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5 steps to exemplary customer service
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“We believe that customer service shouldn’t be just a department; it
should be the entire company.” -Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com
Amazon didn’t make a $1.2 billion investment acquiring Zappos.com in
2009 because Jeff Bezos has a shoe fetish. If the shoe fits, wear it. If not,
Zappos.com will gladly take it back at no cost to you. Zappos.com is the #1
seller of shoes online (ahead of J.C. Penney) by stressing customer service.
Seriously, how many of us would have bet the ranch 10 years ago that selling
shoes online would be a successful business model?
I’m a big fan of the mantra; “people don’t buy product, people buy
people.” It’s interesting how an old school business like selling shoes is
succeeding as a virtual versus physical location. Success is all about
understanding the value of an exemplary customer experience. We must always
remember that today’s customer is often more educated and informed about what
they want than the seller is. Talking about features and benefits no longer
makes for a compelling story. Compelling stories create compelling experiences.
And compelling experiences win. What’s your business delivering?
There’s no shortage of examples highlighting those companies
delivering amazing customer service; unfortunately there’s also no shortage of
stories about the really poor experiences too. From what I’ve seen, the real
estate industry is still affected by this. Both ends of the customer experience
spectrum are still very much in play. There are some businesses in the real
estate industry that can still greatly benefit by closing the gap; there could
be a number of lessons from Zappos worth applying to real estate.
The challenge for many businesses is managing the flow of
relationships, from the curious, to the serious prospects, to your existing
clients. On top of the relationships there’s the added challenge managing the
many streams of incoming information too. There’s no shortage of sources
including:
- social media
- online chat
- online surveys
- phone conversation
- even face to face
At times it feels like you’ve got a tenuous grip on a firehose of
information. However, with the right people, processes, and technologies, you
can get a very firm grip on the flow. Instead of losing your grip on the
firehose, get ahead of your customers and deliver a proactive service. Of course
this can be easier said than done, right?
Sally Gronow suggests that, “good customer service costs less than
bad customer service.” I don’t know of any business out there that likes to
throw money at bad customer service. Keeping this mind, here are five ways to
consider investing in creating a culture of exemplary customer experience.
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Leverage technology. Technology can help manage all of your communication streams. Find the right CRM application for you team. Get social, and get having real conversations with your clients. Using a social dashboard and management tool like Hootsuite will make the job a lot easier. Make it a part of the regular day to day. If you’re still not sold on the value of social media as a component for you customer service, this Fast Company article will get you thinking.
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Measure. Ensure you understand what your key performance indicators are, set goals for improvement, and continuously measure to keep on track. Knowing where the goal posts are for your employees can quickly empower them to strive for success. And that’s a benefit to them, you and your customers.
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Be proactive. Understand your customers and reach out to them to see how you can improve their experience with your products. Many companies offer a follow up survey to see how well they’ve met the customer’s expectations. It doesn’t always have to be that formal, sometimes it’s as simple as picking up the phone. It can be well worth calling a customer you haven’t talked to in a while.
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Smile. Whether it’s on the phone, email, or in-person, remember to always smile. Your customers can always sense how you feel and smiling (even though you may be feeling a bit grumpy) can change the way your language is coming across. There are 43 muscles in the face and this is one effort that can help a long way.
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Indoctrinate a culture of service. At the end of the day, our customers are what makes us survive. Everyone in the organization should be thinking about how to better service them. The more your entire team thinks about it, the more you can improve. Making sure everyone has a voice and is invested in delivering an amazing customer experience will always be a great differentiator.
- Jean Nairon, VP Customer Success
@jeannairon
@bazinga_app
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