In Monday’s Blog we talked about customer service as defined as meeting (or exceeding) the customers expectation.
Differentiation on customer service is a popular idea. There is a lot written about it (including our work), and standard advice you get from advisors is to improve your customer service. Well with so much written about it, and so many people talking about it, wouldn’t we expect to see an improvement in customer service? Yes and no.
Yes, as we see pockets of outstanding customer service. For example, on the same airline where we encountered the “the disappearing” first class flight attendant, on another trip with the same airline, the two flight attendants in the coach cabin provided “over the top” service. It was so good, we wrote a note to the VP of Customer Service.
No, because providing outstanding (that is, consistent) customer service takes effort, and it takes: persistent awareness, caring and action on behalf of each representative providing the service. Effort that some companies do not want to make, and do not reinforce across the board with their employees.
So, here are 6 questions we offer for you to think about to position your company to improve customer service:
1) What market segment do you serve and what is the customer’s expectation about it?
- Customer service is appropriately different between a fast food store and a 4-Star restaurant
2) What does your brand promise?
3) Does your culture promote great service? – That means, how work is done in your company – what is norm behavior in delivering and what gets rewarded (or slides)
- How well your employees understand your expectations for customer service is cornerstone in culture – if they don’t know or understand, they will make it up or ignore it
4) How well do you train (and empower/authorize) your staff to provide the level of customer service that is right for your business?
5) And finally, how do you know (by evidence) that you are meeting or exceeding your customer service objectives?
All businesses and organizations can improve their customer service. And what we find interesting is that those entities with outstanding customer service are the most interested in understanding how to make it even better. No surprise there.
Customer service is a positive differentiator regardless of what business you are in. And the key reason for this is that when customers are satisfied, they are likely to return. When they are delighted, they are likely to return and tell other people and both of these responses are good for business. As trite as this may sound, businesses grow when customers buy things and satisfied and delighted customers tend to buy more things from you. How do you WOW them? It’s really that simple.
Copyright 2011 Kubica and LaForest
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