Imagine this: you walk into a store looking for a pair of birthday sneakers for your nephew. It’s sneakers you know he’d love and bonus, it’s half price! You’re searching for his size but can’t find it. Perhaps the staff will know but the only problem is, you can’t find a single employee on the floor. When you do find someone, it takes a further 15 minutes and just when you thought they forgot about you, they finally found the size!
Browsing around the store, you notice there’s one cashier at the tills and the line is enough to make you put the sneakers down and head out the store. You make your way to the line and persist, but in your mind, you’ve made a promise to never step foot in the store again – even during sale time.
You’ve heard the saying that the customer is always right. It’s a sentiment with negative connotations but really highlights why customer service is vital to your business. The above scenario is one that happens too often. No matter what value you offer your customer, you also need to ensure that you’re offering them a top-quality service.
Great customer service could positively affect your business in the following ways:
Retention is cheaper than acquisition
While it’s always great to attract more customers, you always need to rely on the loyalty of your current customers. Why? Your current set of customers know your brand inside out and they know what to expect and will likely be spending more. Meanwhile, new customers will be testing the waters. You’ll also be spending more on marketing to them to depict why you’re a trustworthy brand.
What most brands do is award loyalty rewards to current customers. This could a point system or a reward for being a loyal customer. By taking care of your old customers, word will spread and you’re likely to gain a new ‘fan base’.
Increase your brand image
Take your mind back to the scenario at the beginning of the blog. You’ve experienced such bad customer service and you’re ready to tell everyone you know. Maybe this is not the first time the store has had such poor customer service and it now has a reputation for it?
Brand reputation is important. Simply put, a bad reputation = fewer sales. Know what your brand represents and make sure that it’s a mission statement that your employees practice every day. Building a customer service team will help put the focus on great and effective services. This team will tend to the needs of the customers, define positive customer experience, and ensure that there is always a customer conversion.
Increased profit
A bad experience means that you’re ready to head out the store – with or without an item. Exceptional customer services mean that the employees have gone above and beyond to ensure that customers have left with a smile on their face. How do you make sure this happens whenever someone interacts with your brand?
Find out what your customers want. If you tend to their needs – and do it well – they’ll likely come back and spread the word. Customer surveys are still an effective method when it comes to finding out what they want or what change they’d like to see. Your customer service team will then look at results and implement accordingly.
Always remember to align your customer’s expectations with your own. By doing this, you’re likely to build a lasting strategy that will ensure your brand is always on good terms with your loyal clientele.
Growth is about continuous learning. Research and short courses will help you discover more about relationship building with your customers and how to lead customer management strategy.
