It is a fact of life that there are difficult customers. However, difficult customers can become valuable and very loyal customers. Let employees know that they are not defending the empire from the barbarians, and that superior customer service and the resulting customer loyalty is the mark of a true champion. The single factor that separates an occasional winner in business from a true champion is customer loyalty. Nordstrom is famous for customer service and the resulting loyalty of their customers. Nordstrom will refund money for an item that was never even purchased from them. Their philosophy is that for a small investment they gain a lifelong customer. The lesson is to encourage employees to see each transaction as a means of building a lasting business relationship with a customer.
This relationship will generate customer loyalty, thus saving advertising dollars, increasing profits, and making future sales even easier. All of which leads to less work stress and a more pleasing work environment for everyone while improving employee retention. Making customer service a priority, giving yourself the competitive edge, doesn’t have to be very difficult. Talk about it. Train employees from day one about customer service. Demonstrate that customer service is important to everyone from the CEO to the maintenance staff by treating each other within the company as customers. This helps establish quality service as the norm. Officially recognize and reward those who exemplify superior customer service. We all complain about customer service, but what can we do about it? As business professionals, we know that the customer is not always right, but many times there are ways to make any business transaction a positive experience for all parties involved. The first step is to ensure that everyone who has customer contact feels like an expert about the product. Nothing puts a customer service rep on the defensive faster than feeling challenged or inadequate. The power struggle between the customer service rep and customer that normally follows will leave both of them frustrated and leave the company with a black eye that takes a very long time to heal. Research shows that, on average, an unhappy customer will tell more than fifteen people about the problem transaction. Some will tell more than 50! Enough black eyes and not even Microsoft has a large enough advertising budget to repair the damage.
Picture of our long term client and friend Vistagy. We have been around the world and back with them.
