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Articles on Service Matters:

Why Customer Service Is Even More Important These Days?

Everyone knows that customer service is important. However, most are clueless about how customer service can have a direct impact in their lives. If everyone knows customer service is important, why do most of us only pay lip service to it or adopt a lukewarm attitude towards providing an excellent customer service?

This is a true story that happened today.

I walked into a well-known electrical store with full intention to cart back 2 standing fans that very moment. The spacious outlet was quite empty with just a few lingering customers browsing around; I thought the purchase would be a breeze. I was deadly wrong.

I saw a suitable model but there were no sales consultants there. I looked at the customer service counter and noticed more than 10 sales consultants sitting or standing there, resting or chatting. I waved at them, and gesturing towards my ideal fan, the eager consumer that I was at that time. A few saw me but never bothered to stand up. Then, one with a tie, probably the supervisor, looked at me and then back to his staff, “Hey, someone go help that lady.” A woman in her mid-thirties reluctantly got up and came to me,” Yes, what you want?” There was no smile, no friendliness. I asked for the price and her answer was curt and short, “This one $99, no discount.” Without waiting for me to utter another word, she headed back to her team and start chatting away. Well, I walked out as my money is no good here.

This is so ironic when this store paid its advertising agency an obscene amount of money on TV commercials, full-colour press advertisements, promotional booklets to attract customers and when the customer actually walks in, she is ignored. The marketing communications maxim of "A.I.D.A." states that your campaign needs Attract attention in order to arouse sufficient Interest to create a Desire to own and thereby induce Action. I was attracted by the sales ad, curious to find out more choices in store, definitely want 2 fans and took time to pop by. Their campaign is successful but it did not make them the sale. In fact, it wasted good money on advertising campaign. What went wrong? Absolutely, definitely, on site customer service!

Customer service is more than a smile, more than acknowledging a customer. These days, products are fast becoming commodities with few differentiations. What would make the distinction is the brand value and customer relationship management. A strong brand is a promise to the customer, it is a differentiating factor that distinguishes your products from other offerings in the market. More importantly, it also enables the company to build customer loyalty as the people will remember the brand and its quality. While CRM creates and sustains customer loyalty as well as promoting customer retention. The core value is in increasing customer value while reducing the cost of sales. And this store just increased it's cost by ignoring customer!

Customer service concepts aside, I cannot understand how these sales consultants could ignore a customer. Customers are the ones that pay their boss who in turn pay for their salaries, overtime, bonus, commission, medical benefits, insurance, etc. Customers likes to do business with companies that treat them like kings. When a company offers great customer services, not only will customers return but would also spread words among friends and families. That’s one contributing factor to how a company is to build to last. When you are nice to others, others will be nice to you. What goes around will come around.

What does customer service depend upon? The company must have customer friendly policies set from the top and these executives must see that the policies are seriously being carried out both internally and externally. If the staff does not know the value of customer service, is ignorant about how to retain customer loyalty or reluctant to provide that "extra mile", the sincerity will not shine through the smiles and greetings. Don’t you detest those mechanical and almost robotic words with absolutely no warmth and meaning in them?

More importantly, don't you just hate it when you went all the way there and had to go back empty-handed?

Vivienne Quek
08 May 2007

Vivienne Quek is a seasoned veteran in the advertising industry. She has worked in small local outfits to large international agencies servicing multi-million dollar accounts. Today, she runs two agencies providing a wide range of marketing and communications services Vivienne continues to play an active role in her agencies and blogs to share her experiences with everyone at http://www.versacreations.net

Turn Customers Complains Into Assets

Virtually every organization encounters customer complaints from time to time. Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the complaints and to lose track of how many satisfied customers say nothing at all. Even worse, sometimes it is hard to remember just how valuable a customer complaint can be to the organization. Contrary to how it may feel to be the recipient of a customer complaint, it is a wonderful opportunity if embraced with commitment and integrity. You can turn customer complaints into valuable assets.

First, it is important to recognize that the majority of customers who complain are loyal customers who care about your business.

Customers who take the time to complain are also taking the time to tell you what went wrong with your process, your product or your communication. It takes some effort for a customer to contact you and tell you how the product, process or communications did not live up to expectations. This is an opportunity to reward the customer for taking the time to contact you and to learn how you can make internal improvements. If you can fix the problem for one complaining customer it may help many other customers, including the ones who never contacted you.

Loyal customers believe that you want to know what went wrong, and trust you to make it right. Loyal customers give you a chance to fix the issue. If one customer complains, it is typically an indication that there are several more with the same experience. If a complaining customer is irate, it is because the customer is disappointed. If there are other disappointed customers who do not call, you can bet that those customers have already given up on you. Customers who are disappointed and do not complain are already lost, but you have a chance to save the ones who are loyal enough to give you the opportunity to respond.

The complaining customer trusts you to care.
The complaining customer trusts you to care, this is why the customer contacted you. Don't avoid them, embrace them. If a customer does not contact you, it does not mean that they did not experience a similar issue. The customers who to not trust you, or do not believe that you will care, do not take the time to contact you. Customers with similar issues who do not contact you are already lost. The customers who do take the time to complain are the most loyal customers because they believe in you, in spite of the problem that they are experiencing.

Remember that the customer is not complaining about you, they are expressing the dissatisfaction to you. You are not the problem, you are the solution. Rather than perceiving the customer frustration as a personal attack, think of yourself as a person that the customer is coming to for help. How you respond to the complaining customer will determine the long term loyalty of the customer. Take care of a customer who takes time to communicate with you, and you may preserve the loyalty. Let them go, and they will communicate the experience to many other potential customers.

Turn complaints into assets.
Fix the customer and then fix the problem. Your first priority should be to understand the personal impact of the problem with your customer. It may be that the frustration expressed by the customer is the result of some dynamic impact other than the issue itself. The customer may feel mislead by communications, betrayed by the organization, or suffered some other impact as the result of the original problem. Listen to the underlying message of the complaint so you can identify what it will take to reassure the customer and address the specific needs.

Once you understand the root cause of the complaint, you may have an opportunity to implement changes that could avoid a reoccurrence of the problem. This may be your opportunity to increase customer satisfaction at an exponential rate.. If you can not eliminate the problem, at least you can use the experience to prepare a responsible solution for other customers who may have the same complaint. If it can not be eliminated, at least you can plan and prepare.

Preserve loyal customers who take the time to complain. Use the experience to eliminate defects, plan for countermeasures and responses.

How much money is invested in sales efforts, marketing, advertising and the acquisition of new customers? How much are you prepared to invest in the customers who have experienced a problem due to your organization and still trust you enough to take care of them?

Words of Wisdom
"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning." - Bill Gates

"Too many people think only of their own profit. But business opportunity seldom knocks on the door of self-centered people. No customer ever goes to a store merely to please the storekeeper." - Kazuo Inamori

"The customer doesn't expect everything will go right all the time; the big test is what you do when things go wrong." - Sir Colin Marshall

John Mehrmann
17 May 2007

John Mehrmann is a freelance author, industry expert and President of Executive Blueprints Inc, an organization dedicated to developing human capital and personal growth.