine, without spending another cent on advertising. How would you feel if you could build a one to one relationship with each and every customer to the point where they then become an advocate for your business?

It’s amazing how many companies fail to take advantage of their most important asset, their customer list.  Most small business owners are constantly searching for ways to attract new customers, when its been proven time and time again that you can make more money from your present clients than constantly looking for new business.

Here are the secrets to begin the process of retaining good customers and generating greater profits from them.

Secret #1: GET TO KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS

Small Businesses today are finding that in order to survive super discount competitors and online competition they must go back to the relationship building of the good old days.  In cities and towns of yesteryear, jewelers knew their customers by name, the type of jewelry they preferred and made certain he had it in stock.  This kind of relationship coupled with personalized customer service and a genuine empathy with customers, is what keeps them coming back to you instead of your competitors.

Secret #2: GATHER CUSTOMER INFORMATION

A database of customers is the most valuable asset your business has.  Yet only 10% of the retailers in the United States keep a current list of their customers!  Statistics show that businesses spend five times as much for new customers than they do on their present customers, yet a regular customer is worth 10 times the cost of acquiring a new customer!  Today, however, a customer list is not enough.

Read More

At a party I started chatting with a nice guy, late 20’s or so, neatly dressed, with bright, intense eyes. We talked weather, current events, the usual stuff, and then I popped the question. “So, what do you do?”

He smiled. He said he recently bought a route in his area selling cold cuts and other provisions to delicatessens and restaurants. He proudly mentioned their name. I recognized the brand. Anyone would.

So how’s business, I asked. His smile intensified. It’s terrific, he said. I’ve asked that question a few thousand times over the years, and I don’t remember anyone admitting it wasn’t. I asked what was so terrific.

“I’ve got this account up on Route 7. I was there last week. I wondered why he was carrying another brand of turkey, so I asked him. He told me that our product was more expensive than the other brand. I told him that although the price of mine was higher, our marketing people tell us most people find it tastier and as a result end up buying more of it than the other brand. On a napkin, using how much business he does with his current product, I showed him that since the margins were better selling my premium product and he would sell more of it, he would make more money. I showed him how much more, on paper. He put in an order right then and there and after a week, he’s dropped the other brand. He’s happy, and I am too, since he is ordering more from me.”

I asked where he learned how to do this. He described the many weeks of intensive training he received - products, marketing, customer service, accounting, and sales. Apparently the company has very high standards not only for the quality of the products they provide, but also for the route owners/drivers themselves. I learned it’s not enough just to come up with a wheelbarrow full of money to buy a route.

Read More

You have to be able to sell something to someone if you are in business. Most people do not have the perfect product or service that sells itself. A business needs customers and clients to like it. Learning to be nice is an essential skill for any business.

It is, therefore, amazing that so many businesses don’t know how to be nice or whether or not their customers like them. Relationship management is all about learning what your customers like and delivering on it.

Large corporations can spend hundreds of thousands on integrated computerised relationship management systems, but often neglect to think about the actual human interactions between customers and staff.

My first ever job was in a suit hire business over the school summer holidays. Summer was the wedding season and my job was to fit suits to new grooms and best men. My boss could look at someone as they came in and pick a suit that fitted perfectly. I had to ask what size they needed. Typically, a man would say he had a 36 inch waist. It used to take three sets of trousers before he finally, grumpily, admitted that he needed a 42 inch waste. By the end of the summer, I too had stopped asking the customer what size they thought they were and just gave out the right sized suits.

Customers are not always right, but good service is.

The value of having good relationships is your reputation. Reputation is a more valuable commodity than people think. It is not just famous people who have reputations – everyone has one.

By far the best advertising is when someone says how good a company you are. People invest thousands in advertising and very little in relationships. I pay far more attention when someone I know says they have a good dentist, or a lawyer who does not charge you twice if their answering machine takes a message and they call you back, than any sort of advertising.

Read More

Much research has been done on what the makes a winning customer experience. What is it that makes customers come back to your business instead of going to someone else’s? If your repeat business is low, what is it that you are doing to drive your customers away? There is a consistent theme that emerges across the research - winning customer experiences are built on consistency. Michael Gerber in his book “The E-Myth Revisited” calls this orchestration. “Orchestration is the glue that holds you fast to your customers’ perceptions”.

This may seem a glib response to a complex issue, but take a moment to consider it from the customer’s viewpoint. When dealing with a business for the first time, the customer probably has no set expectations on what the experience will be like. With your first interaction, you set the standard in the customer’s mind. If you set a positive standard, the customer will likely return. The next time they do, the customer will expect the same from you. Fail to deliver, and ultimately you will lose that customer.

So if consistency is the key, how should a business go about ensuring the consistent experience for the customer? First, start with the end state that you want to create. What experience do you want your customers to have (cheerful, professional or very fast service, friendly, feel valued etc). With this in mind, think about all the ways that your customers interact with your business. Your business may have many touchpoints - telephone, face to face (single or multiple sites), email, web-site, snail mail and so on. Your business needs to be predictable at each touch point, and predictably the same. The customer notices when they get one experience by walking into your shop, and a different experience when they speak to you on the phone.

Read More

For many of us - especially those in service businesses - our existing and previous customers are vital for three reasons:

1. They have already bought from us, so providing they had a good experience, they might buy from us again. We also know that getting a new customer is much more expensive than selling to an existing customer, so by continuing to sell to them, we are really saving ourselves some money.

2. They can give us invaluable feedback on how we did. Was our service good enough? Did we delight them or were we ‘just ok’. Did our product meet their expectations? Was it good value for money? And so on.

3. They continue to save us money because they should be our major source of referrals and new business. So through them, we get access to new clients who already know about us and have a positive opinion of what we do.

Most clients I meet are not leveraging their existing customer database, and by not doing so, are losing out on a cost effective source of potential new business. Many receive referrals - for which they are grateful - but it’s not because they actively sought the referral, or had a strategy in place to ask for it.

Here are 8 ways to maximize the value from your most valuable asset:

Delight your Clients

Anyone with half a brain can satisfy a customer. But only when you continually delight customers will they keep coming back. You should aim to exceed your customers expectations on every interaction that they have with you. Do this consistently, and you will have a customer for life.

For example, you think your loyal client could benefit from reading a section of your ebook or an article you’ve written? Surprise them and make it a gift. Sure, you could say, “I’ll give you a fifty percent discount.” Forego the money.

Read More

This year, number of Web sites will grow at an unbelievable rate of 1,000 percent.

The strength of a Web presence is that any organization can look as good or as bad as any other firm on the Web.

Getting on the Web with a home page is a no-brainer.

Getting the most from the Web’s global reach takes a lot of gray matter.

Most Web home pages are developed, controlled and managed by marketing, because “they have the budget”. But the team needs to involve IS, marketing, engineering, advertising, public relations, engineering and customer service.

IS needs to be involved because they are ultimately responsible for protecting the organization’s most critical resource, computerized data.

Before you commit to a home page design, surf the Net and Web. Visit large and small, complex and simple Web sites. Study their strengths and weaknesses.

Determine how to make yours an effective and profitable Web site.

Advertising and marketing materials are usually the first items put on the home page because the Web is often viewed as a new promotional media.

Unfortunately, most organizations stop here; but they’ve really only scratched the surface.

The Web site is an excellent place for marketing and product research. An integral part of your home page should be an evaluation/feedback section. Get input on how you can expand/improve the information presented to help the “reader.”

The Web site can be an open forum for new product ideas and product enhancements as well as a repository for input on products/services customers would like to see.

Your Web site can be an excellent tool for providing timely and cost-effective customer service and customer support.

Read More