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You did something outstanding. Your customer is elated. You went above and beyond the call of duty. Now the real challenge begins. Can you consistently provide or exceed the level of service that your customers expect? And what about everyone else in your organization?
With every business contact, customers experience a level of satisfaction ranging from angry to ecstatic. The middle level , "satisfied", indicates that the customer received what he or she was expecting. Nothing more and nothing less. Satisfied customers have no reason to stop doing business with you and no compelling reason to stay.
In order to separate your company from the competition and establish long term customer relationships, simply “satisfying” customers should be considered a minimum standard. Following are some suggestions to ensure that your customers receive consistently superior service. |
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- Set Service Standards. Make sure that everyone in your organization knows what is expected. (i.e.-the expected time or procedure for handling customer telephone inquiries).
- Base Service Standards on Real Needs. Do you have a clear understanding of the customers’ needs as well as your employees understanding of those needs? Use this information as a standards for your standards.
- Don't Base Service Standards on Customer Complaints. The average business never hears from 96% of its unhappy customers. For every customer complaint, the company has 26 customer problems, 6 of which are “serious”.
- Listen for Opportunities to Satisfy Unstated Customer Needs. With every customer inquiry look for opportunities to recommend complimentary products and services to help customers reach goals.
- Develop a Partnership Between Employees and Customers. It's important for customers to feel like they have a personal representative.
- Keep a Customer Profile. Know what’s important to them and react accordingly. Always be there, but not only when it's time to sell or handle a problem.
- Ask Customers for Feedback on How To Improve. Put a process in place for generating feedback, implementing suggestions and following up on the results.
- Make it Easy for Customers to Do Business With You. Eliminate confusing industry terminology and simplify procedures.
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