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If you’re involved in a competitive industry, (you have one or more competitors) your service responsiveness may be costing you more than you think. Some say, you can't quantify the impact of service. In fact, you can't afford not to. The average business never hears from 96% of its dissatisfied customers. Instead, customers seek silent revenge by turning to a competitor. What's worse, it doesn't take much for customers to seek help elsewhere. We've all experienced less than adequte responsiveness at one time or another that may cause us to leap from loyalty-a clerk who is on the phone and fails to acknowledge your presence, a representative who is more interseted in selling you the flavor of the month rather than what you need. |
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Here are some guidelines to ensure that your customers always experience a responsive service environment:
- Acknowledge customers-even if you can't get to that customer right away. You may say, “I'll be with you just as soon as I can.” If you are on a business call, motion to the customer indicating one moment. If you're on a personal call-Get off!
- Set wait times-If your customers have to wait, let them know how long it will be. Studies show that customers don't mind waiting if they are given a choice.
- Set deadlines-and always meet them or exceed them. Customers always approach buying situations with deadlines in mind. Find our what their timeframe is. Give customers periodic updates.
- Answer the customers' need, not just their question. Ask the customer what their need for the product or service is. Then make appropriate recommendations based on their needs. Don't recommend what you think they need or what happens to be popular with other customers.
- Anticipate future needs-Keep a profile on repeat customers. Learn about their current and future business needs. Use this information to contact customers at the appropriate time.
- Get feedback-Upon each contact, ask each customer to comment on their experience. Capture the feedback and use it to improve.
- Be flexible-Allow service representatives to be flexible in the service that you provide to your customers. Service is not based on corporate policy. It is based on individual customer perceptions. Hold meetings with your service staff to share examples of when rules were bent to satisfy customer requirements. Reward positive examples and modify those that may have been handled better.
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