Why Customers Quit
Once your customer service culture is established, your clear purpose is to deliver that superior customer service. The challenge then becomes how to do it consistently over time.
Let's begin by looking at some staggering statistics that reinforce the importance of consistent customer service. In Michael LeBoeuf's book, "How To Win Customers and Keep Them For Life", he highlights a survey on why customers quit doing business with a company. The survey revealed that...
1% die;
3% move away;
5% develop other friendships;
9% leave for competitive reasons;
14% are dissatisfied with product; and...
68% quit because of an attitude of indifference toward the customer by the owner, manager, or some employee
WOW! 68% stop doing business because they "feel" the company does not value them as a customer. Inexcusable? Yes! Avoidable? Yes! LeBoeuf goes on to point out that a typical business hears from only 4% of its dissatisfied customers. The other 96% just go quietly away and 91% of those customers will never come back. It is human nature for most people to avoid adversarial situations and since they have a choice, they begin doing business with your competitor without your knowledge. By the time you find out it's probably too late to win them back. When you consider that is takes five times the effort to obtain a new customer as to retain the one you have, it makes good business sense and economic "cents" to deliver superior customer service consistently and retain the customers you worked so hard to obtain.
Maximize Your Assets
Customer "loyalty" is fragile in this highly competitive marketplace in which we all operate today. The bad news is that it will become even more competitive as the "global" marketplace continues to shrink. The good news is that you can insulate your company from this competitive situation. This is done by maximizing what Gary Tomlinson, founder and president of his highly successful, Raleigh-based company MedCovers, defines as the greatest asset in any company...the customer. He further defines customer as both the internal (employees) and external customers. Tomlinson emphasizes, "We must recognize that the source of our income is our customer, not our company".
Moments of Truth
So, how do you deliver superior customer service on a consistent basis? Let's examine some real world situation. Jan Carlzon, president of Scandinavian Airlines, is credited with originating the concept of moments of truth. (Source: Moments of Truth by Jan Carlzon) Carlzon took over as president when the airline had lost 30 million dollars in the two previous years. In his single-minded focus for becoming the best airline of the frequent business traveler in Europe, he determined that the first 15-second encounter between a passenger (customer) and his front-line people (employees) set the tone or image of the entire company in the mind of that customer. Thus, each encounter with a customer is a moment of truth. The key is to insure that every moment of truth is a positive one for the customer. By establishing this culture in SAS, the airline returned to profitability in one year while the rest of the international airlines tallied a record two billion-dollar collective loss. Each encounter you or an employee has with a customer is a moment of truth. The customer's perception (reality) of your company is formed by every encounter. To deliver superior customer service, every encounter must result in a positive experience for your customer. For example, every time the phone rings at your business, it is a moment of truth. Are your customers/prospects greeted with a cheerful, professional and efficient handling of their call? How each call is handled provides one of the most opportune moments of truth for you to make a positive impact and help customers "feel" good about doing business with you and your company.
The most important person(s) in your company is the person(s) who answers the phone.
Ten Actions You Can Take
Here is a list of ten actions you can take to deliver superior customer service:
1. Walk Your Talk - your actions and deeds must support your verbal commitment to delivering superior customer service. Empower all employees to be proactive in solving customer problems and do what it takes to meet their needs and exceed their expectations.
2. Ask your customer, "How are we doing for you? What can we do to better serve your needs?"
3. Be a "Solutionist". Help customers solve challenges and maximize opportunities for their success.
4. Keep in mind that when you help others succeed, you succeed!
5. Insure that every transaction with your customer is a win-win.
6. Constantly examine your policies and procedures from your customer's perspective. Be "customer friendly".
7. Stay focused on retaining the customers you have. They will help you obtain new customers.
8. Insure that the lines of communication with customers (internal and external) are always open.
9. Seek ways to exceed your customer's expectations.
By your actions, deeds and words, constantly reinforce the value of external customers with employees and provide them with learning opportunities to enhance their customer service skills.
This list is not all-inclusive by any means. You can build on these fundamentals with creative and innovative ideas specific to your business and sustain the consistency of your purpose to deliver superior customer service.
Once your customer service culture is established, your clear purpose is to deliver that superior customer service. The challenge then becomes how to do it consistently over time.
Let's begin by looking at some staggering statistics that reinforce the importance of consistent customer service. In Michael LeBoeuf's book, "How To Win Customers and Keep Them For Life", he highlights a survey on why customers quit doing business with a company. The survey revealed that...
1% die;
3% move away;
5% develop other friendships;
9% leave for competitive reasons;
14% are dissatisfied with product; and...
68% quit because of an attitude of indifference toward the customer by the owner, manager, or some employee
WOW! 68% stop doing business because they "feel" the company does not value them as a customer. Inexcusable? Yes! Avoidable? Yes! LeBoeuf goes on to point out that a typical business hears from only 4% of its dissatisfied customers. The other 96% just go quietly away and 91% of those customers will never come back. It is human nature for most people to avoid adversarial situations and since they have a choice, they begin doing business with your competitor without your knowledge. By the time you find out it's probably too late to win them back. When you consider that is takes five times the effort to obtain a new customer as to retain the one you have, it makes good business sense and economic "cents" to deliver superior customer service consistently and retain the customers you worked so hard to obtain.
Maximize Your Assets
Customer "loyalty" is fragile in this highly competitive marketplace in which we all operate today. The bad news is that it will become even more competitive as the "global" marketplace continues to shrink. The good news is that you can insulate your company from this competitive situation. This is done by maximizing what Gary Tomlinson, founder and president of his highly successful, Raleigh-based company MedCovers, defines as the greatest asset in any company...the customer. He further defines customer as both the internal (employees) and external customers. Tomlinson emphasizes, "We must recognize that the source of our income is our customer, not our company".
Moments of Truth
So, how do you deliver superior customer service on a consistent basis? Let's examine some real world situation. Jan Carlzon, president of Scandinavian Airlines, is credited with originating the concept of moments of truth. (Source: Moments of Truth by Jan Carlzon) Carlzon took over as president when the airline had lost 30 million dollars in the two previous years. In his single-minded focus for becoming the best airline of the frequent business traveler in Europe, he determined that the first 15-second encounter between a passenger (customer) and his front-line people (employees) set the tone or image of the entire company in the mind of that customer. Thus, each encounter with a customer is a moment of truth. The key is to insure that every moment of truth is a positive one for the customer. By establishing this culture in SAS, the airline returned to profitability in one year while the rest of the international airlines tallied a record two billion-dollar collective loss. Each encounter you or an employee has with a customer is a moment of truth. The customer's perception (reality) of your company is formed by every encounter. To deliver superior customer service, every encounter must result in a positive experience for your customer. For example, every time the phone rings at your business, it is a moment of truth. Are your customers/prospects greeted with a cheerful, professional and efficient handling of their call? How each call is handled provides one of the most opportune moments of truth for you to make a positive impact and help customers "feel" good about doing business with you and your company.
The most important person(s) in your company is the person(s) who answers the phone.
Ten Actions You Can Take
Here is a list of ten actions you can take to deliver superior customer service:
1. Walk Your Talk - your actions and deeds must support your verbal commitment to delivering superior customer service. Empower all employees to be proactive in solving customer problems and do what it takes to meet their needs and exceed their expectations.
2. Ask your customer, "How are we doing for you? What can we do to better serve your needs?"
3. Be a "Solutionist". Help customers solve challenges and maximize opportunities for their success.
4. Keep in mind that when you help others succeed, you succeed!
5. Insure that every transaction with your customer is a win-win.
6. Constantly examine your policies and procedures from your customer's perspective. Be "customer friendly".
7. Stay focused on retaining the customers you have. They will help you obtain new customers.
8. Insure that the lines of communication with customers (internal and external) are always open.
9. Seek ways to exceed your customer's expectations.
By your actions, deeds and words, constantly reinforce the value of external customers with employees and provide them with learning opportunities to enhance their customer service skills.
This list is not all-inclusive by any means. You can build on these fundamentals with creative and innovative ideas specific to your business and sustain the consistency of your purpose to deliver superior customer service.
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