What Customer Focus Is and Is Not About...

What Customer Focus IS About:

Creating an organizational competence: Customer-Focus is an aligned whole-organization approach to customer satisfaction and service in which Leadership, Processes and People are all customer-aligned.

In broad stokes, this means that:

• Every action is shaped by a relentless commitment to meeting and exceeding its' customers expectations regarding product and service quality;
• Internal processes are constantly evaluated and improved to meet or exceed those expectations;
• Employees are aware of their role in maintaining a valued relationship with their customers.

What Customer Focus IS NOT About - Five Blunders

While howls of protest over poor customer service continue to fill the air, there remain some businesses that manage to consistently deliver superior customer service year in and year out. These are the places where turbo-charged employees pursue customer delight with a passion, places that ignite a flashpoint of contagious enthusiasm in employees and customers alike.

Foremost among the lessons to be learned from such flashpoint businesses are the blunders* to avoid those fatal mistakes that trip up just about everybody else.

1. Making customer service a training issue. Businesses of all kinds invest huge amounts in training programs that do not and simply cannot work. The function of such training is to identify the behaviors workers are supposed to engage in, and then coax, bully, or legislate these behaviors into the workplace. At best, this is almost always a recipe for conduct that feels mechanized and insincere; at worst, it intensifies worker resentment and cynicism. Instead of dictating what workers should be doing to delight customers, the better approach is to give workers opportunities to brainstorm their own ideas for delivering delight. Managements role then becomes to help employees implement these ideas, and to allow workers to savor the motivational effect of the positive feedback that ensues from delighted customers. This level of employee ownership and involvement is a key cultural characteristic of virtually all flashpoint business.
2. Blaming poor service on employee demotivation. Businesses looking for ways to motivate their workers are almost always looking in the wrong places. Employee cynicism is the direct product of an organizations visible preoccupation with self-interest above all else a purely internal focus. The focus in flashpoint businesses is directed outward, toward the interests of customers and the community at large. This shift in cultural focus changes the way the business operates at all levels. The reality in most business settings is that employees are demotivated because they cant deliver delight. The existing policies and procedures make it impossible. Instead of fixing their employees, flashpoint business set out to build a culture that unblocks them. Workers are encouraged to identify operational obstacles to customer delight, and participate in finding ways around them.
3. Using customer feedback to uncover whats wrong. Businesses often use surveys and other feedback mechanisms to get to the causes of customer problems and complaints. Employees come to dread these measurement and data-gathering efforts, since they so often lead to what feels like witch-hunts for employee scapegoats, formal exercises in finger-pointing and the assigning of blame. Flashpoint businesses use customer feedback very differently. In these organizations the object is to uncover everything that's going right. Managers are forever on the lookout for "hero stories" - examples of employees going the extra mile to deliver delight. Such feedback becomes the basis for ongoing recognition and celebration. Employees see themselves as winners on a winning team, because in their workplace there's always some new "win" being celebrated.
   
4. Reserving top recognition for splashy recoveries. It happens all the time: something goes terribly wrong in a customer order or transaction, and a dedicated employee goes to tremendous lengths to make things right. The delighted customer brings this employees wonderful recovery to managements attention, and the employee receives special recognition for his or her efforts. This is a blunder? It is when such recoveries are the primary - if not the only - catalysts for employee recognition. In such a culture, foul-ups become almost a good thing from the workers point of view. By creating opportunities for splashy recoveries, foul-ups represent the only chance employees have to feel appreciated on the job. Attempts to correct operational problems wont win much support if employees see these problems as their only opportunity to shine. Flashpoint businesses celebrate splashy recoveries, of course, but they're also careful to uncover and celebrate employee efforts to delight customers where no mistakes or problems were involved. This makes it easier to get workers participating in efforts to permanently eliminate the sources of problems at the systems level.


5. Competing on price. Its one of the most common (and most costly) mistakes in business. Price becomes the deciding factor in purchasing decisions only when everything else is equal. However, everything else is almost never equal. Businesses compete on the perception of value, and this includes more than price. It's shaped by the total customer experience and aspects such as helpfulness, friendliness, and the personal touch often give the competitive advantage to businesses that actually charge slightly more for their basic goods and services.
   

Those businesses that deliver a superior total experience from the inside out (that is, as a product of a strongly customer-focused culture) are typically those that enjoy a long-term competitive advantage, along with virtual immunity from the kinds of headaches that plague everybody else.

What say you? Any comments, ideas, thoughts?

*) The blunders are from Paul Levesque's book "Customer Service From The Inside Out Made Easy".

Why creating a Customer Experience is tough

Customer Experience programmes are some of the most difficult for large corporations to manage, and many end up falling through the proverbial cracks, especially for larger companies.

Unfortunately, the touch-points that together create acustomer experience don't all fall into one nice department called "customer experience". In fact, most customers' first touch-point has nothing to do with service in many cases. Instead, people's first impression might be through the company's advertising, a speech given by the CEO, what their cousin told them about the company, or the fact that they couldn't find parking when they made their first visit.These are all critical touch-points that help to create the emotional bundle of experiences that customers are left with at the end of the day.What makes this all hard for companies, and for the heads of customer experience departments, is that they must somehow find a way to influence the entire company to provide a different set of touch-points for customers.

And this is why customer experience programmes often fail to deliver -- companies either reduce them to mere customer service, or they fail to get the entire company to buy in on the importance of looking at all the touch-points, from the CEO on down.

It takes a total organization wide commitment spearheaded by toally committed leadership teams to deal with all the touch-points that customers experience, for the truth is that customers don't care which department is failing to give them the experience they want at the moment, all they know is that the company is bad.

What say you? Comments? Ideas?

Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
http://www.customerfocusconsult.com

Trends in Customer Service What is happening out there?

In the December newsletter of the Toronto chapter of the International Customer Service Association (ICSA), the president highlighted some areas of focus. These are based on her conversations with many members over the past few months.

"There is no doubt that there is a growing strategic importance of customer service to an organization’success. As industries mature and organizations can no longer differentiate themselves by products or pricing, customer service becomes a critical competitive advantage. Every manager, regardless in which department they work, is coming to realize that service and support interactions are often theonly direct contact the company has with the customer. The quality of those interactions has a significant impact on long-term business success.

Management in customer service is facing increased pressure to do more with less, and also to contribute to top-line revenues. Many are being asked to provide service to more customers and/or support a wider range of products and services, even as budgets are reduced or remain flat.

There is a need seek ways to improve operational efficiency while building a world-class customer service organization. The best way it seems is to deliver the quality service to retain the loyalty of customers while ensuring KPI’s are met.

Another area of concern is the emphasis on common management of diverse customer service communications channels. This includes the phone, email, web, and chat. A need to integrate responses through these channels as a single, highly manageable queue to optimize overall efficiency and deliver consistent and accurate answers regardless of the channels is paramount."


What say you? Comments? Ideas?

Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
http://www.customerfocusconsult.com/

Customer Service Is Not A Department… It's An Attitude

Develop A Service Attitude
Service is the lifeblood of any organization. Everything flows from it, and is nourished by it.

Love What You Do
Many things will catch your eye, but few will catch your heart. Pursue those.

Focus On Priorities
Focus on the critical few, not the insignificant many.

Understand The Soft Stuff
There are two things more powerful than money and sex… recognition and praise.

Build Your Brand
In the race for quality there is no finish line.

Embrace Humor and Optimism
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement.

Commit To Excellence
Excellence is not an act, it's a habit.

Take Risks
Don't be afraid to go out on a limb – that's where the fruit is.
You will always miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

Reinforce Core Values
Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of thing that matter least.

Earn Trust
Trust, not technology, is the issue of the decade.

Take Action
You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.

And Finally… Aim For The Heart
Because…they don't care how much you know…until they know how much you care.

Source: Mac Anderson - SimpleTruths.com

What say you? Comments? Ideas?

Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
http://www.customerfocusconsult.com

And you thought you knew your customer...

Customer Service TrainingCustomer Is King And King Does Not Bargain

Howard Schultz the chief global strategist for Starbucks said: In the 1960s, if you introduced a new product to America, 90% of the people who viewed it for the first time believed in the corporate promise. Then 40 years later if you performed the same exercise less than 10% of the public believed it was true.

The fracturing of trust is based on the fact that the consumer has been let down.Gaining and keeping the trust of the customer has become of paramount importance to a business.

So how can a business stay relevant to the increasingly cynical consumer? Customer service has become serious. It is no longer a gimmick where employees are encouraged to chant have a nice day in the hope that this will appease poor service. Nowadays customer is king... and king does not bargain!

Mahatma Ghandi recognised the importance of customer service, a customer is the most important visitor on our premises, he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a favour by giving us an opportunity to do so.

Transforming your business so that it is focussed on the customer is essential. So how does customer service training benefit your staff and how will it help improve the service you offer?

Call centre training
Call centre training will help your staff understand that there are many different types of customers. Staff will learn that the needs and expectations of these customers are different and will be taught different methods of dealing with them. Call centre training will teach how to answer the phone using effective voice, tone and inflexion. It will teach how to communicate positively and deal with complaints and difficult situations. It will also help develop the ability to listen to the customer to build confidence and respect.

Complaints handling
Complaints handling training will help your staff develop their listening skills, questioning skills and use of language to diffuse anger. They will also be taught to communicate empathy, confidence and assertion. It will be an effective way of building customer confidence after something has gone wrong. It will make your staff receptive to suggestions that can help improve your business. Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. (Bill Gates)

Telephone skills
Telephone skills are an integral part of any business. It is important that employees are taught about the image that one presents on the phone. The course should encourage a positive attitude to communicating over the phone and develop an assertive style and approach to communication. It must also teach skills such as confirming details and summarizing the information that the customer gives to make sure you provide an effective service.

Developing a customer focus approach
It is important that the entire organization is bound together in developing a customer focussed approach. Staff training will help create a positive working environment that takes into account the lifetime value of a customer. Recognizing that customer service is everyones responsibility, regardless of position will ensure your company provides a cohesive service to your customer.

Face-to-face customer service
Face to face customer service training will help your staff develop effective use of language and body language to create rapport with the customer. It will help staff identify different customers behavioural types and how to keep a positive approach when dealing with aggressive behaviour. It will help provide all the techniques and skills needed to meet, greet and interact with customers. As well as providing techniques and how to handle difficult situations, complaints and anger in a professional way.

Source: content4reprint.com



What say you? Comments? Ideas?

Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
http://www.customerfocusconsult.com/

Is the customer always right?

Customers often criticize companies for poor service, poor workmanship, or just being sleazy. But despite conventional wisdom, the customer isn’t always right. Sometimes the consumer is right, sometimes the company is right, and sometimes the answer falls somewhere in between.

Customer interactions aren’t always black-and-white. But if the adage ”the customer is always right” does not really hold any more, companies need a new way to think about how they should treat customers. Forrester's Bruce Temkin provides these 5 principles to use in place of "the customer is always right":

1. “Right” is in the eyes of the beholder. Enforcing a policy that’s in tiny print on the back of a sales slip may be legally correct, but that doesn’t make it “right.”
2. It costs less to solve a problem than you think. Firms build models to figure out how much they’re willing to spend to solve a customer’s problem. But these calculations typically do not factor in the downside associated with bad word of mouth and the upside associated with good word of mouth.
3. The best resolution is a quick one. If you’re going to fix a problem, you’ll get the most goodwill by doing it right away. Customer appreciate the pro-activeness and they don’t have to suffer through a period of anxiety.
4. Not all customers are equal. Don’t use the same rules for treating your most profitable customers that you apply to your less desirable ones.
5. The customer is more often right than wrong. If there’s any doubt; treat them like they’re right.

The bottom line: Right or wrong, you’ve got to love your customers.


What say you? Comments? Ideas?

Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
http://www.customerfocusconsult.com/

The Five Guiding Principles for Delivering Exceptional Phone Customer Service

According to Nuance Coomunications Inc. the Five Guiding Principles for Delivering Exceptional Phone Service are:

1. “Tell Me The Truth” – While messages such as “Our options have recently changed” are usually well-intentioned, callers frequently interpret them as euphemistic, intended to keep them at arm’s length.
2. “Speak My Language” – Callers often speak of a maze of options presented to them on the phone, in a way that seldom causes problems in visual media such as Web sites. This principle focuses on the unique challenge of clearly offering choices in just a few memorable words that callers can easily interpret.
3. “Don’t Box Me In” – Callers’ most frequent complaint is that self-service systems seem designed to keep them away from agents, a perhaps unsurprising result of a company’s need to stay competitive by providing a mix of self-service and live support. This principle emphasizes that while it’s fine to promote self-service, companies need to address requests to connect with a human being.
4. “Respect My Time” – Customers call customer service with the goal of resolving a problem or completing a transaction as quickly and efficiently as possible. In visual media, caveats such as “caution, this beverage is hot” and “monthly lease does not include taxes and fees” can be added as fine print that the consumer can gloss over or ignore if they choose. Today’s corporations have not yet evolved efficient ways to provide such information on the phone (e.g., “Lower prices may be available on our Web site”) without the caller feeling as if they’re being lectured or having their time wasted.
5. “Check Your Suggestion Box” – The rise of blogs, YouTube, and other social media have made it easier than ever before for disgruntled customers to share their experiences with an interested public. This has, in several instances, proven disastrous for a company’s image. This principle urges companies to substantially promote the role of consumer feedback into the design of phone systems.

The difference between good and bad customer service

It's no surprise to learn that consumers will ditch service providers over bad service nearly as much as they will on price. A Coldwell Banker® "Customer Service Study," prepared in conjunction with Harris Interactive, quantified customer dissatisfaction.

Nine out of 10 consumers surveyed declared that great customer service is "very or extremely" important in deciding whether to give a service provider repeat business. They change providers because of bad service (32%) nearly as often as they change businesses for lower prices (38%).

When asked to define the differences between great and bad service, consumers said the top characteristics of companies with "great service" were:

• Resolving questions and problems (66%)
• Knowledge of the product or service (49%)
• Being easy to reach (35%)
• Understanding requirements (35%)

Conversely, top characteristics associated with "bad service" were:

• Inability to resolve questions or problems (46%)
• Being unavailable/difficult to reach (38%)
• Needing to deal with multiple people/departments to resolve problems (37%)
• Lack of product knowledge (34%)
• Unprofessional demeanor (33%)

What say you? Comments? Ideas?

Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
http://www.customerfocusconsult.com/

A dismal view of customer service

"Today, customers are last in line" is an essay by Deepak Seth in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle of October 8. Once again I decided to include somebody else's views in my blog, because I could not have said it better. And, he has an interesting discovery for us in his last paragraph...


As the leaves begin to turn, the first Christmas trees have started making their way into area stores. The Big Holiday Shopping season is surely round the corner.

What lies in store for the customer? The last year can be described as an "annus horribilis" as far as customer experience is concerned. Long lines, airplanes stranded on the tarmac, numerous recalls ranging from toys to hamburger patties. Why is it that, when there have been tremendous advancements in technology, logistics, communication and others, there has been a steady decline in the quality of "customer experience"?

First, the pendulum has swung too far in corporate America's drive toward enhanced productivity (revenue per employee). Now, it seems to have reached the stage where increase in productivity is being accompanied by a decline in the quality of customer experience.

Second, many companies seem to have outsourced their responsibility for the health of their brands, in addition to outsourcing the manufacture of their products. It is easy to blame other countries for shoddy workmanship or hazardous components. However, the customer is paying good U.S. money to a good U.S. company for what he or she perceives to be a good product.

What can corporate America do to enhance the customer experience?
Develop, monitor and report on standardized measures of customer experience. "What's measured, gets managed." These measures in addition to the other indices like profitability; productivity, etc., would be true indicators of the corporate health and viability. Declining customer experience measures for a company with high profitability would be a sure indicator that the good times are not going to last long.

Consolidate all "customer experience"-related functions under a high-powered Chief Customer Officer. This officer can be tasked to be the voice of the customer at the board level. This new role would ensure that the voice of the customer does not get lost.

Take firm control of the supply chain process. Retain ownership of establishing and enforcing the design, manufacture and product quality standards irrespective of where the products are made.

Maybe it's time for all companies to reiterate this customer-focused pledge, coming from a person very few would recognize as a management guru, Mohandas Gandhi: "Customers are the most important visitors on our premises. They are not dependent on us. We are dependent on them. They are not an interruption of our work. They are the purpose of it. They are not outsiders to our business. They are part of it. We are not doing them a favor by serving them. They are doing us a favor by giving us the opportunity to do so."



What say you? Comments? Ideas?


Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
http://www.customerfocusconsult.com/

Seven Customer Service Tips to Handle Complaints and Keep Customers Happy

Carolina Newswire's guest columnist and author Robert Moment is spot-on with his tips and I wholeheartedly subscribe to them. Hence my choice to include them in my blog. At the bottom you will also find a link to a relevant page of my website.


If customers are the lifeblood of businesses, then customer complaints are the antidote to a thriving business. Or, is it? While many businesses fear the onslaught of complaints from customers, in truth, proper handling of these complaints can work to a business’s advantage. Whenever a customer complains, he is in fact handing you a lesson in how to please others for add-on business. So, take advantage of this opportunity with these seven customer service tips on how to handle complaints and keep your customers happy.

1. Act Quickly
When a customer complains, the best way to appease the customer’s bad feelings is to act on it quickly. Remunerate customers as fast as possible with a refund when appropriate, or offer an apology. Acting swiftly to correct the wrong consoles the customer and imbibes them with a sense of loyalty as well. You can be sure the customer will want to shop with you again because you handled his complaint timely and correctly.

2. Respond to Complaints Professionally
It’s easy to get carried away with a petulant customer and brush him off completely, but that could be costly for your business. Instead, take charge of the situation by being polite and listening intently to the customer’s problem. Taking this approach has a calming influence on the upset customer and more often than not, allows him to see reason and leave knowing that he’ll return again to do business with you.

3. Send Out Customer Survey Forms
This is important to ferret out customers who are unhappy with your business for some reason, but aren’t voicing their concerns. Rather than losing them for good to your competitors, get them to fill out customer survey forms and follow up with a phone call to as many of these customers as possible. Not only will this keep your customers happy, but you will have discovered new ways of fine-tuning certain aspects of your business.

4. Thank Those Who Complain
This may sound odd to many, but customers who complain are doing you a service by helping you improve your business. The least any business should do is to thank them wholeheartedly. It may take these customers by surprise, but a simple “thank you” can lighten the atmosphere and allow unhappy customers to have a change in attitude and become your most loyal customers.

5. Reassure The Customer
Customers who complain very often feel aggrieved that their complaints come to naught because no one is listening. To tackle this situation, recap to the customer what you’ve just heard and then deliver an assessment of how you’re going to tackle the problem and inform him when it can be resolved. Many businesses are too quick to respond with an “Ok, I’ll fix that,” without the reassurances the customer sorely needs.

6. Provide A Space For Customers To Vent Their Frustrations
I don’t mean a physical space, though that could work in the most extreme of cases, but create an avenue for them to vent their frustrations without getting in the way. Only when they’ve settled down, then approach them with your questions to determine the cause of their problems. This works very well to get to the bottom of the situation without getting embroiled in unnecessary confrontations.

7. Track Customer Complaints
Once a customer has filed a complaint, it’s best to ensure that the particular complaint never arises again. The best way to do this is to track complaints, unearth its root cause and make sure it’s addressed once and for all. Tracking complaints can usually identify a pattern, giving you vital information to potential problems and addressing them before a customer can raise the issue. Let your customers know that you have such a system in place and they’ll appreciate the fact that you really care about catering to their happiness.

It’s common for businesses to think that it’s all right to lose one angry customer, but that’s simply not true. An unhappy customer can use word of mouth to inflict severe damage to a business’ reputation, which could have otherwise been easily avoided with a little bit of savvy customer handling. Well, at least now you know how.


And here is the promised link
http://www.customerfocusconsult.com/complaint-management.htm


What say you? Comments? Ideas?


Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
http://www.customerfocusconsult.com/

Customer experience needs as much fixing today as did quality in the 1970’s.

This is the conclusion of the research firm Forrester.

Here’s some of what they’ve found through their research that shapes this belief:

Customer experience is critical for firms

85% of customer experience professionals (from their Customer Experience Peer Research Panel) told them that customer experience will play a very important or critical role in their firms’ competitiveness over the next three years. And in a joint survey between Forrester and the American Banker, they found that 97% of North American banking execs see customer experience as very important or critical.

…but they just aren’t enjoyable to work with...

They asked consumers how much they enjoyed doing business with 14 different types of firms. At the top of the list, 73% of consumers enjoy doing business with discount stores. But enjoyability drops off quickly after that – only 5 of the 14 industries are enjoyable to at least half of their customers. At the bottom of the list, less than one-third of consumers enjoy interacting with health insurers and cable TV providers.

… and they deliver poor experiences...

Forrester applied their 57-criteria Cross-Channel Review methodology to the experiences at 16 firms - four of the largest credit card issuers, consumer electronics retailers, PC manufacturers, and wireless providers. While Dell and Circuit City received the top overall scores, none of the 16 companies received a passing grade.

…because they lack customer experience discipline.

When Forrester asked customer experience executives to desribe their company’s overall approach to customer experience, only 11% said that they had a very disciplined approach and 31% said that they had a somewhat disciplined approach. But a total of 57% of firms said that their approach to customer experience was undisicplined.


What say you? Comments? Ideas?


Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
http://www.customerfocusconsult.com/

What's so hard about Customer Service?

"You'll never believe what happened to me today." Everyone's got a customer service story. One of the problems with customer service, though, is that everyone has a unique view of what it entails. It's the epitome of a moving target.

One person's excellent service may represent barely adequate service to someone else. What impresses one customer may make absolutely no impression on another. To complicate matters, what a customer believes to be good service in one context may be unacceptable in another situation or at another time. Service is perceptual; it is individualized; and it is situational.

So, how can you figure out what customers want from you in terms of service? The kind and level of service that you must deliver depends on who the customer is, what her expectations are, what experience she has had with you and other firms, what your strategy is and what role customer service plays in its delivery—along with a host of other things.

Many managers and executives are uncomfortable with this notion of variable service delivery; they would much prefer to be able to pin down service and to be able to standardize it so that it can be consistently delivered. But I don't believe service should be the same for everyone. In fact, the value of service as a relationship-building tool is its customizability. Simply out, some customers require and deserve better service than others. In some situations, you will want to be able to provide service that will impress customers so as to make an emotional connection. Whenever your employees can say to a customer, "Let me take care of that for you," you are delivering a higher level of service than the customer was expecting.

Yet customer service gets far less attention than it deserves in many companies, simply because managers do not realize or accept its importance in influencing customer satisfaction and loyalty. Many view customer service provision as a cost, rather than an investment. Many spend a great deal of time looking for ways to reduce that cost, without appreciating the impact it has on the customer's feelings toward the firm.

At the same time, managers tend to focus on what I call the functional side of service provision: the speed and accuracy of service delivery, in particular. Do we arrive on time? Do we have things in stock? Do we answer incoming calls within 20 seconds? These are the aspects of service with which managers in many firms are most comfortable, mainly because they are most easily and frequently measured in conventional customer satisfaction surveys. But they are a dangerously limiting view of service and not nearly as all-encompassing as the customer's view of service.

Four levels of service

Another element that gets in the way of impressive service delivery is management's very simplistic view of customer service. I can think of at least four levels of customer service, each of which involves the creation of progressively more emotional value for customers.

To the customer, service involves more than just the functional delivery of service (the first level, which, in a world where companies like FedEx have practically perfected technical service provision, customers take as a given). Customers care how easy you make it for them to communicate with you. This opens the door to a discussion of your phone system, your web site and your customer service center—not to mention whether customers can find someone to serve them in your store. Increasingly, when you keep them on hold for 20 minutes, don't respond to their email inquiries and ask them to deal with unknowledgeable and unhelpful staff, they will walk away.

At the third level, companies need to understand how customer service is linked to the people they employ. My experience suggests that customers are most likely to equate the notion of service with the way they are treated by employees.

Finally, the level of service that customers experience is a powerful influence on how customers feel emotionally toward a company. Poor service can make a customer feel neglected, unimportant, frustrated, angry or even humiliated. Surprisingly good service leads to emotions such as comfort, relief, delight or excitement.

That holistic view again

Yet, many companies have a less-than-holistic view of their value proposition. Customer service must be seen to be an integral part of what we offer the customer. I recently encountered a major company that has separate marketing, sales and customer service departments, each of which prepares its own annual plan and sets its own budgets, without consulting with the others. In that firm, customer service is defined mainly as the operation of the call center. To the customer, service means much more.

It is far too simplistic to ask customers to rate your customer service on the predictable 10-point scale. It's much too complex a concept for customers to reduce it to a single number. You can't interpret it, anyway. So last month they gave us a rating of 8.1 on customer service. What does that mean? Very little. There's no direction on how we can improve. Anyway, the only people who are rating you are current customers. How would those customers who stormed out or hung up in disgust rate your customer service? You will never know. Yet theirs is a much more important number.

Customer service is not optional. It's not trivial. And it's not easily standardized. Don't make the mistake that one Canadian bank made of treating customer service as a promotion. That bank offered customers $5 if they had to wait in line more than five minutes in its branches. Customers were generally not impressed. To them, a wait time of five minutes was not the issue. Of course, wait time is important—but not nearly as important as being served politely and efficiently once you reach the counter.

Customer service is extremely complex, much like value, satisfaction and the increasingly popular customer experience. To apply such concepts effectively, management must appreciate their complexity. To utilize customer service to increase customer loyalty, to reinforce the positioning of the brand and to gain a competitive advantage, companies much have a strategy to guide its development and implementation.


What say you? Comments? Ideas?


Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
www.customerfocusconsult.com

#4: Ten ways for turning the most demanding customers into most delighted.

Kelly Mooney wrote these Ten Demandments: Rules to Live By in the Age of the Demanding Customer by . I felt they were worth sharing with you.
Beyond all the hype about delighting customers by meeting and exceeding their expectations, is the simple reality that most businesses just don't come close to knowing what customers care about. Today's consumers expect more and tolerate less, in part because they have so many options. With the ever-expanding explosion of information readily available and easily accessible via the Internet, modern consumers are able to research and comparison shop an endless array of both products and services from the comfort of their own homes or offices. Welcome to the age of the demanding consumer.

Mooney's Ten Demandments for turning the most demanding consumers into the most delighted customers are:

1. Earn my trust through respect, integrity, advocacy and quality.
2. Inspire me through immersive experiences, motivating messages and related philanthropy.
3. Make it easy with simplicity, speed and usefulness.
4. Put me in charge of making choices and give me control.
5. Guide me with expert advice, education and information.
6. Give me 24/7 access, from anywhere, at anytime.
7. Get to know me — listen, learn and study me, the real consumer, not just data.
8. Exceed my expectations with uncommon courtesies and surprising services.
9. Reward me with points programs, privileges of access or other worthwhile extras.
10. Stay with me with follow through and meaningful follow-up.

A detailed description of four of the key demandments follows in this series of blog entries. Mooney provides specific action items you can use to tackle the challenges of the ever-demanding customer and secure your company's future.

Demandment #10: Stay With Me
The final demandment brings these guidelines full circle, with the concepts of follow-through, follow-up, and maintaining a following — even during the quiet periods when companies and consumers are apart. One of the most difficult demandments to achieve, Stay With Me is the most open-ended and the least defined in terms of specific time-periods, traditional tactics and experience drivers.

At the same time, it's one of the most critical elements for success as it's all about retention — keeping the customers inside the loyalty loop as long as possible. Wrap things up neatly and beautifully and you'll set the stage for further interactions. Research indicates that improving retention rates can increase profitability by 25 to 50 percent.

In order to improve your customer retention rates, Mooney presents five methods from the consumer's point of view.

1. It's not over until it's over. Make returns hassle-free, including gift returns, and issue immediate credit. Stores such as Sears, Old Navy and The Gap offer gift receipts, as well as providing 30-day return policies.
2. Keep your promises. Make promises and honor your warrantees without hassle or delay.
3. Give me an out. Clearly communicate easy options for customers to cancel transactions or relationships with your company.
4. Keep up with me. Provide a way for consumers to easily update their information, lodge complaints or offer suggestions. Offer user-friendly websites that promote contact with your company. Quarterly newsletters, such as Ford's No Boundaries or Nike's NikeGoddess, which offer information based on the target audience's interests help maintain relationships.
5. Be there for me. Evolve to meet customers' ongoing needs through innovative products and unrelenting helpfulness. With the aging population and changing demographics, a hip clothing company, for example, could market roomier yet stylish clothing to accommodate the "middle-aged spread." Reinvent your relevancy in consumer lives and find ways to celebrate the things that matter to you and your customers.

One iconic American company that embodies the concepts of retention with persistent and persuasive branding is Hershey's. This simple, inexpensive chocolate has emerged as a brand with a legacy, a destination and an experience. Consumers can't pay for groceries, buy gas, or rent a video without being tempted by a Hershey Bar or Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. There are Hershey's Kisses wrapped in colorful foil to match every holiday and season. Guests can visit the spa at the Hotel Hershey, in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and be treated to whipped cocoa baths and chocolate fondue wraps. Visitors can wander down the streets of Hershey, named Chocolate and Cocoa Avenues, explore the Hershey Amusement Park, and delight in the Chocolate World Visitor's Center, topped off with free samples.

What say you? Comments? Ideas?


Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
www.customerfocusconsult.com

#3: Ten ways for turning the most demanding customers into most delighted.

Kelly Mooney wrote these Ten Demandments: Rules to Live By in the Age of the Demanding Customer by . I felt they were worth sharing with you.

Beyond all the hype about delighting customers by meeting and exceeding their expectations, is the simple reality that most businesses just don't come close to knowing what customers care about. Today's consumers expect more and tolerate less, in part because they have so many options. With the ever-expanding explosion of information readily available and easily accessible via the Internet, modern consumers are able to research and comparison shop an endless array of both products and services from the comfort of their own homes or offices. Welcome to the age of the demanding consumer.

Mooney's Ten Demandments for turning the most demanding consumers into the most delighted customers are:

1. Earn my trust through respect, integrity, advocacy and quality.
2. Inspire me through immersive experiences, motivating messages and related philanthropy.
3. Make it easy with simplicity, speed and usefulness.
4. Put me in charge of making choices and give me control.
5. Guide me with expert advice, education and information.
6. Give me 24/7 access, from anywhere, at anytime.
7. Get to know me — listen, learn and study me, the real consumer, not just data.
8. Exceed my expectations with uncommon courtesies and surprising services.
9. Reward me with points programs, privileges of access or other worthwhile extras.
10. Stay with me with follow through and meaningful follow-up.

A detailed description of four of the key demandments follows in this series of blog entries. Mooney provides specific action items you can use to tackle the challenges of the ever-demanding customer and secure your company's future.

Demandment #8: Exceed My Expectations
Managing expectations can be a tricky business: set them too high and they're hard to meet, set them too low and undersell what you offer. From the consumer perspective, Exceed My Expectations is about sending consumers on an exciting journey that takes them from trust to loyalty, from expectation to delight. In forging an invisible but tenable bridge to the opposite side of the transactional equation, you prove that your company delivers on its original promise, and then goes above and beyond. Doing something out of the ordinary, even far more than necessary, proves again and again that your customers will get more than they pay for, or even anticipate, each and every time they do business with you.
Exceeding expectations encompasses things such as offering an apology before anyone even complains about a minor problem, being proactive rather than reactive, fixing those little things that aren't quite right, and making amends in big ways when even a small response would suffice. In Mooney's words: "it's about being better than you have to be, not only because your consumers expect or demand it, but because they deserve it."

Mooney presents several methods for successfully exceeding your consumer expectations.

• Overcompensate. Put services and features in place to make up for channel or competitive deficiencies or weaknesses. For example, Mooney's favorite local toy store stands out from the industry giants by offering free gift-wrapping on all purchases year-round.
• Do more than you should. Make "delivering more than we promise" the philosophy of your company. Remember the idea of the "baker's dozen," giving a regular customer thirteen instead of twelve rolls? Little things can go a surprisingly long way like the little static sticker Jiffy Lube puts on your windshield as a reminder of your next oil change.
• Surprise me with extras. Promote extras designed to delight consumers even when they seem happy and satisfied. Small, on-the-spot incentives can inspire spending — one successful "extra" was Victoria's Secret offering $5 off any purchase simply for trying on a Body by Victoria bra.
• Uncommon courtesies. Have employees willingly extend apologies and have definitive guidelines for immediately satisfying a customer. In other words, turn on the charm, dial up the sincerity, and you will win customers over. And train your employees about the importance of customer appreciation. Target's sales associates are trained to make eye contact and offer a warm "Thanks so much for shopping with us."
  Exceeding expectations is about delivering an experience that transcends the actual purchase or service — it's that intangible "WOW!" And, exceeding expectations isn't about providing perfection, but rather it's about enthusiastic, relevant responsiveness to consumer needs.

What say you? Comments? Ideas?


Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
www.customerfocusconsult.com

#2: Ten ways for turning the most demanding customers into most delighted.[2]

Kelly Mooney wrote these Ten Demandments: Rules to Live By in the Age of the Demanding Customer by . I felt they were worth sharing with you.

Beyond all the hype about delighting customers by meeting and exceeding their expectations, is the simple reality that most businesses just don't come close to knowing what customers care about. Today's consumers expect more and tolerate less, in part because they have so many options. With the ever-expanding explosion of information readily available and easily accessible via the Internet, modern consumers are able to research and comparison shop an endless array of both products and services from the comfort of their own homes or offices. Welcome to the age of the demanding consumer.

Mooney's Ten Demandments for turning the most demanding consumers into the most delighted customers are:

1. Earn my trust through respect, integrity, advocacy and quality.
2. Inspire me through immersive experiences, motivating messages and related philanthropy.
3. Make it easy with simplicity, speed and usefulness.
4. Put me in charge of making choices and give me control.
5. Guide me with expert advice, education and information.
6. Give me 24/7 access, from anywhere, at anytime.
7. Get to know me — listen, learn and study me, the real consumer, not just data.
8. Exceed my expectations with uncommon courtesies and surprising services.
9. Reward me with points programs, privileges of access or other worthwhile extras.
10. Stay with me with follow through and meaningful follow-up.

A detailed description of four of the key demandments follows in this series of blog entries. Mooney provides specific action items you can use to tackle the challenges of the ever-demanding customer and secure your company's future.

Demandment #2: Inspire Me
According to Mooney, inspiration is the ultimate form of communion between a company and its consumers. Brand survival depends on creating an emotional bond with consumers, and the companies that successfully establish this bond are the ones that map the products, services, experiences, or ideals that resonate with their customers. Without doubt, creating long-term and meaningful connections with consumers is far from easy. While people cry at commercials featuring newborn babies or reunited relatives, and kids get excited about the latest toy from a blockbuster movie, the brands that become part of customers' lives evoke far more passion and loyalty than simple tearjerker advertising or tie-in marketing.

A fine example of brand passion is all about doughnuts: The mere fact that consumers can find inspiration in a hot doughnut truly is a remarkable thing, but it is also remarkably true in the case of Krispy Kreme. The once-small Southern chain has emerged as one of America's most beloved brands by tapping the natural enthusiasm of its loyal customers and their endless delight at talking about doughnuts. Largely through word-of-mouth, the company has been wildly successful, with more than 200 stores in 33 states (and now growing internationally). Importantly, even with its tremendous expansion and success, Krispy Kreme remains true to the homespun brand and its dedication to community giving, inspiring its loyal customers to continue talking and consuming.

Inspiration moves consumers to be both long-term and loyal. Here are a few of Mooney's guidelines your company can employ to inspire customers.

Have a heart. Support philanthropic organizations relevant to your customers. The Avon Breast Cancer Crusade has raised more than $150 million since 1993 — it's the right cause with the right message — we care about our customers and their lives.

Connect with me. Stand for something meaningful that reaches consumers on an emotional level. Krispy Kreme's brand promise of "magic and memory" achieves this beautifully.

Create the theater. Offer a sensory-driven environment that engages consumers. The House of Blues, whether it's in the Vegas hotel or the New Orleans nightclub, offers an authenticity of experience whereby consumers are immersed in a world of blues music and genuine memorabilia rather than just a staged setting.

Motivate me. Provide encouragement and stimulation for achieving self-enhancement and positive results. The astounding effect of Oprah's Book Club has rejuvenated the flagging book publishing/selling industry across North America.

Companies able to reach and inspire the spirits of their consumers deliver experiences that extend beyond simple consumerism and commercialism. Products and services can garner experiences that are deeply felt, genuine and enchantingly memorable. Just as true believers are not born but rather are inspired, so too are loyal customers inspired. Don't just try to grab your customer's attention, seek a real connection with them.

What say you? Comments? Ideas?


Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
www.customerfocusconsult.com

#1: Ten ways for turning the most demanding customers into most delighted.

Kelly Mooney wrote these Ten Demandments: Rules to Live By in the Age of the Demanding Customer by . I felt they were worth sharing with you.

Beyond all the hype about delighting customers by meeting and exceeding their expectations, is the simple reality that most businesses just don't come close to knowing what customers care about. Today's consumers expect more and tolerate less, in part because they have so many options. With the ever-expanding explosion of information readily available and easily accessible via the Internet, modern consumers are able to research and comparison shop an endless array of both products and services from the comfort of their own homes or offices. Welcome to the age of the demanding consumer.

Mooney's Ten Demandments for turning the most demanding consumers into the most delighted customers are:

1. Earn my trust through respect, integrity, advocacy and quality.
2. Inspire me through immersive experiences, motivating messages and related philanthropy.
3. Make it easy with simplicity, speed and usefulness.
4. Put me in charge of making choices and give me control.
5. Guide me with expert advice, education and information.
6. Give me 24/7 access, from anywhere, at anytime.
7. Get to know me — listen, learn and study me, the real consumer, not just data.
8. Exceed my expectations with uncommon courtesies and surprising services.
9. Reward me with points programs, privileges of access or other worthwhile extras.
10. Stay with me with follow through and meaningful follow-up.

A detailed description of four of the key demandments follows in this series of blog entries. Mooney provides specific action items you can use to tackle the challenges of the ever-demanding customer and secure your company's future.

Demandment #1: Earn My Trust
The first demandment, Earn My Trust, is the single most important demandment. Not only is it the heart of the new consumer experience, it is also the center of the old-school consumer experience. Regardless of where a buyer interacts with a brand, be it a store, a service center, online or on the phone, trust is a fluid commodity that ebbs and flows with each experience. As Mooney points out, a bad experience is often more memorable than a good one and consumers tend to remember when they've been treated poorly more often than when they've been treated well.
In this era of seemingly endless options, with an infinite number of stores and brands and choices, companies possessing an historical relationship with customers and who have provided generation after generation with products and services are ahead of the game in maintaining and extending consumer loyalty. For example, in Harris Polls, consumers frequently rank Johnson & Johnson, makers of Johnson's Baby Shampoo, at the top of the list of most trusted brands. Any brand that succeeds in getting millions of consumers to entrust their babies to its products is clearly onto a good thing.
Earning trust, from the consumer point of view, can be achieved by following these edicts.

• Straight talk, not slick talk. Make clear and honest claims. For example, Land's End guarantee: "Guaranteed. Period." is simple, clear and true.
• Prove you're on my side. Adopt policies that reflect a philosophy of customer advocacy, even if it means losing a sale. Progressive Insurance is an excellent role model, offering free price comparisons and assisting consumers in shopping for insurance rather than simply selling their own products.
• Don't be pushy getting information. Make questions optional, relevant and understated. Ponder this: Why does Radio Shack need a ZIP code before a customer can buy a battery?
• Align your marketing and sales channels to present a unified face to customers. Clearly communicate key information and sales conditions across all channels. According to Jupiter Media Metrix, Inc., 70 percent of online shoppers said that poor online communications could lead them to spend less time and money at their retail store.
• Protect me. Employ a Chief Privacy Officer to ensure consumer privacy and security. One example of a protective response was when IKEA's online catalogue sign-up list was compromised, IKEA sent out an email notifying their customers of the breach.
  This final trust-earning behavior is particularly salient with today's information sharing technology. American Express is a terrific example of a corporation protecting its customers: In early 2001 the company sent all cardholders a comprehensive and easy-to-understand notice explaining how they protect cardholder privacy when collecting and using personal information. American Express also provided customers with easy and actionable opt-out choices. These proactive protective measures clearly illustrate the truth behind the opening sentence of the privacy notice mailing: "At American Express, maintaining our customer's trust and confidence is a high priority."
  

Next blog entry deals with Demandment #2; stay tuned.


What say you? Comments? Ideas?


Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
www.customerfocusconsult.com

Customer service quotes for inspiration...

If the Customer is King why do so many treat their customers as republicans, with a tendency to chop off their heads.
UNKNOWN

There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.
ROGER STAUBACH

Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it.
It is what the client or customer gets out of it.
PETER DRUCKER

Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends.
WALT DISNEY

If we don’t take care of our customers, someone else will.
UNKNOWN

Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify!
HENRY DAVID THOREAU

If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell 6 friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends.
JEFF BEZOS

Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong.
DONALD PORTER

Give trust, and you'll get it double in return
KEES KAMIES

The quality of our work depends on the quality of our people.
UNKNOWN

One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing is what we do for others.
LEWIS CAROL

The goal as a company is to have customer service that is not just the best, but legendary.
SAM WALTON

The longer you wait, the harder it is to produce outstanding customer service.
WILLIAM H. DAVIDOW

Mistakes are the portals of discovery.
JAMES JOYCE

Being on par in terms of price and quality only gets you into the game. Service wins the game.
TONY ALESSANDRA

Our greatest asset is the customer! Treat each customer as if they are the only one!
LAURICE LEITAO

People expect good service but few are willing to give it.
ROBERT GATELY

Well done is better than well said.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

To my customer:
I may not have the answer, but I’ll find it.
I may not have the time, but I’ll make it.
UNKNOWN

Here is a simple but powerful rule - always give people more than what they expect to get.
NELSON BOSWELL

In business you get what you want by giving other people what they want.
ALICE MACDOUGALL

You’ll never have a product or price advantage again. They can be easily duplicated, but a strong customer service culture can’t be copied.
JERRY FRITZ

Although your customers won’t love you if you give bad service, your competitors will.
KATE ZABRISKIE

It's about People, stupid.

A few days ago I wrote about findings by Ken Blanchard that good customer service requires inspired people. Let me share this story with you that totally underlines the point.


No, I am not offending my readers but clearly remember this as a title of someone's presentation which I use to make my point here.

I live in Toronto, Canada. Over the years the same 'postie' has always delivered the mail at the house and I have gotten to know this very nice chap. I talked to him on many occasions and we always waved to each other when I was walking the dog which he liked and often he even carried dog treats with him. Last year I moved house and bought from Canada Post a 6-months forwarding subscription. A couple of months after it expired I happened to park my car in my old street on my way to a lunch appointment and saw 'my postie'. I said Hello and he was delighted to see me and of course asked about my dog. He then mentioned that at the station some more of my mail had piled up since the subscription had expired. Although I told him that I was quite certain that by now only junk mail would continue to be sent to my old address he made a really surprising offer to me. He said: "I know where you live now… this is on my way home… I am not supposed to do this but I will drop it off for you… ". Lo and behold, that afternoon the promised mail was in my mail box!!! [never mind that I was right about it being junk mail].

Now, Canada Post is heavily unionized and the postal unions were for years very antagonistic, in the face of antagonistic management. But, things have changed fortunately. In this environment, here is a real customer service hero doing what he believes is right for 'his customers'. There is actually an old saying in this business: "Good People are stopped by Bad Management and Bad Process".

Of course, great service begins and ends with good people, such as "my" postie. They have the right stuff between their ears and are unsung customer service heroes. Actually, this experience made me determined to continue to point out to my clients early in my engagements that they need to take a look at their hiring policies and process.

If you want to create a customer focused culture where service excellence is the norm, throughout the organization [externally as well as internally], you have to hire right. Everybody needs to have "the right stuff". I always recommend pre-employment testing and not even to interview a person unless (s)he has passed a basic service aptitude testing hurdle. Skills can be trained but not aptitude.

Of course the People dimension of Customer Focus has more to it, but if in creating great customer service experience "It's about People, stupid…", then this is a great starting point.


What say you? Comments? Ideas?


Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
www.customerfocusconsult.com

Customer service training is not a panacea.

I would like to share with you that often I receive calls that reveal that the prospective client experiences the need to provide better service or that front line staff want to be better equipped to deal with 'difficult' customers. This then leads to the conclusion that training will help solve the problem and the organization undertakes a search for a customer service training resource.

It is often revealing if the question is raised what causes the perceived service pains and I suggest that we should first investigate the causes before addressing the symptoms. Quite often we end up conducting a Customer Experience Workshop first to get a handle on what the customer contact or touch points are (Moments of Truth). We systematically analyze the customer experience for each contact point and define what is happening and what should happen. We pay attention to the presence of, or needs for standards and measures. We observe the occurrence of any non-value added activities (for which the customers would not pay you if they knew you were doing it). We harvest numerous improvement opportunities. And, Yes, (customer service) training is often identified here.

When I put forward this approach my prospective clients realize that training is a piece of the puzzle and that the total puzzle is larger. Now we have a better context for training and we are in a position to tailor our existing program (Customers Forever) to specific needs and context. We also use this workshop to harvest anecdotes and real stories and take note of the specific language used in the organization or industry.

So, the lesson is that if you think you want training, your real need maybe to identify causes first and then address symptoms with a variety of interventions, of which training is one.


What say you? Comments? Ideas?


Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
www.customerfocusconsult.com

Good customer service requires inspired employees

See also my blog entry: It's about People, stupid.

Organizations that have excited and passionate people are more likely to create a service-focused culture that delivers great customer service.

That’s the conclusion of a new study by The Ken Blanchard Companies, which also concludes that employees are in fact an organization’s most critical customer service asset — one that requires focused development and nurturing.

Research found that most organizations agree that customer loyalty is a powerful driver of organizational success and one that ties directly to the bottom line. Blanchard survey data shows that 74 percent of respondents declared that their organizations were highly focused on customer service improvement.

But only 44% indicated that their organisation had a formal process for achieving these desired service improvements and only 48% said that their customer-facing employees are truly empowered to take action to resolve a negative customer experience.

The survey indicates that the most critical service improvement skills to address include:

1. Developing systems and processes that make it easy to do business with the organisation.
2. Improving the skills of customer-facing employees to diagnose the customer issue.
3. Improving problem solving skills.
4. Empowering people to utilise their scope of authority.
   

What say you? Comments? Ideas?


Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
www.customerfocusconsult.com

Customer service experience more important than low prices and quality.

Source: RightNow Customer Experience Report 2007

“Today, the success of every business depends on translating knowledge about customers into the reality of the customer experience. If you can’t make it easy and satisfying for people to do business with you, you’ll lose them to someone who does— and quickly.” Greg Gianforte, CEO of RightNow Technologies

Compared to last year, consumers are even more demanding of excellent customer experiences. In addition to the jump from 68% to 80% of consumers refusing to return to a company or organization after a negative experience, the number of consumers who will register a complaint or tell others of a bad experience jumped from 67% in 2006 to 74% in 2007.

Bad customer experiences comes at a high price

When contacting a company or organization, consumers are most frustrated when they cannot reach a live human being (68%). Also, 56% find waiting on hold, listening to bad music or repetitive messages frustrating. Unanswered emails and phone messages frustrates 33% of consumers. Once frustrated, consumer’s behavior can become aggressive, and they can even feel sick.

After a negative experience with a company or organization:

• 80% of US adults decided never go back to that company;


• 74% registered a complaint or told others;


• 47% swore and/or shouted;


• 13% posted a negative online review or blog entry;


• 29% have gotten a headache, felt their chest tighten and/or cried.

In addition, after a negative customer experience, 34% have fantasized about emailing friends, family or coworkers asking them to boycott the company or organization. 12% have dreamed of picketing and/or defacing a company/ organization’s headquarters.

Positive customer experiences have their rewards

Happy, loyal customers are created one exceptional experience at a time. Keeping these customers also requires outstanding performance in several areas, including:

• Self-service: Customers want be able to help themselves quickly and efficiently – 46% of those online find it gratifying to be able to quickly and easily find the information they need online.
  
• Call center: Arming call center agents is more important than ever because 60% of consumers prefer speaking with a live agent. Amazingly, 38% claim they have not had a phone-based customer service experience that exceeded their expectations within the past year.


• Feedback: 9% of consumers continue to do business with a company because it cares about customer feedback and takes action to improve service based on customer feedback.


• Responsive: 36% of consumers online said they find it gratifying when email messages are answered quickly.

While making and keeping customers happy may not be easy, it is well worth the effort:

• 51% of US adults cite “outstanding service” as the number one reason they continue to do business with a company;


• An additional 60% said the top reason they would recommend a company is “outstanding service.

Connecting with customers across multiple touch points

To understand consumers, companies must first understand how to connect and communicate with them.

• 60% of consumers cite speaking with a live agent via the telephone as the number one way they want to interact with a company;26% said they prefer email.


• When online, 68% engage with an organization because they need information on a product, service or company. Interestingly,
  more than half (51%) of those online want the ability to “chat” live via the Web with a customer service representative.

Managing the Customer Journey

"Since preferences vary, companies should to be prepared to engage with customers and deliver service across every possible channel: phone, email, web, chat and in person."

I would add here my own two pennies worth by stressing that if the customer experiences during interactions with your organization (Customer Journey) are consistent and positive, and expectations are exceeded, then value is created. I have written an article titled "Improving Your Customer's Experience Through Journey Mapping" which you can find here.

What say you? Comments? Ideas?


Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
www.customerfocusconsult.com

Key Questions for Measuring if Your Customer Service Measures Up

Bob Poser, author of "Kiss Theory Goodbye" posted a blog which is absolutely spot-on and therefore I like to share here also.

In light of all the recent news around companies not serving their customers in terms of providing the support and service customers should expect, I thought I’d post seven key questions you can use to measure how your customer service is on track.

Do we:
1. Consistently underpromise and overdeliver?
2. Resolve customer problems quickly?
3. Take all customer feedback seriously?
4. Have a process in place to reduce problem recurrence?
5. Consistently measure customer loyalty and improve results?
6. Know what each person at the company must do to maintain a loyal customer base?
7. Continually explain ongoing value to existing customers?


If you’ve answered no to any of the above questions, then you have some work to do.


Here are eight pro-active steps you can take to ensure your customer service success.

1. Test your customer service and support process often.
2. Link key customers with senior executives to deepen relationships.
3. Be proud of your service and charge accordingly.
4. Communicate effectively and fulfill comments.
5. Keep in touch.
6. Strive to have 100 percent of your customers referenceable.
7. Over communicate in times of trouble
8. Don’t become a bank for your customers. Collect outstanding receivables aggressively.

And remember at least once yearly take time to conduct a formal survey of all your customers and truly listen to the feedback you receive.


What say you? Comments? Ideas?


Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
www.customerfocusconsult.com