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Welcome to the The Marketing Source e-newsletter! Our goal is to
provide you with real-world marketing tips that you can put right to
work in your organization or business. If you have any ideas for articles,
please send them along.
What's so Hard about Great Customer Service?
There is nothing worse for your company's image, brand and business
than a dissatisfied customer griping about the bad service they received.
And nothing better than great service for building loyalty and keeping
your customers coming back. Marketing wisdom has it that every satisfied
customer tells one person, and every dissatisfied customer tells ten.
It's also a lot less expensive to keep a customer than to go get a new
customer.
So why is there so much bad service out there? Simple. It's one thing
to know what great service is, it's another thing entirely to consistently
wow your customers in the day-to- day frenzy of business. Break it down
into these three steps, and you'll be on your way.
Listen
This may sound easy, but it is something often foolishly ignored. Successful
organizations listen to what customers want, need and like or dislike.
Take Enterprise Rent-A- Car. In 2003, Enterprise began a new approach
to customer surveys. They asked two questions after customers completed
their car rental transaction: "Were you happy with your experience?" and "Would
you rent from Enterprise again?" The brevity of the survey allowed
Enterprise to quickly analyze the data and get the results to each of
its branches within days. Enterprise continues this strategy today. Every
month they survey customers from all of their 6,500 offices. Every single
month! The company focuses on what it calls "completely satisfied
customers," who are at least three times more likely to return.
And they share the survey results with their employees, so each branch
can take the steps needed to make the customers completely satisfied.
And these customers not only return to Enterprise, they tell their friends
about their rental experience.
Enterprise uses a professional survey firm, but there are plenty of other
ways to learn what your customers are thinking. Focus groups, on-the-spot
surveys you hand out or send to customers, follow up calls to ask your
customers what they think. Find a way to listen, and you'll have a road
map to what services, products and experiences will bring your customers
back for more.
Deliver
Deliver what you promise. Focus your marketing on what you can do for
your customers, then make sure you do it. Make sure you have the staff,
products, time and resources to deliver on what you say you will do.
Every time you meet a customer's expectation, you give them one less
reason to try someone else's product or service. Exceed their expectations,
and you give them even more reason to come back.
Lands' End, the clothing company, has it down to a science. Its entire
operation is centered around delivering service that makes customers
want to come back. Their "Guaranteed. Period." policy allows
customers to return items at any time, for any reason, for a full refund
or a replacement. Every email (200,000 per year) gets a personal response,
most within three hours. Real live specialty shoppers are available until
midnight every day to answer just about any question on clothes, sizes
and how items fit. Their "Lost Mitten Club" allows frustrated
parents to buy a single mitten at half the price of a pair - and offers
free shipping.
But you don't have to be perfect. Sometimes mistakes give you the chance
to really deliver. A friend returned her broken Ipod to the Apple store.
No questions asked, they gave her a new one, and upgraded the size. Even
though she had a faulty product, is she happy with Apple? You bet.
Crocs, maker of the popular shoes, makes sure their customer's problems
get solved. When a customer reported that the strap on his Crocs broke,
the company sent the pieces to repair the broken strap at no charge,
which you might expect. But then they threw in a gift certificate for
a new pair of shoes. Wow!
On the flip side, some companies compound a mistake by not stepping up.
We recently brought a trusted vendor to a client. After an outstanding
initial meeting that impressed the client, the vendor promised to quickly
provide a detailed estimate. In short order, the vendor postponed a scheduled
follow up call at the last minute, missed the promised deadline for delivering
the estimate and subsequently sent an incomplete estimate. We were unhappy
and embarrassed. The client just quietly said, "I don't think they
want my business." The vendor apologized and offered to complete
the estimate, but it was too little, too late. The experience will stick
in our minds - and keep us from calling that vendor in the future.
Communicate
Your relationship with your customers shouldn't end when the sale is
made or the project is completed. If you want to keep your customers
and encourage them tell their friends about you, stay in touch.
Thanks to technology, communicating gets easier all the time. Whether
it's former customers or new ones, a few simple steps you can show customers
you care:
- Send e-mail reminders or postcards of the time and place of their
next appointment, your next big sale or a special event
- Include birthdays or anniversaries in your database so you can
send customers a card, gift certificate or discount
- Ask your customers the best way to contact them (mail, phone, e-mail)
- Use e-newsletters or blogs to keep customers current on the services
you provide and share information that makes you an expert resource
- Keep track of customer purchases and use sales history to send
new offers or to discounts on products they like
- Use your database to keep track of when a membership, policy or
mortgage will end, and then approach your customer about a renewal
before they look elsewhere
Now it's your turn. Take a hard look at how well you know your customers
and meet their expectations. Investing a little time and money in service
can keep your customers coming back for more - and giving your company
rave reviews.
Are you listening?
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