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Welcome to the The Marketing Source e-newsletter! Our goal is to provide you with real-world marketing tips.If you have any ideas for articles, please send them along.
Don't be Caught by Scary Tales of Your Customer Service
We all have too many tales to tell of terrible service.
Our stories are like Halloween spooky stories that get
better (or more horrendous) with each retelling.
Unfortunately, too many customer service stories
are true!
In this day and age we encounter poor customer
service so often that we have come to expect it. After
all, how long has it been since you were last caught in
an endless voice mail loop unable to find a real live
person? Did you complain? What about the last time
you traveled? Were you treated well? If your last trip
was like mine, I'm guessing your answer is NO. How
long did you wait in the grocery store line? What
happened when you called your insurance company
about a claim? I know your answers, because I've
lived those experiences too!
So if we are all so frustrated by customer service, why
don't we do more to fix the service we provide to
OUR own customers? After all, it's far more expensive
to capture a new customer than to keep an old one.
And in these economic times, you can't afford to let
even one customer slip away.
The reality is that most small businesses (and big
ones too) don't go nearly far enough with service
programs. Knock-out customer service extends far
beyond immediate problem solving to changing the
system so problems don't happen again and again.
Even better, a true customer service program helps
build loyalty and customer good will that keeps your
customers coming back.
So take a time out and take a hard look at what your
company is doing on the service front.
Solve the problem
Everyone makes mistakes. And you can capture a
customer's loyalty for life by solving a problem quickly
and effectively. But that means you need a front line
that is able to actually solve a problem. Your front line
should be empowered to fix the situation at hand. Your
phone system and Website should be "complaint
friendly" too so customers have an easy way to let you
know there is a problem. And, most importantly your
system should include a check to see if the customer
is satisfied.
Push the power down the line
Your staff is in the line of fire. Don't tie their hands with
endless policies and procedures. Give them the
freedom, tools and most importantly training to fix the
problem, right there, right then. Allow your staff to
approve merchandise returns, provide gift cards (or
other goodie) to send to customers with problems or
simply connect the customer with a manager or the
customer service person who can help.
Don't stop there: fix the system
Customers can get over one mistake, but they won't
forgive you again. A recent Wall Street Journal
article, Making the Most Of Customer Complaints
advised, ". . . if a customer
experiences a second
failure of the same service, there is no recovery
strategy that can work well. In all likelihood, that
customer will be lost forever." So make sure you are
implementing a culture that allows you and your staff
to learn from mistakes. This will only happen if
information from your front line customer service
people quickly finds it way to management levels so
that necessary fixes can be immediately
institutionalized.
Collect your data
Who in your firm looks at the big picture - trends about
how often a particular problem happens? How often?
How does that information change what you do each
and every day? The answers are a gold
mine - but only if you collect them. Put some simple
reporting system in place to track complaints and
service issues, including what the problem was, what
was done about it, who handled it and how satisfied
the customer was with your resolution.
Build loyalty with rewards
Our favorite airlines give us frequent flyer miles, our
favorite supermarkets give us discount cards and our
favorite shoes stores provide frequent buyer cards. Do
you feel appreciated? Are you really loyal to the
companies providing those goodies? Too often, these
rewards just aren't much of an incentive. Think bigger,
and target your rewards to match what your customers
want. (How do you know what they want? Ask. This is
a great place for a little market research, even if it's
informal. You could learn a lot by making a few phone
calls to regular customers.) Sure, some people will
respond to straightforward economic incentives. But
you could offer points or discounts toward spa
services and other luxuries for "pleasure shoppers."
Provide exclusive benefits like private special events
or concierge type services to customers motivated by
privileges. Give access to streamlined services, like
no-wait checkout lines or shortened transactions
online, to customers who care most about efficiency.
Put on your customer hat and walk through your
company's customer service system. Take a look at
the trends of complaints and problems. Evaluate what
you are doing to reward your valuable customers.
We're betting you can find at least a few
improvements that will help keep your customers
coming back.
Still not sure about your customer service? We can
help.
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