Customer service has long since been considered a minor area of organizational operations - minimum wage, clerical orientation, requiring no skill. Customer service personnel are often treated as peons by customers and managers alike. However, in the day and age when the supply of service providers outweigh the demands for the service or product and competition is high for every consumer dollar, customer service is the only true determining factor as to where a consumer will decide to spend his or her precious discretionary or disposable income.
Successful companies do what others have failed to do in this discipline we call business! They take advantage of the most dynamic opportunity open to the business owner or decision maker. They vow to become the best customer service provider in his or her industry. They realize that customer service not only drives customer sales; but also drives repeat consumerism and ultimately bottom line profitability.
Are you passing up this critical opportunity because you have no strategic customer service focus, vision or mission? Is your customer service strategy being utilized to enhance your competitive edge? Or is your current strategy laying a foundation for ultimate failure in your industry?
At one time, "good" customer service was the sign of a "good" customer service provider. But, in today's fast paced, high tech, fast paced business environment, "good" just isn't good enough anymore. The average customer will only give you one chance to disappoint them before they hand their hard earned income over to your closest competitor. Today's consumer expects appreciation for choosing you as the winner of their valuable dollars. There are many competitors out there competing for their money. Your goal is to assure that they not only chose you; but consistently come back to you to build a strong foundation to your business!
The Production Era axiom of "build a better mousetrap, catch the bigger mouse" is no longer the standard by which a business can measure its success in the consumer market. Successful business mandates that those who consume a product or service be fully satisfied with their purchase, which means they must be satisfied with the emotional satisfaction associated with the purchase.
It is crucial that decision makers understand the psychology of today's consumer. They want to feel that their patronage is of critical importance and that when they spend their dollars on your product or service, they have made a wise investment of their hard earned funds. The wise business owner understands that at the core of a consumer's psychological needs associated with the consumption of the product or service is the interaction and impression the consumer gets from your company's first line of defense - the customer service provider.
True Customer Service is not just a response to customer dissatisfaction as one broad definition has implied. True customer services is a very proactive, well developed, organized program of ensuring that your product or service is the very best that your target consumer can expect. The elements of a good Customer Service Program are responsiveness, convenience, quality, competence, gratification, sincerity, and integrity. These are the Seven Standards of Service Excellence! If these standards are absent from your customer service program, your bottom line will suffer. It is, therefore, crucial to your success, that your front line customer service personnel are well versed in and understand the impact of these standards of service excellence.
THE 7 STANDARDS DEFINED:
Responsiveness is the prompt attention to consumer problems, concerns, and issues. Answering the telephone quickly; being understanding and empathetic; listening, listening, and listening some more. Most customers just want someone to listen and understand. Insure that you have policies and people in place who truly care for and take care of customer concerns. After all, without the customer, you would be a non-entity.
Convenience is assuring the product is assessable when the customer wants it. The enormous success of the corner convenient store is affirmation that consumers will pay a bit more for the convenience of not having to go out of his or her way. The more work customers have to do to access your product or service, the less profits you will see and the more likely that the competitor who aptly plans for effective 'placement' in their marketing strategy will get those crucial consumer dollars.
Quality is consumer expectations of high standards in the product or service provided. Although cost is a large factor in the marketing mix, the average consumer will pay a bit more for high quality merchandise. However, make no mistake about it - even if the consumer does not pay excessive dollars for a product or service, they still expect some level of quality performance.
Competence is knowing your business, your product or service, and your customer. Consumers want to know that when they have questions, you have the answers. Be sure that anyone who answers your business line or who greets your customer is knowledgeable about what you do and how you do it. Incompetence drives customers to competitors. The wise competitor will be ready to receive them.
Consumers buy products and utilize services for one reason only - Gratification. Gratification is that psychological satisfaction we talked about earlier. Consumers expect their lives to be improved by your product or service. If your product fails to gratify them, it will be the one and only time that they purchase your product or service. Remember, consumers have a large (very large) memory bank when they are disappointed. Don't make promises you can't keep and keep those you make.
Sincerity is the ability to make the consumer trust and believe in your product or service. That means they must trust and believe in your. In this day and age of massive competition for almost every product imaginable, I consistently tell my clients that the customer is not buying your product or service, they are in actuality, buying your impression upon them. If they like you, they will do business with you; if they don't, they won't. Also, commit to memory this customer service law: Everyone who has contact with your customer is your Customer Service Specialist and impacts your bottom line. Assure that the impact is profit making not profit breaking.
Integrity is being honest with your customers. The average consumer may want things simple, but is, by no means, a simpleton. There is nothing wrong with the statement, "I don't know" as long as it is followed by, "But, I will find out and get back with your immediately". Customers prefer frankness over double talk. The things that will make your customer run post haste to the nearest competitor is the perception that you are cheating them, taking them for a ride or taking advantage of them. Integrity is the name of the game. My clients are continuously reminded of this critical statistic - "a satisfied customer will tell approximately 4 to 5 people of their great experiences with you; a dissatisfied customer will tell between 23 to 27". As you can assess, you need to make sure you have a far greater number of satisfied customer to counter just one dissatisfied one if you plan on longevity in the market place. Be honest and forthright and your customers will provide you with repeat business... which leads to ultimate success. Be dishonest - and they will ruin you.
If your customer service team does not have all the skills needed to build a program of Customer Service Excellence, invest in a customer service course or take a training class. Remember that a strong customer service orientation is the key to unlocking the door to "Gaining Your Competitive Edge".
Ms Adams- Robinson, the Virtuous Visionary, is available for personal coaching, group training, customized organizational training, conferences, motivational presentations and spiritual speaking engagements.
Copyright bar@2004
Brenetia Adams-Robinson, MBA
President / Epitome’ Consulting Services
P.O. Box 743
Jonesboro, Georgia 30237
770-960-1884
www.virtuousvisionary.com [http://www.virtuousvisionary.com]
A professional trainer, speaker and author, Brenetia Adams-Robinson is the President of Epitome’ Consulting Services, a business coaching and training firm in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a Cum Laude graduate from the University of Maryland-Europe, completing a Bachelor of Science in Business and Management with emphasis in Human Resource Management and holds a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) in global management strategies. She is federally trained and certified as an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Counselor, Leadership Education & Development Instructor, Leadership Team-Building Instructor, Project Manager, and Master Trainer (a Train the Trainer Certification). She has a special certification from Purdue University as a Customer Service Professional. Her innovative customized training programs are widely acclaimed as organizational change agents. “Keeping Customers for Life”, a customized customer service training program for supervisors and front line staff to help organizations take their customer service and customer retention management to the next level.
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