What's Good Customer Service Worth?

A huge part of business is about relationship so why not invest in the relationship approach with our customers? I usually measure my customer relations factor with a simple scenario: Following up well after the sale has been completed, and the invoice submitted and paid. That takes some dedication and it’s not easy. Staying in touch takes time and commitment and it‘s easy to get bogged down in getting new business and being most concerned about the next
“big deal”.

There’s no escaping the fact that we must have a plan in place to touch our customer base. Coffee once a week, picking up the phone and calling from time-to-time, an eNewsletter or mailing out a holiday card every year, something must be done and it has to be planned or it just won’t happen.

When the economy is at its peak, many companies take a slash and burn approach to customer service because it seems that under every rock there are new business prospects just waiting in the wings. With the state of the nation slowing down, a slash and burn approach can upset end of year projections.

What is the cost of good customer service? Dollars aside, I think it’s about understanding what your customers value – it’s about sticking your neck out to give them what they want. Many things in life are measured by time or money. Most of us are more willing to give of our time than we are money and in the case of offering good customer service, I think it requires a little of both. It takes time to plan what you’re going to do and actually implementing the plan. The money part is usually consumed by the actual plan or by you taking the time to put the plan into action.

Whatever you decide, don’t let the cost of good customer service discourage you, get creative. There’s an abundance of options and ideas out there that have been created with people like us in mind who are out to take things to a different level when it comes to how we run our business. See what you can find.

Keep the learning going…pass it on.

~Peter

Where Has Good Customer Service Gone?

First, let me start by saying Happy New Year!

I’ve been spending most of my holiday with family and friends and overall, the experience has been refreshing.

On New Year’s Eve day, I decided to eat breakfast at a local restaurant. The experience left me thinking, ‘Where has good customer service gone?’ After being seated by the host, I decided another available location in a booth was more preferable than the table I was initially given. I asked if I could move and was surprised to hear the host say, “That’s another section, I’m not sure, let me go check.”

I didn’t need to hear the turmoil of the host not knowing and that being another section. I was expecting something like, I’m sorry that’s reserved or “Oh sure, sir, go right ahead!” Whatever happened to that?

This leads me to this post today. They say in life you should never waste an experience. Always use what you’re going through for the greater good of someone else. So I guess it’s safe to say that my turmoil is for your good.

What does it cost to retain customers vs. acquiring new ones?

According to authors Emmett C. Murphy and Mark A. Murphy’s Leading on the Edge of Chaos, acquiring new customers can cost five times more than satisfying and retaining current customers, a 2% increase in customer retention has the same effect on profits as cutting costs by10%, the average company loses 10% of its customers each year, a 5% reduction in customer defection rate can increase profits by 25-125%, depending on the industry and the customer profitability rate tends to increase over the life of a retained customer.

There you have it! That’s it in a nutshell. What are we doing to keep our current customers happy? It’s a matter of sales and excellent customer service. Many times the sales team is there to close the deal, then the customer is passed on to a formal customer relations program to ensure that the customer’s overall experience is managed. This is all good. In fact, I highly recommend having systems in place for retaining the customer. That’s ‘getting it’ when it comes to the profitability and success of your department or business.

I’ve been a customer of L.L.Bean for years and my experience has always been excellent. They go out of their way to accommodate my needs and they guarantee their products. Sure, I bet they get new customers logging on or entering their stores everyday to make a purchase, but they understand the value of paying attention to the customers they already have, and how profitable customer retention is to their bottom line. That’s being better than good.

The New Year is here...2008 is upon us, how are you planning to be better than good to your customer? Leave me a comment, I’m open to how we can maximize the lost art of “good customer service.” At Bizucate, we plan on making that a focus of ours for the new year.

Keep the learning going...pass it on.

~Peter

Reach Out And Touch Someone

I just can’t seem to get this stack of business cards off my mind.

When I teach seminars or meet people along the way that classic marketing method is always in play--the exchanging of business cards. I contact some of the key people who hand me cards based on a timely need or project idea that aligns with our current efforts. But we can't always get to all those people.

I actually sat at my desk and brainstormed about how I could possibly make an impact on each individual who took the liberty to hand me their contact information, and not to mention those of whom I actually requested that they hand over their contact information so that I could, you guessed it - contact them.

What should I do?

Do I handcraft a response about what I can do for them? Nah, that’s bound to get too big before it even gets going. I’m thinking I should create an engine that’s threefold:  generates ideas, serves as a resource and keeps the dialog going between me and the the potentially Bizucated masses. In that order, I could make a huge difference. As a coach, I teach customers how to grow their customers’ businesses. Technically, it’s my duty to pass on what I know and I like to think that by passing on what I’ve learned, I’m creating the possibility of my customers being the best at what they do. Which takes me to my next point, my knowledge is only as good as the action that follows.

Over the years, I’ve learned that everyone, no matter what business they’re in, struggles with time management, keeping up the pace and just plain old getting things done. What if there was a reliable source that kept us on the up and up about how to overcome these challenges. A resource that my contacts could count on. A resource that would help me, help my contacts, help themselves.

I find that the clients who prevail are the ones who apply what they’ve learned and actually do the work. I’m doing the work by getting the business and writing and delivering the presentations and completing the consulting projects. Now, I’m ready to take it a step further. It’s time to create a system that’s going to serve as a resource for everyone that I come in contact with. How much greater would our community be if all of us were committed to making an impact on everyone who trusted us enough to hand over their business cards?

Maybe this would be a good spot in this posting to reveal the new service I have in mind, maybe revealing it here would be premature…I guess the major question/revelation for me would be ‘why am I doing this?’

As I take the next step in Bizucating my contacts, I‘d like to thank you for giving me the time and the space that I needed to realize the vision of the next dimension at Bizucate. If you've got some ideas you'd like to share, let me know. Stay tuned.

Keep the learning going, pass it on.

~Peter