We all know what it feels like to receive bad customer service, and we’ve all vented our frustrations by talking about it with friends and family.
Think of your worst customer-service experience. Now, think of how many times you’ve told—and retold—that horrific story. How many people do you think you’ve talked to about that bad service experience over the years?
That’s called “Negative Word-Of-Mouth Advertising” and once it starts, it’s impossible to stop.
Every day, somewhere in the world, someone is telling their story about that time your company didn’t solve their problem, lost their order, missed a deadline or otherwise failed to live up to a promise.
The fact is, most people will tell up to 15 other people about their negative experience.
Unfortunately, most of them will never issue any formal complaint directly to your company. Instead, they will look for an opportunity to vent their frustration to anyone who will listen — for the rest of their lives.
Think for a moment. What would you do if you overheard someone sharing a story about the horrible customer service they received from your company? Wouldn’t you want to apologize? Wouldn’t you want to make it right? But you can’t. Your chance to do that was way back when the actual problem occurred. You missed your chance, and now your company is the victim of negative word-of-mouth advertising.
Now, do you think your marketing budget could ever be big enough to overcome that person’s bad experience?
What if you hired Steven Spielberg to direct a 10-minute commercial starring Harrison Ford and Charlize Theron? What if you aired it during the Super Bowl? Would that change the person’s mind about their bad experience? No. It wouldn’t.
With the advent of social media, the problem is now exponentially compounded. The average person on Facebook or Twitter has between 250 and 500 followers. Some have more. Now your brand is being trashed all over the internet and you’re toast.
What can you do?
Change your culture. Become the best customer service provider in your industry.
In nearly every industry there is a company that sets the gold standard for great customer service—Nordstrom, Hilton, Amazon.com. There’s no reason why your company couldn’t set the standard for great service in the technology solution provider market.
So, what are you waiting for?
If you want to set yourself apart from the competition and create loyal, lifetime customers, then training and empowering your staff to provide excellent customer service is a cost-effective place to start.
Simple Tips for Great Customer Service
- Call every customer by name.
- Return every phone call and e-mail the same day.
- Listen to your customer more than you speak.
- Empower your employees to resolve customer complaints.
- Train everyone in your company to provide great service.
- Take time to listen to every complaint and take it seriously.
- Verify what the core issue really is before you attempt to resolve the complaint.
- An issue isn’t resolved until the customer tells you it’s resolved.
By implementing these simple policies, you can create a better form of word-of-mouth advertising that praises your company for going above and beyond, and increases customer delight.
Post contributed by Keith Giles, copywriter for Agency Ingram Micro.
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