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Introduction
In today’s competitive business world, most businesses inevitably will face the commoditization of their products or services. How, then, can they distinguish themselves from the dozens of nearly identical competitor products and services? In the absence of a reason, it’s often said, customers will choose price. But what if your business can give its customers something special, something that can’t be duplicated, whatever the price? What if you can offer something unique that no other competitor can provide? You can do this by delivering a winning customer service experience.
There are many good reasons why you should have outstanding customer service. You’ve probably already seen that your loyal customers, those who are emotionally attached to your business, will spend more than those who are not connected to you, who think your service is just OK. Offering excellent customer service that consistently delivers results that leave customers more than just “satisfied” is critical to the long-term growth of your organization. Loyal customers will promote your excellent service by word of mouth to friends, family, colleagues, and coworkers. And keeping existing customers happy costs considerably less than attracting new ones.
Companies recognized for their exceptional customer service know that to achieve effective service success and great customer satisfaction ratings, it’s important that employees understand the customer’s needs and are empowered to make decisions for themselves. Employees need to be imaginative in order to be able to act decisively, yet innovatively, and have the personality required to deliver a unique style of service. Customer service has to be delivered in a welcoming, positive atmosphere; the employees must be approachable, have excellent interaction skills, and be enthusiastic to help customers. This will ensure that they have the ability to offer timely solutions to any given problems.
Organizations and individuals who want to take their customer relationships to the next level need to focus on customer-care effectiveness and develop their customer-care core principles in a way that can be maintained and improved on an ongoing basis. In these difficult economic times, you can take your chances with an average customer service program and eventually fall by the wayside or you can choose to deliver exceptional customer service and reap the rewards of deserved reputation and increased profitability, as well as improved workplace morale. Winning long-term customer loyalty is what this is all about; exceptional, memorable experiences are what bond customers emotionally to your business.
By aligning everyone in your organization around a customer service mission and developing day-to-day actions based on the values of customer service, you can ensure that your people will do and say the right thing to develop the type of relationship with your customers that will turn them into lifelong fans.
