THERE IS PLACE IN THE WORLD FOR ANY BUSINESS THAT TAKES CARE OF ITS CUSTOMERS – AFTER THE SALE. – Harvey MacKay
Successful Companies understand the importance of delivering unparalleled service to their customers, without any compromise, as this will lead to an excellent experience. A delighted customer spreads a positive word of mouth to other potential customers leading to more business for the company.
A customer is the most important visitor on our premises, he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so. ..Mahatma Gandhi
Customers can afford to do without their vendor, but a company cannot survive without a satisfied customer. The linchpin of any business is the customer. Customers lay the foundation of businesses today. In this consumer driven age, what sets apart great companies is the service they provide to their customers. Great companies invest in customers because, that is where the business lies. The business decisions of the leading brands across the globe today, are driven to satisfy and exceed the expectations of their customers, that will create impregnable entry barriers for any competitor to overcome.
The goal as a company is to have customer service that is not just the best but legendary.
...Sam Walton, Founder of Wal-Mart
Customer is the King Maker.Several studies have shown that it costs six nearly six times more to win a new customer than to keep an existing one. Customers are powerful marketing agents; a satisfied customer can help win more deals than the best marketing personnel. They become more important in the digital age, where people can give feedback and influence the buyers at the click of a mouse.
IF WE DON’T TAKE CARE OF OUR CUSTOMERS, SOMEONE ELSE WILL-UNKNOWN
The customers today are bombarded with options, sometimes more than what they can handle. So, what differentiates a business is the service it provides to its customers. The best agents for marketing the products and services are the customers. A reputation is built on what people talk about their experience. How a company is perceived in the market determines its brand image. The best brands are built by their customers. Fascinatingly a great number of companies like facebook, twitter and pinterest are prime examples of companies that have sky rocketed due to their customers and the empowerment they have provided to their customers to express their opinions. This has led to the customer's voice becoming very potent enough to make or break any businesses.
“If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.” Jeff Bezos, CEO Amazon.com
Excellent service is the best marketing strategy for a business. The world is a place where the speed of communication keeps increasing. Things propagate and travel faster than ever before. Whether it is good or bad reviews, it can affect the performance of a brand in the competitive market place.
Amazon, founded in 1994 is the world's largest online retailer today. The story of Amazon is a story of excellence in service that propelled it to great heights. The business model makes them one of the most successful modern companies and a technological giant. Amazon has transformed the industry in its own ways. It has done it through remarkable customer service. They made shopping possible at a click. They empowered users to give ratings, review and provide feedback on all products and services. It enables the users to pick and choose the best products.
Google, Apple, GE, and Toyota motors, etc are other companies to have emerged as global leaders due to their excellent Services. The core essence of these top companies is in providing great services to their customers. These companies have focused on customer delight and enhanced customer experience making them truly world class. When the customer feels good it promotes your brand and organisation. This is how great companies are built.
Customer service is imperative for the success of a company. Most successful companies who focus on customer delight, advocate the following, that leads them to achieving service excellence:
1. Know your customers. Build a customer profile. Each and every customer is special and they must feel it.
2. Look at your business from the customer’s perspective and then communicate.
3. Make a great first impression. Whether it is the logo, salesman or the business cards of company, all this speaks about your company.
4. Build trust by giving the best quality. Be reliable and do what you say.
5. Each genuine complaint is a great chance to improve upon the products/services that you are offering. Develop a system where customer complaints can be gathered easily.
6. Have an excellent complaint handling system that is transparent to the customers. Intimate the customers about the action plan for the complaints and communicate regularly.
7. Be proactive and responsible in solving the pain points of the customers. it easy for the
8. Do something pleasantly surprising that leaves a wow effect on your customer.
9. The key to customer satisfaction is to exceed expectations of your customers.
10. Be honest with your customers; never lie, over promise or under deliver.
11. Make it easy for the customers to give their feedback and register complaints. Be accessible via internet, phone calls and customer service centers.
12. Differentiate yourself from the market, offer something unique.
13. Develop means to get the customer satisfaction and feedback. Measure customer service level & ask your customers about their expectations.
14. Create a compelling customer experience, one that urges them to recommend your products or services to others.
15. Leverage the power of online monitoring tools to know more about your brand. See what people are saying about your products and services. Do something exceptionally good to get their attention. Create your presence, help your customers and be noticed.
16. Bring in experts and a trained staff that deals with customers. Share relevant information about your products and services with your customers. Help them use it better.
17. Create a customer interaction plan. The idea is to communicate effectively with your customers. Too much or too little communication can hinder your business, it is important to get the balance right. When creating a customer plan, address the following questions:
How do you communicate with your customers?
How often do you communicate with them?
What do you need to tell your customers?
When you need to talk to them?
18. Thank your customers for the business. A hand written or pre-written note can do wonders & make the customer feel great. When you care, it shows in your attitude.
19. When you cannot fix the customer’s problem, apologize sincerely. If possible,offer them some discounts, refunds or credit accounts for future.
20. Innovate, experiment and execute with customer at the heart of your organisation.
Nothing promotes a business more than a satisfied customer. The best advertisement media in the digital age is the word of mouth. Great service invariably builds and boosts your brand. Be exceptional and be talked about. The most successful companies are not only known by their results, but also the confidence and satisfaction they produce for their customers.
There is a strong correlation between the customer satisfaction level and the brand equity of a company. Studies from American Customer Satisfaction Index and other agencies seem to corroborate the same.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index has shown that the stock prices of companies ranking higher for customer service tend to do better than those with lower value. According to Forbes magazine, between 1994 and 2007, companies ranking in the top 25% of the index created $420 billion in wealth for shareholders versus $111 billion for those in the bottom 25% -in other words, companies that please their customers are shown to create four times the wealth.
ONE CUSTOMER WELL TAKEN CARE OF COULD BE MORE VALUABLE THAN
$10,000 WORTH OF ADVERTISING – JIM ROHN
Customer service is the best advertisement for any business. It is imperative to make sure that it is as impressive as it can be. Great services produce the best returns on investment. Service excellence builds the foundation on which great organizations are operated. Successful Organizations know that that their entire stakes are dependent on their services excellence and hence the need to be never compromising in investing to achieve the best service levels they can offer to their customers, which in turn will not only let their business survive, but also multiply.
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