Do you delight your customers? I found an article written by Alain Thys that was published in 2007 that says it best:
It’s funny that when discussing Customer Delight, most people start talking about customer service. While this nicely fits our managerial illusion of control, it also completely misses the point. Customer service is what companies do to their customers. Customer delight is what the customer feels when he has been dealt with in the right way. One may be related to the other, yet more delight doesn’t always come from more service (in fact, as Ryanair and Aldi have proven, the inverse might even be the case). Customer delight is not about giving more customer service, it’s about giving the service that matters.
Building relationships with our customers is the same as delighting them but over a sustained period of time. We confuse offering customer service with really engaging with our customers.
In fact, “customer service” is actually more closely associated with the stress and frustration of trying to resolve an issue with a company and receiving anything BUT service. Being a customer-focused company isn’t a quick fix. It doesn’t involve offering a special discount or creating a loyalty program that requires the customer to keep track of a “frequent purchase” card.
Being customer-focused involves really getting into the thick of things with your customer. Think about the relationships you have in your life. Personal, professional, casual, life-long. Did they involve a single experience?
We have to start changing our mindset when it comes to the customer and think more along the lines of DELIGHTING them. And you know you know what that looks like. It is a win for both the associate and the customer because at the end of the day – both walk away feeling great!
So what are you doing today to DELIGHT your customers?
I am working on writing a series of articles for a customer on the importance of developing and documenting business systems. You know what they are, right?
How you do your business
Who your customers are
How you find them
The 1,2,3s of producing your product/service
Your billing and receivables process
Employee relations and hiring/firing practices
It is all pretty cut and dry. The step-by-step instructions for how you do what you do so that someone could walk in off the street – read the manual – and continue your business operations without missing a beat.
But what about the customer service process?
A few months ago a prospect called. They’d found me on the Internet and wondered if I would come and conduct training for their call center employees. Apparently there had been some customer complaints and they wanted me to come and teach the staff the right words to say.
I asked about their customer service focus – what was their customer service strategy?
The response? We don’t have one. I just want the employees to stop saying dumb things so the customers don’t complain.
hmmmm. I didn’t pursue the opportunity.
As a business owner, if we hope to have happy customers that return and refer us to their friends, we have to establish our system for customers at the same time we are developing the step-by-step instructions for assembling our products and services.
Customer service as an after thought to combat complaints isn’t a customer-focused culture – it is just sloppy business.
Sounds harsh? Gee, I don’t know. Who signs our paycheck? The customers.
So How Do You Start Developing a Customer Service System:
Identify your target customer
Understand what they value, expect and desire – not what YOU think, but what they think
How does that information impact the actual customer experience:
The look of your location
The customer greeting
The way the phone is answered
The website and its functionality
Your marketing message
Your packaging
Your return policy
Your refund policy
Your order process
The payment options and process
Handling customers that want what you don’t have
Handling upset customers
Each of those components and more are part of the customer service portion of your business. Determine the how’s and why’s of every aspect of your business that involves the customer. And trust me – every aspect involves the customer. Even those departments that never talk to or see a customer, have an impact on the customer.
Do you have a customer service system in place and in writing? If not – I’d love to help. I don’t usually sell myself in this blog, but this is one time when I’d like to be available to a business owner interested in putting their customers FIRST in the process. Call me 330-414-8792.
Often our first interaction with our customer is over the phone. If you had to rate that experience from the caller’s perspective – how would you do?
A+ – you answer the phone personally with a warm greeting and a smile on your face
F - they have several confusing options with a menu that goes on forever, none of which pertain to every caller
It is time to try on the shoes of your customer. How do YOU feel when you call a company and are greeted by a machine that says “please listen carefully as our menu options have changed,” and so on?
Is the first thought “Oh no, here we go again.”
For me the worst is the company that thinks it is really HIGH TECH and you are suppose to SPEAK your options. How many times do they get it wrong? My blood pressure begins to rise and I haven’t even started the process of getting my questions answered.
How many times have you said to yourself – I just want a REAL person to talk to?
Imagine how your customers feel?
I recognize that larger companies probably feel that an automated system that often separates the calls according to type and then attempts to provide answers without ever hearing a human is cost saving, but what does it do to the customer relationship?
Get Human is a website that offers a listing of companies and their customer service numbers and the shortcut secrets to help you connect with a real person.
When callers do reach a real person – what is the tone of voice? What do they say? Is their script so memorized that it sounds like a pitch and the words are slurred together so the caller has to say “is this ABC company?”
What policies or procedures do you have in place for telephone answering?
On the last Thursday of every month, you’ll find me sipping the decaf flavor of the day (black, no sugar) and talking about social media and ways to connect with customers with about ten other business professionals. We call ourselves the Akron Bloggers Community.
It started a little over three years ago when Chris Brown of Marketing Resources and Results, Inc. and I decided it would be fun to have a meet up with other bloggers in the area. Each month the people change, a few are regulars, and some come and go but we always find something new to talk about.
The one constant? The location. Mocha Joe’s Coffee Shop (formerly Arabica Coffee) has graciously hosted our meets up without a fee or fuss. And sometimes they have a right to fuss. We start with a table for four and sometimes keep moving their furniture until we can accommodate 12-16 people! And we aren’t exactly quiet. And we stay – sometimes for three hours.
This last month when I ordered my coffee the barista said “it’s nice to see how your group has grown over the last several months.”
Rather than complain about the fact that we basically take over the place and may only order one cup of coffee each – he was grateful for our business and aware enough to see that our community was growing.
Mocha Joe’s Coffee House is a great place to meet, relax and connect. The coffee is always top notch and the bakery is yummy! If you are in the Stow area and in the mood for a cuppa – I would suggest dropping in. You’ll feel welcome and nourished!
Have you ever sent a hand written note to a customer? A thank you letter? A birthday message? Emily Kelly had this to say about how she uses some old fashion methods to connect with her customers:
Emily Kelly • I firmly believe in the power of “paying it forward”, giving others genuine compliments and sowing affirmation as a regular practice. You’d be surprised how far it goes. I also practice the age old art of hand written thank you notes and calling when promised. These things have really worked for me … probably because few people do them anymore, and just like price and demand … if it’s rare, it’s treasured!
I agree. A hand written notes says that you took time and gave it some thought. Unlike e-cards or computer generated messages, a hand written note is personal. But just be careful that you don’t try to take short cuts with those personal connections. It could come back and bite you!
I recently heard the story of a woman who received a thank you note with a hand written message from her MALE insurance agent. She and her husband have been long time customers of this agent and the thought of a hand written note was a good one. Problem? It was written in a flowery, hearts dotting the “i” hand of his female secretary.
The idea was a good one. The execution? Not so much. In fact, the customer said that “I’m now questioning his ability to personalize his service to me if he can’t even sign his own note cards. I’m thinking of shopping around and all because he delegated the note card writing instead of taking the time to write the note himself.”
Thinking about sending a note to your customers? Great idea – but make sure you don’t try to delegate the assignment of building relationships to a member of your team. You wouldn’t delegate dinner with your loved one to a neighbor, would you?
Sheila led us through a series of questions which uncovered our philosophies of effective marketing and communication with our prospects and customers. At the end of the day – although Sherre and I had never met or talked – we had the same focus: open honest communication.
The customer must come first. Sherre hones in on the psycographics of the customer – “getting into the minds of their customers.”
She also talked about a strategy she employs for marketing to customers that doesn’t involve advertising – it is called C.R.I.S.P.
They sound similar but do they mean the same thing? I asked the question of the Build Customer Relationships group on LinkedIn this week and overwhelmingly the answer was NO. Everyone agrees that customer service is the foundation – what gets customers in the door the first time and turns them from prospects to customers but it is only when we work to build customer relationships that we enjoy a long term – REPEAT – business with our customers.
Actually knowing and ensuring each customer receives the type of service they want, not what we THINK they want. This can take any number of forms beyond the obvious such as prompt, informed attention by capable associates, the right products available when needed, etc. The best overall customer service usually comes down to some very basic requirements that most customers want ~ genuine, not scripted or “forced / manufactured” service, help available when it’s desired and not being offered or having products pushed that are of no real need to the customer. Making sure the customer feels and IS valued and always treated as such.
If you were to create a Customer Relationship Experience rather than a Customer Service Experience – how would they look different? Or would they? Do your employees understand the concept of building relationships with each person that comes in the door or calls on the phone? Share your tips for success here.
Friday, August 6, 2010, I lost a dear friend, Bekah Facemire. We didn’t grow up together. Our kids weren’t in soccer together. We didn’t work at the same place.
Bekah was the friendly, neighborhood cashier at Drug Mart. That’s where we met – at register 5.
Bekah greeted every customer with more than just a smile and a warm hello – she KNEW her customers. We were part of her family. Oh, management might have felt she talked to customers too long, but it was her friendship and genuine interest that kept us coming back between 8-4pm Monday-Friday. Week after week.
Drug Mart is a quality store, has lots of great stuff at affordable prices. But so does Walgreens and CVS and Wal-Mart.
It was Bekah’s personality that brought me back – sometimes daily – for one thing and another and a friendly conversation.
Bekah was diagnosed with lung cancer just six short weeks ago and as a community we began praying for her recovery. Customers came in to ask of her progress. When I learned of the diagnosis I went straight from the store to the hospital to give her a hug. I was surprised and overwhelmed by my feelings but that is the kind of relationship she fostered with her customers.
I just came back from a regular shopping excursion to Drug Mart and although they still have the same great products and the rest of the staff knew my name and greeted me warmly – it just wasn’t the same.
I left realizing that I probably won’t go out of my way to shop there any more. A new CVS is opening closer to my home. It wasn’t the products or the prices or the location – it was Bekah that brought me back time and time again – often to buy things I didn’t need but found myself putting in the cart while we chatted.
She remembered her customers – knew what they liked. She hollered out one day a couple months ago “Deb – the hoola hoops that you wanted just came in – they are on aisle two.” I had mentioned wanting to purchase a bunch of hoola hoops for another friend of mine LAST FALL and yet she remembered.
People make the company. It isn’t the name over the door. It isn’t the products or the prices or the special sales. Oh – maybe for a one off shopping experience you’ll be influenced by a sale – but it is the RELATIONSHIP each employee makes with each customers that creates a loyalty no special coupon offer can match.
I will miss Bekah very much. Loving mother, sister, aunt and friend. She had an impact on all she encountered. She knew the meaning of building customer relationships. I’m lifting a margarita in toast to you, my friend.
Question for you: do your employees foster that kind of relationship with each customer?
I first learned about Treasure your Customer Day from Entrepreneur magazine in 2006. But it certainly didn’t start there. Here is a blurb from a blog written in 2005 about Treasuring your Customers written by Kirsten Osolind:
August 7 marks “Treasure Your Customers Day.” Rewarding customers means more than quirky holiday discounts and thank-you cards. To treasure your customers, you need to begin with an inventory of your customer satisfaction levels and relationship assets. Sail the high seas by digging deep to discover your customers’ latent needs, acknowledging your flaws, resolving conflicts quickly and positively, and proactively encouraging feedback. Customers don’t think of themselves as revenue oceans; they simply want you to delight them.
Building customer relationships is a passion for me. It has been since I sold magazines and Camp Fire Girls candy door to door as a kid. I find it interesting that this wonderful day – a day that the card manufacturers haven’t embraced yet – also happens to be my birthday. It seems like a wonderful connection to me.
Anyway – happy day, my dear customers. You are truly a treasure in my life!
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Do you delight your customers? I found an article written by Alain Thys that was published in 2007 that says it best:
I am working on writing a series of articles for a customer on the importance of developing and documenting business systems. You know what they are, right?
