Shep Hyken's Blog, page 236
October 7, 2013
5 TOP CUSTOMER SERVICE ARTICLES FOR THE WEEK OF October 7, 2013
Each week I read a number of customer service articles from various online resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think too.
12 Customer Service Quotes to Hang on Your Office Wall by Carla Gates
(Acquisition marketing) But I believe that even inside emerging companies, are ideas and practices about customer service that are just as paradigm-shifting. To that end, I interviewed the leaders at d50 Media, an advertising agency in the Boston area, to find those nuggets of customer service wisdom that are important, actionable, and should be hanging on our office walls.
My Comments: I’m reading these quotes on Monday, October 7, the first day of National Customer Service Week. These are great to get us inspired to create a better customer service experience, but not just for the week. How about all of the time!
How to replicate Disney’s first-class customer experience by Gary Edwards
(Retail Customer Experience) By following Disney’s example, paying attention to the many little details that matter, retailers can develop customer experiences that wow consumers and differentiate their brands in an increasingly crowded retail marketplace.
My Comment: I’ve always been a huge fan of Disney. Personally, I’ve visited Disney theme parks over 50 times. Professionally, I’ve taken a number of the business courses Disney offers through Disney Institute and have taken their “back stage” tour five times. I always learn something new. I love this article and the five lessons we can take away from it. Any company can use at least one, if not all of these to implement a first class Disney style experience.
Customer Experience From the C-Suite, With Dan Hesse by Bruce Temkin
(Customer Experience Matters) The webinar with Dan provided a great opportunity to hear Sprint’s inspirational CX story and offered a glimpse into the mind of a CEO who really “gets CX.” Dan’s efforts at Sprint highlight many elements of Temkin Group’s four customer experience core competencies.
My Comment: The interview with Sprint CEO Dan Hesse is exactly what everyone, not just the C-Suite, needs to understand to deliver a great customer experience. The nine “takeaways” from the interview are excellent. My favorite is to “never waste a good crisis.” Take advantage of a customer crisis by turning the situation around to be favorable, and most important, leveraging the crisis internally as a learning opportunity.
Is Your Business Customer Centric? by Debbie Laskey
(Business 2 Community) Is your company customer centric? Does your leadership team know what that means?
My Comment: Even though I love the Nordstrom tire story, I’ve always had an issue with the person who gave the gentleman the refund for the tires. That said, the story created the legend – and the standard – for the level of customer service that Nordstrom would deliver. No doubt we treat some customers better than others based on how much business they give us. Yet, the minimum standard should always be to treat the customer better than average, always making the customer feel valued and appreciated, regardless of how much or little is spent with us.
Product and Price Step Aside, Personalization is King by Anna Papachristos
(1 to 1 media) Retailers can no longer depend on price and product quality to entice customers. Future success depends on retailers’ abilities to enable omnichannel experience.
My Comment: Personalization can give a company an incredible advantage over the competition. It helps build the relationship – a potentially loyal relationship. Great information and statistics in this article that supports this concept.
Professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information contact (314) 692-2200 or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs go to http://www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken
(Copyright ©MMXIII, Shep Hyken)
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October 4, 2013
Guest Blog: What Brick and Mortar Business Can Learn from Online Business
This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post, Rob Carpenter talks about what brick and mortar businesses must do to compete with online businesses to keep customers. He mentions four tactics that I believe will help you be more successful. – Shep Hyken
We live our lives immersed in tech and the online world. Ping, ping! You received a new email. Beep, beep! You received a new text message. Boop, boop! Two more people liked your Facebook status. It’s not surprising, then, that more and more people are turning to online shopping.
That doesn’t, under any circumstance, mean that brick and mortar businesses are going the way of the newspaper. It does mean that the way consumers like to shop and be treated is changing. Their priorities are changing completely.
In order to keep up with online business, brick and mortar businesses will need to steal some popular eCommerce philosophies and tactics. Here are the top four:
1. Personalize to Survive
You’ve heard of segmentation and personalization, right? It seems like online marketing 101, but it’s relevant to those of us running brick and mortar businesses too.
Whether we like to admit it or not, the average customer experience feels shallow. It’s a pre-packaged smile, sales pitch and handshake. One size fits all.
Online, some companies are discovering the power of personalization. Mass emails are addressed to specific subscribers, sales funnels are based on previous behavior, etc.
Hire a diverse sales and customer service team. Representatives from all walks of life. Representatives who understand the various customers you’re targeting. Establish a personal connection with them. Get to know their personal story; it’s different than any other customer’s story.
2. Instant Service, Instant Sale
We all know the Internet is propelling the “instant everything” culture. It’s not just Gen Y that doesn’t want to wait around. 71% of online shoppers expect assistance within five minutes. If they don’t receive it, 48% will abandon the site, never to be heard from again.
Still not convinced that time is money online? A one second (yes, really) delay in page response can result in a 7% reduction in conversions. What makes us think that response time isn’t equally as important to brick and mortar companies?
Hire enough representatives! Make sure they stand out in the store. If you can’t afford a large staff team, install “customer service request” buttons throughout the store and empower your employees to respond to requests quickly.
3. Everybody is Comparison Shopping
This lesson is twofold. Online, reviews and price comparisons reign supreme. We’re kidding ourselves if we don’t think that the same applies to brick and mortar businesses.
Word of mouth alone is a powerful medium. Consumers are two times more likely to share their bad customer service experiences than they are to talk about positive experiences. What’s worse is that it takes 12 positive customer experiences to make up for one negative experience. Put two and two together and the outlook is not so good.
Aside from word of mouth, we have to take mobile devices into account. In-store consumers are comparison shopping on their phones and tablets. They’re looking up product and store reviews online. If they find a better deal or review somewhere else, don’t be surprised if they walk out.
Be aware of the word of mouth and mobile tech effect. Great in-store service will leave them with a positive customer experience and little time to consult the mobile world. Now more than ever, being present in-store and maintaining a good reputation at all costs is vital.
4. Short-Term Sale, Long-Term Gain
Online businesses are forever concerned with retention. They want an “in” and permission to reconnect with consumers after the initial purchase. They’ll request an email address or, in some cases, a zip code before processing the purchase.
The most valuable customer is the one you never lose, right? Online businesses believe it. After all, it is six to seven times more expensive to attract a new customer than it is to retain an existing customer.
Brick and mortar businesses, however, have less concrete retention plans. Sure, the odd representative will ask for an email address at the POS, but the request is normally quickly denied. Why? Consumers don’t want to be marketed to and they know exactly what you’re up to!
As it turns out, a great customer experience has a huge impact on retention. If you want to open the door to long-term gain after a short-term sale, make sure the customer experience is flawless.
A customer is four times more likely to buy from a competitor if the problem is service-related vs. price- or product-related. At the end of the day, studies have found that customer churn is attributed to the poor quality of customer service.
Conclusion
Boom, boom! Ecommerce is exploding and is only expected to continue on this path. In order to keep up with the changing space, brick and mortar businesses will need to take a cue from online businesses and put a heavy emphasis on customer experience.
Offer a personalized experience, ensure speedy customer service, maintain your reputation to fuel word of mouth, and don’t ignore the importance of retention. That’s it. Those are the four biggest lessons to learn from the online business boom.
About the Author
Rob Carpenter is the Director of Marketing at Evergage, a real-time web personalization and customer success platform that automates response to what people are doing on your website the moment they do it. He writes on how to utilize customer intelligence data to increase web conversions and drive engagement at each stage of the customer lifecycle on the Evergage blog. Follow him on Twitter and sign up for the Evergage blog for more customer experience content.
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October 2, 2013
How well do you treat your internal customers?
Internal serviceThe concept of internal customer service may be just as important, if not even more so, than general customer service. So much of what drives the customer experience is what is happening on the inside of an organization. It’s the company’s culture that creates and ultimately defines the customer service experience. So here is an interesting concept:
What if your internal customers had a choice about doing business with you?
Customers have a choice with who they do business with, so why shouldn’t internal customers have a choice as well? Okay, that may not be realistic. We have to do business with our internal customers, don’t we? We actually work with our internal customers, or do we?
Typically, if one of our internal customers is unhappy with the way he or she is treated, they don’t usually have a choice to go outside to another vendor. But, they do have a choice of continuing to work for the organization. If they are unhappy and have an opportunity to leave and work for the competition – or any other company for that matter – isn’t that kind of the same as a customer leaving us for a competitor?
No doubt employees leave if they are unfulfilled or are offered opportunities that are of better value than their current job. But that’s not what this is really about. This is really just a concept to get you thinking. So here’s another question:
How well do you treat and take care of your internal customers?
Okay, let’s go back to the original question: What if our internal customers really did have a choice of doing business with us or someone else? Would they choose us? Do we deliver a level of internal customer service that is just acceptable or satisfactory? Or is it above average – even amazing?
Years ago I worked with a client who had an internal event planning department. What was interesting is that they had to bid for every job they did for their own company’s meetings. They went up against other creative meeting and event planning companies. And, the internal customer had the choice of doing business with their own department, or going to an outside firm, which in a sense is a competitor. The pressure was on for the internal event planners to deliver an experience and level of customer service that would get their internal customer to come back. This concept worked and the internal event planners kept their creative edge and worked to make their internal customers very happy.
In the end, most of our internal customers really don’t have a choice, but if they did, would they choose you?
Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information contact (314)692-2200 or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs go tohttp://www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken
(Copyright ©MMXIII, Shep Hyken)
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September 30, 2013
5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of September 30, 2013
Each week I read a number of customer service articles from various online resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think too.
Is Yelp Turning You Into a Crappy Customer? by Gregory Ciotti
(Medium) In many ways, this is why many people don’t see customer service as a 2-way street—when we don the title of The Customer, we shoulder no responsibility in the outcome of our experience with a company. But is this what the interactive process of service is all about?
My Comment: Online review sites are becoming news lately. Fraudulent and ridiculous reviews take away from the credibility of these sites. More importantly, a false review can hurt a company. So, how does a company deal with it? The image in this article from a restaurant may be my favorite ways of dealing with a negative review. I think you’ll enjoy this article.
Surprising, Disturbing Facts From The Mother Of All Employee Engagement Surveys by Victor Lipman
(Forbes) I finally got around to spending quality time with Gallup’s “State of the American Workplace” survey, published earlier this year. As always, it was excellent but disturbing reading, a vast amount of data from more than 350,000 respondents over a three-year period, shedding fascinating high-level light on how Americans feel about their jobs.
My Comment: Employee engagement has been a hot topic for a few years (at least). This article shares some great stats from the Gallup survey, and summarizes it with a simple sentence that leadership should always consider when implementing an employee engagement program.
Imagining a Genuinely Trustable Airline by Don Peppers
(Peppers & Rogers Group) If you fly as much as I do, you already know that airlines aren’t very trustable in the eyes of most customers. Even before they lose your bag, there are all sorts of reasons not to trust an airline. If I were to design a trustable airline today, here are a few of the things I’d consider:
My Comment: There is a great book that was written for the hospital industry: “If Disney Ran Your Hospital.” I think most businesses would be interested to know how to run a business like Disney. How about if you ran your business like an airline? (Southwest and Jet Blue excluded.) How much would you expect to learn? Not much, unless it is Don Peppers fictional airline, Trustability Airways.
5 Words That Customers Absolutely Hate by Geoffrey James
(Inc) There are five words that every customer hates with a passion: “That is not my responsibility.” Regardless of whether you’re in sales, support, engineering, marketing or management, if you say those words to a customer, that customer knows that your firm doesn’t give a damn. And you’ve probably lost that customer, too. Here’s why.
My Comment: It may not be your fault, but it becomes your problem (to resolve). If you walk up to the front desk clerk at a hotel and inform him that the nightstand light in your room is burnt out, that person will most likely say, “Thank you for letting me know. I’ll take care of it.” At that point, I doubt you’ll see the clerk leave the front desk to rush to the guest’s room to change the bulb. No, he will probably call the maintenance department. That’s accountability, which is an invisible expectation that most customer’s want and expect of the people and places they do business with.
Richard Branson on Building Brand Loyalty by Richard Branson
(Entrepreneur) Q: How do you build a company culture based on customer service? — Entrepreneur reader
I have been thinking about that question quite a bit this past week, partly because of a recent New York Times article about one of our airlines, Virgin America, describing what some see as a tension between making profits and creating a company that people love.
My Comment: I’ve always believed (and wrote about this in my recent book) that if you focus on the customer, the profits will follow. That seems to be a big focus and strategy for Sir Richard Branson. His Virgin America airline continues to receive high ratings – some of the highest in the industry. Insight into why is good information for virtually any business.
Professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information contact (314) 692-2200 or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs go to http://www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken
(Copyright ©MMXIII, Shep Hyken)
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September 27, 2013
Guest Blog: How to Coach Your Staff to Problem Solve on Their Own
This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post, Kelly Gregorio talks about how important it is to train your employees. I like her belief that if your employees cannot problem solve on their own, then it is impossible for them to serve your customers well. – Shep Hyken
As the leader of your team, chances are you hold customer service to the highest ideal; and why not? Exceptional customer service is in direct correlation to positive brand recognition, great word of mouth and loyalty among customers.
However, regardless of how well you serve customers, training employees to provide exceptional customer service is an investment that really counts. After all, hourly employees are the people that interact with your customers on a daily, face-to-face basis. Unfortunately the need to polish certain skills (in this case, problem solving) is commonly overlooked.
If your employees cannot problem solve on their own, then it is impossible for them to serve your customers well. Just imagine the frustration customers get every time your staff has to pause and call on you for direction and authority. Just imagine the distaste a customer feels when the employee they are dealing with can’t fix their issues, and instead directs them to go up the painstakingly long chain of command.
You want to present your employees as brand ambassadors; and brand ambassadors have the ability to problem solve, make decisions and change the customer experience for the better. Despite your best intentions, you may be employing a staff that can’t empower themselves enough to function without you. Here’s how to show them the light…
Emphasize the Need to Relax
One of the reasons your staff may be hesitant to make their own moves is that they are unsure of the repercussions. This may take some effort on your part to evaluate your responses to their failures and tailor negativity (yelling, anger, frustration, etc.). If you want your staff to make their own moves, you will have to instill a confidence within them knowing that they can come to you and comfortably own-up to any mistakes.
Once they know where they stand with you, it will be worthwhile to teach them how to deal with themselves. Chances are your staff is reaching out to you because when issues arise they become stressed, worried and anxious. Emphasize the importance of gaining composure with an activity like taking a minute to him/herself and practicing some deep, slow breathing. Once they have their emotions in check, the problem-solving process can begin.
Adopt an Ownership Attitude
There is one idea that you should reiterate to your staff if you want them to problem solve independently: pretend I don’t exist. If your staff owned your company, they would certainly work in the best interest of the business. Encourage them to think this way when you are both off and on-site, a better, more attentive customer experience will result.
Lead a conversation with your staff that refreshes and reminds them how to effectively problem solve.
Step One: Assess the issue and brainstorm possible solutions while quickly weighing the possible positive and negative outcomes of each.
Step Two: Carry out the best possible solution with the interest of the business and its customers in mind.
Step Three: Follow-up and evaluate the results. This step is especially important; staff members need to ensure that the customer is happy and any problems have been alleviated before they walk out your doors.
Coach Them to Spot Solutions
Just because your staff is problem solving on their own, does not mean you should disappear from the equation. For example, your input in Step Three could be a great service to your team. By evaluating the results together, you can determine what does and does not work while creating a proactive game plan for next time.
Additionally, your imagination can serve your employees too. When working together create fictitious problems and talk the three step process out together. The more what-if activities you can do with your staff, the more comfortable and confident they will become with the process.
Send Them Off With an Ego Boost
Once you’ve pointed out the need for change and provided your team with the necessary tools, send them off with an ego boost. Emphasize that the reason you’ve taken the time to teach them this is because you see their potential as an independent worker. Also, be sure to pass on any praise that customers express as a way to reinforce effective problem solving and how it results in great customer service.
Especially during adjustment periods, team members can turn your encouragement into a forward, positive push. With the right tactics in place you can strengthen your staff’s ability to problem solve, and get back to the real purpose of your job: managing their work (not doing it for them).
What other problem solving skills should managers teach their team?
About the author: Kelly Gregorio writes about leadership trends and tips while working at Advantage Capital Funds, a provider of merchant cash advances. You can read her daily business blog here.
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September 25, 2013
Customer Experience Lesson from Superstar Athlete
Earvin “Magic” Johnson, recognized as one of the greatest basketball players to ever play the game, is also as successful, if not even more so, in business. On the basketball court he understood his competition and how to beat them. In business he understands his customers and how to bring them value. He is best known for taking typical suburban businesses and bringing them into urban America.
Recently I had the pleasure of sitting in on a question and answer session with this sports and business legend. One of the questions asked was about his biggest success and biggest failures were. Amazingly, these ventures succeeded and failed for the same reasons, the understanding – or lack of understanding – of what the customers wanted. And, no matter how nice you are, or how nice the merchandise, you can’t very well deliver an amazing customer experience if you don’t understand your customers.
Let’s start with the failure. Magic told us that it was associated with the Magic 32 retail store that sold Magic Johnson merchandise and other high-end sporting goods. While it started off strong, in the end, the store was a failure. After the “magic” wore off, sales slumped, and in just under a year the business folded. He couldn’t understand why, until someone told him, “You are trying to sell us the stuff you like. Not what we like.” In short, Magic didn’t understand what his customer wanted.
Magic quickly learned that the success of any business, as he would prove in future ventures, was about understanding the customer.
That’s what brings us to Magic’s proudest business success story, which was his Starbucks adventure. He grinned from ear to ear as he told this story. He recognized the popularity of Starbucks, and noticed they didn’t have locations in urban neighborhoods. He also understood the buying power of minorities, so, he made a phone call to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and told him, and I quote, “Howard, black people like to drink coffee, too.” That call turned into a 125 unit chain of urban Starbucks that was wildly successful. But, before success could be claimed, changes had to be made. In the neighborhoods these Starbucks coffee houses were going into, the customers weren’t used to some of the food items. He swapped out certain food items for ones that his customers wanted. He also changed the background music. And, there is the business lesson. In short, Magic understood what his customers wanted.
How well do you know your customers? What unpopular items or services, if any, are you trying to sell to your customers? What do your customers want that you currently aren’t selling? It’s all about understanding your customers, which is one of the key ingredients to delivering your highest level customer experience.
Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information contact (314)692-2200 or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs go to http://www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken
(Copyright ©MMXIII, Shep Hyken)
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September 23, 2013
5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of September 23, 2013
Each week I read a number of customer service articles from various online resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think too.
New Generation of Business: Connecting Employee Loyalty with Customer Loyalty by Colin Shaw
(LinkedIn) Successful companies have loyal employees. They also have loyal customers. But the question for researchers and consultants for the past two decades is how these two groups are related, if at all.
My Comment: There is a definite connection between companies who provide the best customer service and companies that are considered the best place to work. Lots of articles and surveys list the same companies on both lists. The secret is how the employee feels about his/her company and, as a result, how they treat the customer. The part of the article that especially resonated with me is three traits of “employee ambassadors” that state that the employees are committed to the company, the company’s value proposition and to the customer. That is a winning combination!
Know Your Customer Experience Elephant by Peter Malamas
(Foresee) During my travels, I notice a lot of common themes around the data being used and how company leaders from a wide range of organizations and across every industry use it to make business decisions.
My Comment: Love the elephant metaphor here. It is so true. Customer data can be overwhelming at times. The original Wikipedia definition of Big Data is an amount of data that is overwhelming. The key is not about having a lot of data, but knowing what data is relevant. The best leaders don’t just know how to interpret data. They know which data is important to interpret.
Consistently Good Customer Service Has Knowledge at Its Core by Tricia Morris
(Parature) No matter how many paths each customer takes or crosses in their multichannel service journey, knowledge, used both internally and externally, can create a solid foundation for a consistently good customer experience. Here are three ways best-in-class service providers are putting knowledge to good use in improving the customer experience.
My Comment: How much do you know about your customer? Do you know if he/she contacted you before? How they contacted you before? Did they just email a question and ten minutes later, because they didn’t get the response they wanted, followed up with a phone call? Can your company track that type of information? That type of knowledge gives you power – a power that better equips you to take care of the customer. Isn’t that what customers want? And, isn’t that what we want to do for our customers?
How to Hire Employees Who Deliver Great Customer Service by Jay Forte
(Human Capitalist) Today’s 24/7 customer contact requires that organizations do a better job of hiring and retaining teams of employees who are both good at what the job requires — making on-the-spot judgments — and are interested in doing it. If not, customers know it — instantly.
My Comment: Creating a team of customer-focused people starts with the hiring process. It’s tough to get the right people with the right personalities. Everyone asks questions in an interview, but are they the right questions? The concept of “talent based” questions is a great start to finding the right people for your company.
10 Ways Technology Can Enable Customer Loyalty (INFOGRAPHIC) by Jason King
(Huffington Post) In an evermore-connected world, it is not just more important to give customers an incredible experience with your brand; it is increasingly easier and more fun for you.
My Comment: I love a good list and this one focuses on ten ways that technology can help create customer loyalty. As great as technology is, it is always important to consider the human touch in any technological situation. Most of the time, there needs to be a human back-up for support, emergencies, unique situations and more. So maybe an addition to the list is the technology that will get you to a human being – in the fastest, most direct and easiest way.
Professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information contact (314) 692-2200 or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs go to http://www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken
(Copyright ©MMXIII, Shep Hyken)
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September 20, 2013
Guest Blog: Rethinking Customer Loyalty
This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post, my colleague Jeffrey Scott talks about earning your customers loyalty. He looks at loyalty from the external and internal perspective which is required to gain loyalty. – Shep Hyken
Customer loyalty drives retention and referrals. It is a topic important to every CEO concerned with profitability. A contractor recently asked me how to force his customers to become more loyal to him. My response was, “It is not possible. You can’t force your clients to be loyal, just like you can’t force your friends to be loyal.”
Gimmicks do not work. My wife will have us fly on any airline that gives us the most frequent flyer miles. These programs have taught us to look for a deal, it has not engendered any loyalty beyond the almighty dollar.
However, there are things you can do to “earn” your customer’s loyalty. Let’s look at this from two perspectives, your clients and your employees:
Clients’ perspective
Treat clients like best friends: When a problem arises, drop your busy work and take care of them right away just like you would a friend. In fact, don’t wait for your clients to call you with issues or problems. Reach out to them and make sure everything is ok and ask if there is anything you can do for them.
Manzer’s Landscape Design (in NY) keeps their clients close by calling them monthly to stay in touch with their needs and feedback.
Look out for their money: Be proactive in your warranty efforts, reaching out to them before the warranty expires—they will love you for that. Moreover, honor warranty even when it is just outside the time limit. They will appreciate your loyalty.
Treat their property as if it were your own property. What would you do if you owned their property? Walk their property and make a list of actions you would undertake, to protect the landscape.
Don’t always go for the nickel and dime sale. Do a few things for free, and let them know about it! This will show your loyalty to them.
Make them look good: Make donations in their name. Buds-n-Blades (in WA) has a program to show their thanks every holiday season; it makes everyone look good and feel good!
Don’t mess with their favorite faces: Give your clients the same account manager and the same crew leaders to deal with on their property.
All things being equal, people like doing business with people they know, like and trust. This concept works for small $200,000 landscape companies as well as for the landscape firms that are $10million plus.
Show your staff you mean it: In a team meeting discuss how your company can express loyalty to your clients. The act of having this discussion will inspire your staff and get them focused on ‘”the good of the client.” Have your bookkeeper and office people in on this discussion—loyalty needs to come from all corners of the company.
Think about your most loyal friends and vendors: what do they do for you that makes you feel special? Ask your employees this same question, get them thinking. Then ask, “what can you do to build loyalty with our clients?”
Employee’s perspective
How do you ensure your staff are showing loyalty to your customers? (You can probably guess where this is going….) You first have to show loyalty to your staff.
Loyalty is something you pay forward
Communicate to your staff like family: Let them know how the company is doing, what the company is doing, and what the future holds. Let them know how they are doing, and what they can do to improve their value and position in the company. Spend time to get to know them personally; show that you care–they will do the same for your customers.
According to the Harvard Business Review:
- Helping your employees develop their careers and expertise creates loyalty and an alignment of company-employee values.
- Designing work with ‘autonomy and variety’ develops loyalty within your employee base.
- Also, studies have shown that when someone leaves a company they are often leaving due to a troubled relationship with their immediate supervisor. The opposite is also true. A positive relationship with their immediate supervisors will promote loyalty with employees and promote a healthy, positive work environment.
Guaranteeing customer loyalty: Loyalty is not just about the warm and fuzzy’s, it can (and must) also be systematized, as you grow larger. Over the past decades I have developed what I call, “Jeffrey’s 6 Steps to Guarantee Customer Loyalty & Retention.” To receive a free outline of these steps, email me at Jeff@JeffreyScott.biz
About the author:
Jeffrey Scott, MBA, a leading landscape business expert, grew his landscape company into a very successful $10 million enterprise, and he’s now devoted to helping others achieve profound success. He facilitates The Leader’s Edge peer group for landscape business owners who want to transform and grow their business. His members achieved 27% profit increases in their first year. To learn more visit www.GetTheLeadersEdge.com.
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September 18, 2013
Digital Customer Service: Opportunity to Connect with Customer
Delivering an Amazing Customer ExperienceI’ve always felt that no matter how capable technology is on delivering an amazing customer experience, there is no substitute for the in-person experience. That could be changing, faster than most of us think.
I walked into Total Hockey, a store that sells hockey equipment. The conversation started out like this:
“Hello, Shep. Welcome back. Hope you are enjoying that new stick you bought last month and scoring lots of goals. The last time you were here you were looking at some new skates. Are you still interested? We have them in your size. Either way, you might also be interested in these new skates we just got in.”
This is my regular salesperson. He always remembers what I bought, knows what I’m interested in, and always gives me a great customer service experience.
I just logged into Amazon.com. The message read, “Hello Shep. Welcome back.” The website had a picture of the book I looked at the last time I visited the website. And, it recommended similar books to those that I’ve purchased in the past.
Practically the same experience – kind of. In both cases, it was a completely customized, personalized and unique (to me) experience. The next time I go back into the Total Hockey store, my salesperson will show me the new items that I might like. The same thing will happen when I go back to Amazon.com.
By the way, there are many other websites and online retailers who deliver a similar experience. I use Amazon.com as an example simply because they may be the most recognized online retailer, and probably the best at what they do.
My point is that the customized experience, be it in person or digital, is your opportunity to connect with the customer as an individual. Companies are able to track a customer’s information through prior purchases, buying patterns and even products and services the customer has simply shown interest in. The digital experience is starting to mirror the in-person experience.
Keep in mind that people do business with people. And a website is designed by people for people. In the digital world of the recent past, the only thing that got in the way of a personal customer experience was the website. Not anymore.
Yet still, the in-person experience offers more opportunities to connect and deliver better customer service with the customer. There are personalized thank you notes, phone calls, and conversations about interests other than business. The opportunity to create a better customer service experience may still be in-person, but it’s hard not to notice how fast the digital experience is catching up.
Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information contact (314)692-2200 or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs go to http://www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken
(Copyright ©MMXIII, Shep Hyken)
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September 16, 2013
5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of September 16, 2013
Each week I read a number of customer service articles from various online resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think too.
The Customer Experience Opportunity That Nearly Everyone Overlooks by Justin Morelli
(Catalyst) Your website is a potential gold mine for applying your customer data to improve the customer experience, increase relevance and increase online conversions. Here are some data points you could already be collecting, and a few thought starters on what to do with it.
My Comment: While this is a little technical for me, I get the point. The digital experience is an opportunity to create a customized personalized experience. With the right software, we can capture all kinds of great information that will allow us to customize the customer’s experience when they land on our website. I don’t know if there is anyone better at this than Amazon. When I log into their website, they remind me of what I’ve looked at the last time, make recommendations and more. I’ve always said that people do business with people. And, if it is a website with this philosophy it still applies as the website was built by people to be used by people.
How to Empower Your Customer Service Reps, Richard Branson Style by Customer Service Investigator
(Software Advice) Virgin prides itself on one thing: exceptional customer service. In fact, it has been named “Top Domestic Airline” in the Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards readers’ survey every year since its launch in 2007.
My Comment: Any time I get to peek behind the curtain of Richard Branson’s Virgin Airlines, there is always something to learn. This article has eight great tactics and strategies that prove why Virgin is a great company and Richard Branson is a customer service rock star.
8 Ways To Use Social Media For Customer Service by John Cheney
(Business 2 Community) The Social Media Age is Now. The Future is Upon Us. And the Customer Experience is better than ever before! Or at least it should be.
My Comment: Using social media for customer service doesn’t just mean responding to complaints. There are many ways – and many channels – to help you deliver a better customer service experience.
The effects of a good and bad customer experience [INFOGRAPHIC] by Nicola Brookes
(New Voice Media) Today’s customer is changing the world of customer service. They’re using more channels of communication, will switch businesses following an inadequate experience, and even take their revenge online.
My Comment: This Infographic compares how customers respond to good and bad service. While the numbers focus on the average business, maybe not yours specifically, the concepts from these numbers do apply. More than ever, we must provide a good customer service experience.
How to Succeed in Customer Service in 140 Characters or Less by Gingiss Dan
(Social Media Today) Why do brands miss such great opportunities to interact with their customers? Surely these same brands would respond to a customer phone call, e-mail, or even snail mail. With so many companies talking about the importance of customer experience and customer-centered design, it is shocking that ignoring customers in a public setting has become so commonplace.
My Comment: This article is a great reminder to all of us to respond to our customer’s social media posts. The author points out that that slow or even no response may have been acceptable two years ago. Well, not anymore!
Professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information contact (314) 692-2200 or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs go to http://www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken
(Copyright ©MMXIII, Shep Hyken)
The post 5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of September 16, 2013 appeared first on Shep Hyken.
