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The
Secret of Success by Coach Bud
Over
150 years ago Benjamin Desraeli gave us a philosophy
that is even truer today than it was then. Disraeli
observed, "The Secret of Success is
Consistency of Purpose". This is a
sound philosophy for both our personal and professional
life. We will apply Disraeli's wisdom to delivering
superior customer service. As we discussed in
last week's article, top management must 1)
truly believe their customers are the company's
number one priority and 2) establish a superior
customer service culture that every employee
believes in and delivers to the
external customers.
Why
Customers Quit
Once your customer service culture
is established, your clear purpose is to deliver
that superior customer service. The challenge
then becomes how to do it consistently over
time.
Let's
begin by looking at some staggering statistics
that reinforce the importance of consistent
customer service. In Michael LeBoeuf's book,
"How To Win Customers and Keep Them
For Life", he highlights a survey on
why customers quit doing business with a company.
The survey revealed that...
1% die;
3% move away;
5% develop other friendships;
9% leave for competitive reasons;
14% are dissatisfied with product; and...
68% quit because of an attitude of indifference
toward the customer by the owner, manager, or
some employee
WOW!
68% stop doing business because they "feel"
the company does not value them as a customer.
Inexcusable? Yes! Avoidable? Yes! LeBoeuf goes
on to point out that a typical business hears
from only 4% of its dissatisfied customers.
The other 96% just go quietly away and 91% of
those customers will never come back. It is
human nature for most people to avoid adversarial
situations and since they have a choice, they
begin doing business with your competitor without
your knowledge. By the time you find out it's
probably too late to win them back. When you
consider that is takes five times the effort
to obtain a new customer as to retain the one
you have, it makes good business sense and economic
"cents" to deliver superior customer
service consistently and retain the customers
you worked so hard to obtain.
Maximize
Your Assets
Customer "loyalty" is fragile
in this highly competitive marketplace in which
we all operate today. The bad news is that it
will become even more competitive as the "global"
marketplace continues to shrink. The good news
is that you can insulate your company from this
competitive situation. This is done by maximizing
what Gary Tomlinson, founder and president of
his highly successful, Raleigh-based company
MedCovers, defines as the greatest asset in
any company...the customer. He further defines
customer as both the internal (employees) and
external customers. Tomlinson emphasizes, "We
must recognize that the source of our income
is our customer, not our company".
Moments
of Truth
So, how do you deliver superior customer
service on a consistent basis? Let's
examine some real world situation. Jan Carlzon,
president of Scandinavian Airlines, is credited
with originating the concept of moments of truth.
(Source: Moments of Truth by Jan Carlzon)
Carlzon took over as president when the
airline had lost 30 million dollars in the two
previous years. In his single-minded focus for
becoming the best airline of the frequent business
traveler in Europe, he determined that the first
15-second encounter between a passenger (customer)
and his front-line people (employees) set the
tone or image of the entire company in the mind
of that customer. Thus, each encounter with
a customer is a moment of truth. The
key is to insure that every moment of
truth is a positive one for the customer. By
establishing this culture in SAS, the airline
returned to profitability in one year while
the rest of the international airlines tallied
a record two billion-dollar collective loss.
Each encounter you or an employee has with a
customer is a moment of truth. The customer's
perception (reality) of your company is formed
by every encounter. To deliver superior customer
service, every encounter must result in a positive
experience for your customer. For example, every
time the phone rings at your business, it is
a moment of truth. Are your customers/prospects
greeted with a cheerful, professional and efficient
handling of their call? How each call is handled
provides one of the most opportune moments
of truth for you to make a positive impact
and help customers "feel" good about
doing business with you and your company.
The
most important person(s) in your company is
the person(s) who answers the phone.
Ten
Actions You Can Take
Here is a list of ten actions you can take to
deliver superior customer service:
- Walk
Your Talk - your actions and deeds must support
your verbal commitment to delivering superior
customer service. Empower all employees
to be proactive in solving customer problems
and do what it takes to meet their needs and
exceed their expectations.
- Ask
your customer, "How are we doing
for you? What can we do to better serve
your needs?"
- Be
a "Solutionist". Help customers
solve challenges and maximize opportunities
for their success.
- Keep
in mind that when you help others succeed,
you succeed!
- Insure
that every transaction with your customer
is a win-win.
- Constantly
examine your policies and procedures from
your customer's perspective. Be "customer
friendly".
- Stay
focused on retaining the customers
you have. They will help you obtain new customers.
- Insure
that the lines of communication with
customers (internal and external) are always
open.
- Seek
ways to exceed your customer's expectations.
By
your actions, deeds and words,
constantly reinforce the value of external customers
with employees and provide them with learning
opportunities to enhance their customer service
skills.
This
list is not all-inclusive by any means. You
can build on these fundamentals with creative
and innovative ideas specific to your business
and sustain the consistency of your purpose
to deliver superior customer service.
Recommended
Reading:
Moments of Truth, Jan Carlzon
How To Win Customers and Keep Them For Life,
Michael LeBoeuf
Raving Fans, Ken Blanchard & Sheldon Bowles
NUTS!, Kevin & Jackie Freiberg (Southwest
Airlines)
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Customer
Service
Where
It All Begins
The
Secret Of Success
Perpetuating
World-Class Customer Service
Delivering
Superior Customer Service
The
Customer is King...or there is NO Kingdom
Communication
3C's
+ 3M's = Effective Communication
Entrepreneurial
Business
Entrepreneurs
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Ten
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Go
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Can
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America…Our
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Be A Solutionist
Marketing
Developing
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