Customers Are The Real Bosses

The idea that the customer is the boss is not new,  but it seems like most customer service does not recognize this fact. Sometimes you can go to a restaurant and it seems like the staff are very disinterested in serving customers properly.


For example, I went to a restaurant the other day when it was hot outside, and the hostess brought us to our tables and she was friendly. However, when I asked if I could get some water right away, the hostess said the server will be around soon. The issue is that, the restaurant was very slow, and the hostess was just standing around, plus the server came to our table in around 5-10 minutes. Why on a hot day does a customer have to wait for so long for water? Then the server comes and proceeds to mention the daily specials, and I say can I get some water. The server then asks if they can  first tell me about the specials, so I let them finish, and still have to wait a long time to get some water.


You would think that common sense would tell the server to bring some water with them to the table. Also, why could the hostess not bring some water, or at least tell the server to bring some water. I can tell you that if the server saw their manager or boss just come from outside on a hot day, they probably would make sure they bring water promptly. Staff need to think of customers as their bosses rather than just bothersome customers. The customers are the reason the staff all have jobs and are the people that need to be treated well, to ensure they are happy.

Surprise Rewards Will Build Loyal Customers

Everybody likes a surprise, but when it comes to customers, they really love a good surprise that will make them remember your business in a good way. Most businesses will do just enough to keep a customer happy, but that is not enough to really impress a customer. When you provide the unexpected surprise to the customer, it creates a very positive impression, which causes the customer to tell all their friends. Most people expect average customer service, but when you deliver surprisingly great customer service, you will get people talking, which will create very positive word of mouth for your business.


Now, the actual ways that you will have staff provide surprise rewards will vary from business to business, but it will all start with proper staff training. The key will be to empower staff to provide a special surprise to customers. The business will need to determine some basic criteria, that will give staff insight as to how they will surprise the customer. Some criteria could be the size of purchase or how loyal the customer is, but it should easy enough, that the staff can quickly recognize a situation in which they should surprise a customer with some reward. 


The rewards that will be offered will vary from business to business, but should provide some good benefit to the customer. For example, you might have a restaurant and know that this is a ten year old loyal customer, why not surprise them with a free meal. Cleaning companies could provide a free cleaning every so often to their customers.


The main point about these surprise rewards is that because they are unexpected, the customer will be more impressed, leading them to generate very positive word of mouth for your company. 

Its Not The Mistake, Its How You Fix The Mistake

There are so many customer service mistakes everyday, that you would think they are impossible to avoid. Mistakes will happen, so the key will  be to correctly detect mistakes as soon as possible, so that they can be corrected right away. I will go over a couple of common mistakes and how to correct them. If customer service mistakes are corrected quickly, you actually have the chance to build strong customer loyalty.


I am going to begin with a very common mistake, failure to get the service request correct. How often have you gone to the restaurant and had the staff get the order completely wrong, and then the staff do not seem too concerned about this mistake. The mistake may have happened due to the staff not listening or miscommunication, either way it needs to be corrected right away so that the business keeps the customer happy. Staff need to apologize right away and then proceed to correct the issue, and then followup with the customer to ensure they are happy.


One other common error is how companies resolve customer complaints. Customers want fast action when it comes to resolving issues, but often are left very frustrated by the staff, who sometimes are not very helpful. First off, the staff need to listen closely, so the customer knows they are being heard and that the staff fully understand the nature of the complaint. Then resolve the complaint and follow up with the customer to ensure the issue is resolved.


When it comes to customer service mistakes, it is not the mistake, it is how you correct the mistake, that will make the difference as to whether or not the customer will remain loyal to your company. Make sure your company excels at solving customer complaints, as this will be a key factor in building your loyal customer base.

Build An Emotional Connection With Customers

Great customer service is a powerful marketing tool, that when delivered can be used to build an emotional connection with customers. Customers need to be treated as much more than just numbers because when they are treated like just a number, it comes across as a very impersonal approach that does not build customer loyalty. When a business builds that emotional connection to a customer, they will enjoy coming to the business and be much more likely to recommend this company to their friends. 


Since referrals are a powerful way to build a business, they should be encouraged by delivering superior customer service, that amazes people. Once people realize how great your customer service is, they will keep coming back. The emotional connection that is built through great customer service, is hard for the competition to defeat, because it takes a lot of work to build up a great customer service program. Most companies will simply try to compete on price or features, but that is not enough to keep loyal customers. Companies need to be committed to putting in place a quality customer service training program, that will train staff and encourage an atmosphere of delivering amazing customer service.


Now building this emotional connection will not be easy, as it takes time to train staff and become known for great customer service, but over time it will prove to be very valuable to your business.

Greatest Customer Service Skill: Listening

There are many skills required to be great in the field of customer service, but one seems to rise above all others, the skill of listening. You can have staff who are friendly and smiling, but if they do not listen, they will annoy customers. When the staff are not listening, it causes all sorts of issues that create unhappy customers.


Not listening causes the customers to have to repeat their requests several times, and even then the staff could get the order wrong. Having customers repeat their requests, causes a lot of frustration for customers and shows them the staff do not care enough to just listen. 


Staff need to show respect to customers and listen clearly so that the customer feels they are being taken care of properly. Listening is a skill which takes time to learn to do well, but over time, proper listening will become much easier. Also, the staff need to keep in mind that customers are the reason they have jobs, which basically means customers are their bosses. Most staff listen to their boss, so they should listen just as much to the customers. 


Listening is such an important skill that shows customers the proper respect and ensures customer requests are done properly. When customers feel the staff are listening properly, it helps to create great customer service and helps to create loyal customers.

Customer Service Gone Wrong

We have all received poor customer service from time to time, but the real issue is how does the company deal with your complaint. Here is a quick story about poor customer service and how the staff did not attempt to win me over with any customer service solutions.


I had gone to a cafe and ordered a large chocolate milk. This would seem to be a  simple request, but I could tell the employee was having a hard time understanding my request, so I repeated the order. Then the clerk asks me what size I would like, which showed me she was not listening, since I had already repeated large two times. I could tell this was going to be an interesting customer service experience. Sure enough the clerk brings out my order which is completely wrong. Instead of a large chocolate milk, they bring out some kind of hot drink with milk and coffee. So I then mentioned I had ordered a large chocolate milk and the clerk seems surprised. 


My discussion had attracted the attention of the supervisor, who had now come over, and again I mentioned what I had ordered. Finally the supervisor brings me the chocolate milk, but says this is 35 cents more than what the clerk had charged me. I was quite upset, as now we had spent far too much time on such a simple issue, and the supervisor did not apologize for the error, and did not offer to cover the extra 35 cents, as a goodwill gesture.


So I told the supervisor, I no longer wanted the milk, if they were not going to make any attempt at trying to recover from this poor customer service showing. The supervisor seemed surprised, and then said they will not charge the extra 35 cents. This was a very poor example of customer service recovery, as the staff were not apologetic at all, and still wanted me to pay the extra 35 cents. You would think 35 cents would be a cheap way to build customer goodwill. So as you can imagine I am left with a very poor experience from this cafe, and I have no confidence the supervisor really cares about keeping customers happy.


This is an example of poor customer service, that will not produce word of mouth customers. However, a better way to correct the issue would of been if the supervisor came over and apologized and waived the extra 35 cent charge, that would of been a much better way to handle this poor service. This would of been the minimum level of service recovery, but if they wanted to deliver exceptional service, perhaps they could of provided some free product or other promo, to show some goodwill that they really value my business. Businesses always need to strive for exceptional customer service delivery and you will gain many loyal customers who will reward your business with increased revenue.

Powerful Words - I Am Sorry!

Its amazing how powerful the phrase , " I am sorry"  can be in dealing with customer conflicts. Customers will always have various concerns or complaints with a company, but often a simple , "I am sorry", will help to calm the customer. Now to be sure, you have to be careful how you phrase the apology.so that it sounds sincere and is directed at the inconvenience the customer suffered. In addition, you need to solve the issue the customer has and explain the resolution process, but often the customer simply wants an apology.


You are apologizing for the inconvenience and stress caused to the customer by the poor service or bad product. Customers want to know that you care about them and that you fully understand their concerns. The customer service rep could offer all kinds of solutions to the problem, but the customer could still be very angry. This is because they feel like the staff are simply trying to get rid of them as fast as they can, by offering fast solutions, but without an apology. 


Customers are not like sheep that can be just quickly herded out of the store, so we can get to the next customer. Customers need to be treated with respect and shown that the company genuinely cares about their concerns about the product or service. This quote really applies well to customer service; "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care" - John C. Maxwell. Once customers know that you actually care about them, they will typically  be more responsive to the staff who are offering the solutions to their issues. Having staff say sorry to customers when needed will allow your company to keep more of your customers and create very positive word of mouth advertising.

Stand Out From The Competition

Delivering great customer service can be a powerful way for a company to stand out from the competition. Many companies have very average or poor customer service, so delivering exceptional customer service would create very positive views for a company and allow them to be different from the competition. Most companies offer very similar products or services, but their customer service levels vary a lot. It is easy for most companies to compete on  price, but much harder to compete based on customer service levels. However, when you start to compete using customer service as a marketing tool to beat out your competition, you will be creating a strategy that is harder for your competition to match.


It takes awhile to hire the right people and it takes patience and time to train the staff to deliver great customer service. That is why most businesses will not invest the needed resources to develop a a great customer service program. Most people think of marketing tools as things like advertising, telemarketing, direct mail, internet advertising, etc, but see customer service as important but not as a tool for marketing. If a business uses customer service as a tool to keep customers happy, it allows the company to keep more of their customers and get new customers through positive word of mouth.


Just to show how important word of mouth advertising is, here are the results of a worldwide survey by Nielsen: 92% of consumers around the world say they trust  earned media, such as word-of-mouth advertising, above all other forms of advertising-an increase of 18% since 2007 as per the new study from Nielson. The study was done in 2011 and is called the The Nielson Global Trust in Advertising Survey. It polled more than 28,000 online consumers in 56 countries. ( http://nielsen.com/us/en/insights/press-room/2012/nielsen-global-consumers-trust-in-earned-advertising-grows.html )


This survey is powerful evidence for the importance of word of mouth advertising. Since great customer service is such a big factor in creating word of mouth advertising, it would make good business sense to develop exceptional customer service at your business. Once your business starts to see how delivering great customer service is a powerful marketing tool, you will keep more of your customers and potentially save money by reducing more expensive forms of advertising. Deliver exceptional customer service and your business will stand out among the competition, which creates many happy customers and happy business owners.

Great People Helping Attitudes Needed!

What are the right qualities to look for when deciding on new staff to hire? It is not an easy question to answer, but it is an important question, because it affects all businesses. Many businesses will look for potential employees with prior knowledge and experience in the industry. This is important, but what is more important is the people helping attitude of potential employees.

Some questions to be asked are: Does this person have the needed patience to deal with customers? Does the person have a genuine caring attitude to help people? How strong are their problem solving skills when dealing with customer complaints? Do they have the needed listening skills to allow the customer to say what is on their mind? These are just some considerations when trying to hire new staff. The main consideration should always be that this person has a great attitude towards helping customers.

Employees with great people helping attitudes, are extremely valuable to a company. Customers will have a much more positive view of your business when they encounter friendly and helpful staff. This would clearly lead to positive word of mouth advertising, which would increase company revenue and potentially save on marketing costs. It costs so much to get new customers, why not treat your current customers great to help ensure they stay a long term client.

Chicken Wing Customer Service, and Ready for Business

What do chicken wings have to do with customer service? Well actually quite a lot, when you go to the restaurant and receive chicken wings that are much smaller than what you just had a couple days before. I saw these new wings and thought this must be a mistake, but the server said the new restaurant owner had purchased some new chicken wings. This was no doubt done to save money, but at what cost? Customers will be quite unhappy with the new size, and the negative word of mouth will spread fast, causing customers to stop coming to the restaurant. 


It is always amazing how companies do not see customer service as a powerful marketing tool to keep customers. In this restaurant example, the business will no doubt lose revenue on the new and smaller chicken wings. Also, the negative word of mouth is not good as it will cause some people not to go to the restaurant at all. What more companies need to see is that customer service can be a very powerful marketing tool to increase business revenue and to save on marketing costs. It costs a lot to get new customers, so a business should be very focused on designing a great customer service training program for the staff.


This short chicken wing story brings me to an important milestone in my life. I have been working on a business idea for a few months, and now am ready to announce the official launch date of my business. May 1, 2012 is the official launch date of my business which is called Lightray Marketing. You can check out the website at www.lightraymarketing.ca . This business will be focused on providing customer service training as a powerful marketing tool for small businesses. 
My mission is to help you build your business one smiling customer at a time.