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Excellent Customer Service
| Guest post by: Lee Meadows |
Article Overview: Strategies for creating and sustaining a competitive edge are, often, focused on large- scale efforts around product design, financial repositioning, structural-realignment, and capital investment. While these elements do sit at the heart of grandiose plans for taking on and beating the competition, I have been reminded, of late, that excellent customer service is the soul of most business success. Perhaps it is the twelve week marathon through the blended holiday season that has my antennas tuned into the, often, overlooked little things that keep customers coming back or turns them away.
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Free Download - Trailblazing By Lee Meadows |
Excellent Customer Service
Strategies for creating and sustaining a competitive edge
are, often, focused on large- scale efforts around product design, financial
repositioning, structural-realignment, and capital investment. While these
elements do sit at the heart of grandiose plans for taking on and beating the
competition, I have been reminded, of late, that excellent customer service is
the soul of most business success. Perhaps it is the twelve week marathon
through the blended holiday season that has my antennas tuned into the, often,
overlooked little things that keep customers coming back or turns them away.
I had the good fortune, and time, to spend at one of my
favorite malls. Motivated by the ornamental light display at the front entrance
of a prominent retailer, I entered that coliseum of specialized merchants armed
with a credit card, a thirst for the sale and driven by my own sense of carpe
diem. Once I had secured the item that I knew my wife would want me to have, I
stood at the counter, credit card vividly on display and waited while the
customer service representative engaged in a cell phone discussion with someone
who, apparently, was having a dramatically extended bad life moment. The
customer service representative’s tone suggested that the bad life moment was going
to extend far into the evening. While I did not envy the person on the other
end of that conversation, I was perplexed as to why I was being privy to a
conversation that had nothing to do with my purchase. I flashed my sainted
smile, pointed to the item I intended to purchase and held my credit card in
that ‘don’t-leave-home-without- it’ pose that is common to the shopping
experience. Now, part of knowing how to be a good student of human moves, is to
know when to step back from irritation and become a patient observer of the
human process. I decided to wait and see how long it would take for this person
to realize that I was there to give the organization my money (on credit), in
exchange for an item they want me to purchase. Fortunately, there was no one
behind me, so I took that to mean that I was being granted the opportunity to
time the event. I used the waiting time to reflect on the little things about
customer service that are often taken for granted and have such an impact on
the bottom line.
Customers have choices. Beyond specific brands that can only
be purchased in certain outlets, customers can find most of what they need in a
number of different places. If price, location and products are equal, then the
only difference is customer service. How many, potential, dollars are lost
because someone had a bad customer service encounter? I wondered if my
‘Customer second, me first’ rep had gotten that message.
Customers have networks. A bad customer service encounter
can be broadcast by way of group text messages, email blasts, LinkedIn networks,
Facebook groups and YouTube in a matter of minutes. Once something goes out
into the Internet universe, it is difficult to reel it back in. There have been
a number of retail organizations that have devoted precious resources to trying
to catch the tail of a bad customer service experience after it has gained
momentum in cyberspace.
Customers have C3 leverage. After all, it is the customer’s
Cash, Check or Credit Card that bridges the relationship between the customer
and the organization. The customer service rep is responsible for making sure
that bridge is always reinforced. The organization is not granting the customer
the right to shop there. The customer is granting the organization the
privilege of trying to service their needs. Sometimes that understanding gets
lost in translation.
During the two and a half minutes that I waited, I thought
about the upcoming holiday season and recognized that what I experienced was
not an indictment against the thousands of customer service representatives who
provide consistently, excellent service, but a reminder of what could happen if
the customer is taken for granted.
Are your people providing STAR service?
Customer Service – How you doing?
Would you get A Tattoo of the General Motors’ Logo?
The Important P`s of Customer Service
Why customer service is the most important part of any business
Are You Serving Your Customers Well?
Customer Service Jobs: Improve Your Skills
Determining Their Needs
Customer Service Making the Difference
Customer Service Make the Difference
Customer Service - be an Ambassador for Your Company
How Bad Is Your Service?
Is It's Never Too Late or Early to Build Customer Loyalty
Increase Sales to Your Business By Consistent Excellent Customer Service
The cost of poor service
GETTING THE MOST FROM YOUR PRESENCE IN CYBERSPACE
The loud woman at Starbucks
Tips for Improving Customer Service
Customer Service or Product?
Customer Service, you make the Difference.
Article Tags: Customer Excellence, Customer Service
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About the Author: Lee Meadows RSS for Lee's articles - Visit Lee's website Click here to visit Lee's website   Bad habits in organizational culture Managing Bad Employees Planning Your Business Trailblazing Managing communication technology |
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