Have you ever wondered how things would change, if every company you dealt with, treated you as if you were the husband or wife, parent or child, of it’s owner?
Most companies genuinely try hard to make the customer experience as good as possible, but many set their gold standard for service, too low. This is because they allow the typical customer experience within their industry or profession to determine what counts as either good or average.
However, by treating all customers and prospective customers as if they were the bosses nearest and dearest, a company will find itself cranking the customer service up to a new level!
Word of mouth
As I have said many, many times before, if you want to get people talking about you and spreading all that valuable word of mouth publicity about you, you need to be remarkable (or remark-able). One of the finest ways to get people talking about you, is via industry leading attention to customer service excellence.
I was prompted to write this post, after speaking with the chairman of one of the UK’s biggest retail companies yesterday afternoon. He told me about the way his wife had been treated, when she and a friend were visiting one of his high street stores. Apparently, they had to wait an age to get served and when they were served, the service was pretty average.
When they were paying for their purchase, the store manager recognised the chairman’s wife and went over to introduce himself to her. He asked what she thought of the service, so she explained it had been worse than she expected. At this point, the store manager said;
“I’m sorry. The shop assistant clearly had no idea who you were!”
The chairman’s wife (a former marketing director of the company) replied;
“surely the default position should be that EVERYONE who enters the store, is given the best quality of service possible?”
The marketing power of great customer service
I believe there’s an opportunity right now, to blaze a trail in your niche, by working hard to massively exceed the expectations of your marketplace. I believe that by reviewing every step of your business, which is visible in any way to your clients or prospective clients, and looking for ways to dramatically improve the service you render in that area, that you can massively increase the amount of referred business you attract.
You can also improve your attrition rate (how long someone remains a client or customer), improve morale within your company and gain a bulletproof reputation for excellence.
What do you think?
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Hi Jim. Could not agree more. Customer service is the be all and end all of business success. If we don’t deliver an equal service to all of our customers, we may as well not bother!
What’s interesting is the very small things that can make a difference. Where would you rather shop, (all other things being equal), in the place that greets you with a smile and gives the impression they actually care about you or the place where the impression is “we don’t care about you, go away, you are disturbing me”. It’s a total no-brainer and yet businesses continually mess it up!
Ryanair might get away with it – the rest of us won’t!
.-= Barney Austen´s last blog ..MyProjectTracker – We’re Open! =-.
Jim,
It is very easy to fall into the trap of mediocrity. Many a business has gone there by setting their gold standard to the average. This post ave me pause to reflect on my our endevours and how I can improve. Thank you for the inspiration.
Gregg
.-= Gregg Zban´s last blog ..The Invasion of the RE: Email Subject Line =-.
Hi Jim
I love reading your thoughts and commitment –
I think you will find the following interesting and with exactly the same vision in mind. It is a post from the co-founder and CEO of Toa Technologies, Yuval Brisker, who, um , happens to be my brother. Enjoy!
http://toatech.com/blog/custexperience/making-your-field-workforce-more-efficient-and-increasing-customer-loyalty-my-talk-at-mobile-10/
Hi Jim
Now I am not a great shopping aficionado – no, I leave that to my 3 daughters who can shop for England, Wales, Scotland .. and frankly the entire world (I have now resorted to sitting down in some shops to register my protest, particularly when we have been in the shop already!).
My take on this is slightly different. In short “You reap what you sow”.
Why should anyone be surprised that no one cares less about the customer experience when we have got used to paying rock bottom prices in return for the usual I couldn’t care less attitude; in other words you pay for what you get. There is just so little engagement and you only need to look at the age profile of a lot of people to work out that most people are not in it for the long term + you have to want to serve. I remember the days of McDonalds when they launches the star system – 5 stars was a gold standard and 1 star meant you were just starting out but at least it fostered some engagement, mastery and a sense of purpose. I think more businesses should look at John Lewis as a model and ask themselves the question as to whether if they truly engaged with their staff, paid them a decent wage and treated them decently that that might not translate to the bottom line in increased £, lower turnover of staff and greater and more heightened awareness of customer service. They need to put the concept of giving at the heart of their business model and stop the incessant drive for profit or what they can get out of the customer. As to the banks, let’s not get started on that one as we will be here a very long time and it has been done to death.
Best wishes
Julian
.-= Julian Summerhayes´s last blog ..Living for the moment =-.
Jim,
This is timely. I was just talking to some good friends about this very topic. We are reaching a point in which sub-par products and services will no longer be tolerated. The social aspect of online communities will certainly hasten the death of companies that are not willing to apply the “golden rule” to their businesses and treat customers how they would like to be treated. On the flip-side, companies that can consistently execute with exceptional products and services will benefit from an abundance of “free” viral and word-of-mouth marketing.
-Dave
Jim,
It does seem to be a realistic goal to set for any person or organisation to always provide a high, consistently good service regardless of who is buying or how much they are buying.
My brother recently arrived at Heathrow from America to encounter some transport related problems and needless to say was quite shocked by the attitudes displayed by two different people in the space of 5 minutes – I’ve even expanded upon it on my latest blog post – linked to this comment. But a similar thought process to what you have mentioned in your post.
.-= Ian J Powell | Telemarketing Tips´s last blog ..Welcome to London – “Have a nice day!” =-.
To me, real excellence in customer service is doing something above and beyond what is expected. It doesn’t have to be anything huge, the smallest of gestures generates so much goodwill. As an example, last year a client of ours fell and broke her leg. The team sent a get well soon card. She called the office to thank us and has since recommended us to 3 new clients. All because of a £1.99 card!(although we’d like to think it was because of the excellent tax advice we gave her!)
Great service is provided by those who love what they do.. SIMPLE!
Norman Flecha
Straight Talk
.-= STRAIGHTALK´s last blog ..Effectuation: How Entrepreneurship Really Works by : Dave Troy: Fueled By Randomness =-.
A successful and lasting business usually stems from a truly excellent customer relations and delivery! Thanks for such an inspiring post!
.-= Social Tool´s last blog ..Keyword Reports 1-2-3 =-.
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