Tweet

LISTEN UP LEADERS: The Frontline Makes Your Bottom Line

Guest post by: Eileen McDargh

Article Overview: Does your staff treat customers badly even though your advertising claims you are #1 in customer service? Learn why it is critical to retain current customers and what you can do to improve customer service while managing your company reputation on-line and off.

LISTEN UP LEADERS: The Frontline Makes Your Bottom Line

It happens all the time: A full-page ad is placed in a major monthly publication. The ad touts the service excellence of their product. Catchy phrases. Great promises. Major dollars are spent to create an implied image in the mind of the consumer. And it can vanish in a heartbeat if promises made are not promises kept-if the derived image cancels out the implied image!

Perhaps this has been your experience: You have been standing in line at the bank looking at a sign hanging on the wall that says "Our Customers Are Our #1 Priority" while the customer in front of you is yelled at by a teller for not having the proper forms needed for the transaction. Or perhaps you've had the interaction with a clerk who rolls her eyes when you ask one too many questions about the product. The point is: we will all talk about the derived image-not the glossy ad. Couple this "talk" with chat on the Internet and you've exponentially reached thousands.

Why should you care what your customers are saying?

* It costs 6 to 8 times more to get a new customer than to keep an old one.

* There is a 12% higher profit margin with your existing customers.

* Companies that keep their existing customers enjoy a 9% higher growth rate than ones who don't.

* When each customer leaves they tell at least ten people they know and with e-mail and Internet they may potentially tell thousands or millions. Just look at the power of City Search and Yelp! to make or break a company.

It doesn't take much to make a negative impression. Here are some of the most common customer complaints: unprofessional staff; disinterested staff; bad attitudes matched with a sense of boredom; more enthusiasm for chatting with co-workers than with the customer and a lack of an ability to solve problems.

Your employees have probably had customer service training but perhaps you are still seeing customers leave. Why is this you ask? It's because leadership didn't take the time to find out how the customer service "rules" affect the actual customer. Here are ten tips to take your customer service from drab to fab:

1. The single most important thing you can do to increase customer satisfaction is to treat your employees well. One disgruntled employee can easily alienate dozens of customers. Find out what is wrong and fix it.

2. Keep employees in the loop so that they are in the know and FEEL like valued insiders. With the power of the Internet your employees can find out corporate news before you do. Don't let this happen to your company. Talk to employees often and in-person.

3. Teach employees to think of themselves as business consultants rather than employees. Empower them to make customer-pleasing decisions without having to call a supervisor.

4. Ask employees to change their viewpoint. Have them look at all customers as multi-million dollar businesses and treat them accordingly.

5. Embrace new ideas and reward innovation. Seek and act on advice from your frontline because most of the time they are the only contact a customer has with your company.

6. Recognize and reward each other. Think in 360 directions. A manager needs praise from a subordinate a much as from her boss. Encourage peer-to-peer recognition for helping each other resolve customer issues.

7. Constantly seek innovation. Ask everyone to study the competition and find out what they do that makes them better. The frontline will see what a higher-level manager will not.

8. Seek and act on customer feedback. Don't bother with customer surveys. Assign an employee or employees to scour the Internet for both positive and negative conversations about your company.

9. Make your current customers feel important. Offer them price cuts or coupons, make every transaction with them pleasant, communicate transparently and have a live person answer your phones, thanking the customer for his business .

10. Seek and reward referrals from current customers. One local chiropractor provides a free adjustment to any patient who refers someone else. She gets dozens of referrals every week and her practice thrives even during economic turmoil.

Don't just pay lip service to improving customer service. Good customer service is the linchpin to survival at any time but especially during difficult times. Start by treating your employees well, keeping them in the loop, and releasing them to do what it takes to send each customer away happy.

© 2009, McDargh Communications. Publication rights granted to all venues so long as article and by-line are reprinted intact and all links are made live.

Related Articles
  Leadership - The Art Of Being one of the 3%
  7 Steps to Make Leadership Simple
  Are You an ‘IN’ or ‘OUT’ Leader?
  The Best Leaders Don't Have All the Answers
  Do You Have a Chief Serving Officer?

Article Tags: clients, customer experience, customer loyalty, customer relations, customer relationship, customer relationship management, customer retention, customer satisfaction, customer service training, customer services, customers, employee satisfaction, employee training, good customer service, leadership, reputation management, service excellence



Related Forum Posts
Re: Winton Churchill Talks About "Email Marketing" - Hi Shri, I misinterpreted your invitation to "download the show later". I just clicked the link and I "get it" now! It looks very interesting so I will definitely LISTEN later today and report back here. Best wishes, David H
Re: LEADERS - [quote="abbeyjcksn":2h3s7sn9]You have provide good definition of LEADERS. I am impress on this thread. You have provide all the specialty of leaders in this thread.[/quote:2h3s7sn9] Thanks Abbey. Since majority of entrepreneurs are leaders we need to work on these virtues
Re: Web Business Podcast is LIVE! :) - Bottom of each post would be good. That way they either already listened to the podcast or they have decided they aren't going to, and might click the ads.
Site after-posting problems? - Don't know if this is happening to me alone, or to everyone, but every time I post a message, instead of my message coming up after a few seconds, I get this error message: Failed sending email :: PHP :: DEBUG MODE Line : 235 File : emailer.php
profit line - I recommended Profit Line to one of my clients and they were not 100% satisfied with the service. Apparently one of the profit line people got a parking ticket while serving my client and then charged them for it. I haven't heard the other side of the story yet but the fact that I recommended them and it didn't work out makes me reluctant to recommend them again.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Coaching - An Effective Tool for Managers

9 tips to increase ROI in PPC Campaigns

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.