It amazes me that companies spend thousands of dollars each month to acquire customers, only to disappoint them with exceedingly poor customer service. I like to remind people that the easiest way to grow a business is to keep your current customer happy. A happy customer spends more money and refers others to do the same. It’s a known fact that people are more likely to rant and complain (and write bad reviews) when they get bad service, than when they get good service. Customer service has gotten so bad, we now celebrate good customer service, forgetting that it should be the norm.
The one thing that every business can do to grow their bottom line is to improve on customer service. I recently shared my customer service concerns with a vendor and the CEO (who I am friends with) emailed me back and asked how she could improve. That was a win in itself; the hard part is implementation. I told her to do two things. I asked her to call in to her company or have someone call into her company and get some feedback on how the engagements started. I will tell you they were horrible. If you have someone answering your phones and they hate their job or where they are in a particular season of life, it shows, and it’s likely costing you money. I know first hand that this company is losing clients to their competition who gives amazing service (I use the services of both companies.) I also told her to ask her customers to give her candid feedback on why they took their business to her competition. Surveys are a great way to gauge how we are doing with customer service. I seek to find out how I can serve my customers better. If we let them down, I always step in to let them know we are willing to make good on it. My company is small enough to where I can do that, but in a large organization, someone needs to step in and look at it from the perspective of the customer who spent money and was let down.
If you want to stand out in your field, just keep finding ways to improve your customer experience. It is sure to pay off because happy customers become repeat customers and great referral sources.
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