Many of you would probably say, “Ridiculous!”
- Does it take several phone calls to get in touch with you?
- Does it take longer than 24 to 48 hours for you to respond to messages or emails?
- Do you often use the excuses “I’m too busy” OR “I don’t have the time?”
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you have a problem. SeibCo’s Law of Poor Customer Service states: The longer it takes for you to return a call or respond to an email, the faster the issue will grow exponentially. If this continues, your customer will go to your competition and your reputation will be tarnished.
What Can You Do?
Treat your messages with reverence. They are the life blood of your business. Voice-to-voice conversations are key – don’t rely on emails or sending customers or prospects to your website for answers. Respond promptly. It’s a great way to stay in touch, build important relationships and provide additional value. Actual conversations also are a great way to up-sell and cross-sell any additional products and services they don’t realize you offer.
Believe all clients are important. Ranking clients based on their revenue to determine who you will contact first is a losing game. While a BIG client is important, so are your other ones. Keeping every client happy is important and may require you to think outside-the-box to ensure everyone’s concerns are given top priority.
Value your meetings. Continually canceling or rescheduling, not being prepared, and not taking responsibility for ensuring current and potential clients feel valued, are good excuses for them to seek out other vendors. Happy customers buy more when they feel important. Remember, actual conversations are the best way to uncover their needs.
Listen and be present during the conversation. Too often when we’re in meetings, we’re busy thinking of other things we need to do, or other conversations we need to have. 100% active listening and probing will help you uncover a real issue and your ability to resolve it to the customer’s satisfaction. This new awareness can also help you resolve other clients’ concerns and be more active in doing so.
Blitz them with great customer service. Don’t forget your customer service people need help too! We falsely assume, with devastating results, that everyone knows how to be a good representative of the company. Get into your people’s mindsets and you’ll realize they don’t know how to handle different challenges or how to behave in unusual situations. Many will not have the confidence to ask for help and will simply look for a new employer. Use a qualified customer service assessment to understand their inherent strengths and weaknesses. Train all of your people to be on the same page, and work together for the benefit of every customer.
©Jeannette Seibly, 2010-2016
Do you need an objective, inside look at the behaviors and motives of yourself and others when interacting with customers? Contact Jeannette Seibly @ http://SeibCo.com/contact
Jeannette Seibly has been a business advisor and facilitator for over 23 years; she guides the creation of new solutions for business challenges and is the author of Hire Amazing Employees (http://BizSavvyHire.com) and It’s Time to Brag! (http://Time2Brag.com). Check out her website: http://SeibCo.com.