Customer Service is the Front Line of Marketing
"Thank you for calling. All our customer service representatives
are currently busy assisting other customers. Your call is
important to us and will be answered in the order received.
Your approximate wait will be 90 minutes." This actual
recording from the customer service department of a major
company, took place a couple of weeks ago. Sadly, it is all
too typical of the state of customer service today. Many companies
say your business is important to them, but when it comes
to customer service, actions speak louder than words.
Customer service is the front line of marketing and can be
very important to the success of your overall marketing effort.
It can make or break your business. If you're not handling
your customers properly you could be wasting your marketing
budget. Kim Cooper, a sales performance coach and president
of American Sales College in Spokane says that excellent customer
service can be one of the most important marketing tools available
to you. "Satisfied customers will generate a positive
word of mouth that can't be bought, " Cooper says. "The
retail scene is littered with the carcasses of companies who
advertised great customer service, but failed to deliver the
goods. Some notable examples are Ernst, Pay n Pak and most
recently, HomeBase. The smaller retail company has an advantage
in the arena of service due to their smaller and therefore
more manageable staffs. The business person who leads by example,
can train their staff members to provide excellent service,"
Cooper said.
The bottom line of good customer service is simple. Remember
the Golden Rule:
Treat others the way you would expect to be treated. You
don't like to be ignored when you go into a store; neither
do your customers. Cooper says that excellent customer service
goes beyond serving customers. "Customers evaluate a
business based on the quality of the entire transaction, from
the time they arrive in the parking lot, until they leave.
What happens between these events is in your complete control.
Statistically, 68% of lost customers, go somewhere else due
to a feeling they have been treated with indifference by an
employee, manager or owner of a business. This can be remedied
through training your employees in customer service, and the
example you set can lead the way," Cooper said.
Another customer service trainer, Mary Kae Repp, of Genesis
Marketing says that your attitude is the first key to customer
satisfaction. "Your attitude towards customers affects
your employees and co-workers. Attitudes are contagious, whether
they're good or bad. If you set a positive example, and then
impress upon your employees that customer service is vital
to the success of the business, your employees will follow.
But, if on the other hand, you treat your customers with indifference
or as an interruption, your employees will follow your lead
as well," she said. The attitude starts to work one way
or the other the moment a customer walks in the door. Repp
says that in the first seven seconds of contact, a customer
forms eleven impressions about you and your organization.
"Then they make one of three decisions: They will like
you, dislike you, or be indifferent. If the feeling is dislike
or indifference, you've lost a customer, so make that first
seven seconds count," Repp said.
The payoff of great customer service is more than long-term
success for your business; it's a matter of survival. When
you consider that a satisfied customer will tell an average
of four persons about their experience with your business,
where a dissatisfied customer will tell a dozen, it's easy
to see the importance of customer satisfaction. Look at an
average cash register total of a once-a-month customer where
the average sale is $25. Let's assume that your customer is
40 years of age. With a current average life expectancy of
74 years, that means the potential of this customer is 34
years. 34 X 12 months X $25 = $10,200 Lifetime Buying Power.
On the other hand, an unhappy customer will recommend to an
average of twelve co-workers, relatives and friends that they
not shop your business unless they want to be dissatisfied.
12 X $10,200 = $122,400 in potential lost business. That's
from just one dissatisfied customer! The point is, businesses
cannot afford to provide inferior customer service.
Here are some steps you can take to make sure your business
is a customer service success story: First, have a great attitude
when it comes to serving your customers. They are not interruptions;
they are the life blood of your business. Then train your
employees to have that same, high performance attitude. Teach
them the importance of great customer service. Encourage employees
to make the first seven seconds of customer contact positive.
Treat customers like guests; make them feel welcome and be
helpful. Again, remember the Golden Rule and ask yourself
"How would I like to be treated if I were shopping here?"
Don't waste their time, but take the time during the transaction
to treat the customer as an individual who is very important
to your business. Be sure to thank them for shopping with
you and invite them to come back again...this seems so simple,
but look at all the times it doesn't happen!
Good customer service isn't always doing things perfectly.
Things happen, problems arise, sometimes you're going to blow
it. Then, good customer service is how well you solve the
problem. During a recent change of banks the check order for
both personal and business accounts was incorrect. This inconvenience
was overshadowed by the way the bank worked to correct the
situation. And, their gracious, high-performance attitude
turned a potentially bad customer service situation into a
good one. Make sure you handle problems that occur quickly,
professionally and as much as possible to the benefit of the
customer.
Adding a strong customer service aspect to the overall marketing
plan for your business will do more than help you grow and
prosper...it will help insure that you are able to stay in
business.
8/30/01
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