In a growing business, the myriad daily tasks of getting whatever a company produces “out the door” can be all-consuming. Lots of energy is typically focused on cash flow management, finding and training new employees, meetings, sourcing supplies, deadlines, etc. In the hustle and bustle, your staff can forget the most important factor of any business: the customers. However, without what our firm refers to as “Level 5 Customer Service,” growth can stall or collapse completely.
In studies, 70 percent of why most clients leave is due to poor customer service. As managers, we need to constantly be reassessing why customers prefer our products or services over the competitions’, whether we are exceeding customers’ expectations, and how we show gratitude to our customers.
Ignoring your customers can be like sitting on a landmine. For instance, prior to social networking online, the typical dissatisfied customer would verbally tell eight to 10 people about a problem with a vendor or service provider. In the post-Facebook-YouTube-Twitter-Interest world, that dissatisfaction is posted online in ways that can travel globally within hours. A single service disappointment can turn into the bomb that crashes sales.
However, Level 5 Customer Service can halt that exponential explosion in most cases. That’s because studies show seven of 10 complaining customers will do business with you again if you solve the problem in their favor.
Service expectations vary by culture. However in Western-educated societies, there are five key customer service practices that should be taught and re-taught regularly in any workplace:
- Greet the customer verbally and with a smile;
- Listen to understand the customer’s need;
- Explain features and benefits of products or services so customers have sufficient information to make decisions;
- Suggest additional items that may address their explicit needs, as well as possible ancillary needs they may not be aware of or may not have considered; and
- Thank the customer. Thank them even when no sale occurs. Thanks – like praise – go a long way toward generating goodwill.
Last, when presented with a customer’s concern or complaint, listen attentively, do not interrupt, be polite, apologize for the inconvenience and any error, and make a decision that resolves the issue in way that leaves the customer as warm and fuzzy as possible. When you provide a customer with more than he or she expects, you create a Level 5 experience. That experience reinforces customer loyalty.
Patricia Adams is the CEO of Zeitgeist Expressions and the author of “ABCs of Change: Three Building Blocks to Happy Relationships.” In 2011, she was named one of Ernst & Young LLP’s 2011 Entrepreneurial Winning Women, one of Enterprising W omen magazine’s 2011 Enterprising Women of the Year Award and the SBA’s 2011 Small Business Person of the Year for Region VI. Her company Zeitgeist Wellness Group offers a full-service Employee Assistance Program to businesses in the San Antonio region. For more information, visit www.zwgoup.net.
