This is a guest blog post written by Andrea Hewett, Social Media Business Director
for Holt Marketing and Management Services, Inc.
Wouldn’t it be nice to know that you have unwaveringly loyal customers to your brand no matter what? Even if you messed up (and we all do at some point), they would still sing your praises! “How is this possible?” you ask. Maybe you’re laughing and saying, “That would never happen!” Well, let’s examine this further…
Many people view the public as fickle. They think that it doesn’t matter what they do, the customer is always going to go for the bigger, better, deal (as in the cheapest). While it is true that some people are wired this way; in a world of lightning speed word-of-mouth, most are embracing the fact that you get what you pay for.
In fact, so many are looking to their friends, family, and social media for the Companies who “go the extra mile” that if you lose a customer to another Company; it is more probable that your customer heard about an extraordinary service experience received from that other Company and wanted to experience that kind of commitment for themselves rather than a lower price quote.
I’m not saying that is the only reason…I don’t know what your Customer Service procedures are. In most businesses, new hires are told to be really nice to the customers and give them “x” amount if the Company is at fault or “y” amount if they aren’t. This is assuming that the new hire is a friendly people person and will have a growing allegiance to their Organization in which they will only do what’s best for said Organization. Of course, we all know what assuming does!
If you have actually completed the steps to ensure that you have hired this type of person, i.e.: background check, personality testing, and proper training in your policies and procedures, kudos to you! You are probably in the 1%! If you have done one or more of these, at least you’re on your way…read on to find out how to complete the process to guarantee that you have top-notch Customer Service. For those of you who haven’t done any of the above…visit our site on how to Turn Key Your Business before it’s too late!
What You Can Do
- Research the Causes of Errors and Re-Dos
- Develop your Buyer Persona
- Establish Clear Policies and Procedures
- Invest in Training
- Perform Personality Testing on both Current and New Employees
- Develop a Strategy
- Highlight Employees who “Get it Right”
Remember that you want your Organization to function as a team. Teams work together for the good of the team as a whole. When one of the team members does well, their teammates congratulate them. When one of the team members is doing poorly, they can drag the whole team down. Most commonly this situation results in the team member being pulled from action until they have been re-trained or had an opportunity to practice and improve. In a true team mentality, this individual prefers being re-trained rather than taking the team down with them!
So What Does Good Customer Service Look Like?
I know that in this great American melting pot, there are so many different opinions on just about any viewpoint. However, I don’t think it is difficult to figure out that good customer service is the kind that people are satisfied with. If you don’t have good customer service at the very least, you won’t be in business long. What most are looking for is Excellent Customer Service…this is the kind that breeds customers for life!
How do I Provide Excellent Customer Service to get Customers for Life?
That is the question you should be asking yourself. Of course you’ll want to start with the bullet points that I listed above under What You Can Do (feel free to contact us if you have any questions on this), then you should customize the steps to fit your Organization (we can help with that too).
Would you like to get a glimpse of what Excellent Customer Service looks like? I read this awesome article 11 of the Best Customer Service Stories Ever and these feel good stories are just in time for the holiday season. Enjoy!
What do you think? Is your customer service getting you by or is it getting you customers for life? I’m looking forward to seeing your comments below!
Great Customer Service is necessary in just about any business. Please do us, and your friends and coworkers, a favor by sharing this via social media.
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