by Feisal Hammude
Learn how to create an "Exceptional Customer Service Strategy", and have your customers coming back for more..
Undoubtedly, as a Business owner the majority of your mission is to establish long-term relationships with your clientele through providing exceptional customer service. Specifically, this means providing service that, by far, exceeds what your competitors are providing, because in today’s market basic customer service is simply not enough to capture or retain customers. More importantly, exceptional service is required to make one’s business stand out from its’ competitors, more so because consumers have so many choices from which to choose. If they cannot distinguish you from your competitor, your business will get “lost in the sauce.” Your first step is to gain the competitive edge, by being savvy enough to find out what your competitors are not doing, and then capitalize on this by establishing an exceptional plan which will create customers who are your 'Biggest fans' says' hammude' a Middle East Business Strategist & industry speaker.
To make one’s company unique from it’s’ competitors, the fundamental recipe is two large scoops of “thinking outside the box” + one big scoop of what your competitors are NOT doing = Your company’s own distinct and Exceptional Customer Service Recipe. In it’s simplest terms, the “Exceptional Customer Service Plan,” demonstrates our best customer service code of ethics, and it designed to portray to our customers “what makes us different” from our competitors. You see, unless there is some distinguishing trait, the customer sees our products, and or services, as the same as our competition. Plain and simple, an excellent and thought provocative servicing plan will separate us from the competition.
So, how do we create this Exceptional Customer Service Plan? The key starting point is to Research/Secret Shop and conduct due diligence on your competitors. To accomplish this, become a “true customer”, call your competitors and or visit their storefront – purchase their products or services; and after the sale is completed ask if they have a survey to complete. In short, the goal is to do more than just stop by one of your competitor's locations and price shop them. You should focus on finding out the truth - what are their clients raving or not raving about.
After you experience your competitors’
Use these 14 Questions to Rate your competitors.
1. Was there personalized service by the staff?
2. How are they greeting the customers? Or did they greet the customers?
3. How did they answer the telephone? Or, was it voicemail?
4. Was the staff knowledgeable?
5. Was the staff friendly, helpful and patient while you were considering their products or services?
6. Is their sales methodology up to date?
7. Are their products and services up to date?
8. Did they add value to your experience as a customer? What did you learn as customer as a result of shopping this competitor?
9. What was their overall, response time in selling their products or services? Did you make the purchase within your timeframe, or did you have to beg them to take your business?
10. Did they “Sell” you and send you on your way? Or was it a buying experience?
11. How timely was their client follow-up, after the sale or services? Or did they follow-up?
12. Did they record your customer contact information into their database for constant contact?
13. How consistent and timely were they in resolving the client’s challenges?
14. Do you see indications of where they are headed in the future with products and services?
Other ways to conduct due diligence on your competitors’
After you secret shop and research your competitors, create your plan for Exceptional Service for your clients. Here are core questions that will help you get off to a great start.
• Ask, “How can my servicing plan be different from my competitors”?
with your competitor?
• ABC Company is different because they..
• I was impressed with how they..
• Their customer service is..
• When I had a challenge they….and I was..! Design a plan that creates a “Lasting Impression” on your clients (The “WOW” Effect”).
• Design a plan that incorporates challenge solving in a timely manner and follow-up for a certain amount of time after the challenge has been solved.
Use these 10 Tips to help you create your company’s Exceptional Service Plan.
1. Employ a Friendly and knowledgeable staff as the first initial contact/greeter to your clients.
2. Institute a “Lighting Speed” response time in responding to client’s questions or challenges.
3. Employ a part-time or full-time customer service/quality control manager to remain in touch with clients.
4. Keep in contact with your clients, do things to demonstrate that you care about them even when they are not purchasing your products or services.
5. Offer free, on-site, client scheduled trainings on products and services sold to new and existing clientele.
6. Institute a 100% exceptional service, or money back guaranteed policy. (I know that’s a real bold statement, but if you believe in your products or services, you shouldn’t think twice about offering this).
7. Create “hassle free and effort free” as well as lightning speed solutions to resolving client’s challenges with services or products they’ve purchased from your company.
8. Be consistent in providing new products and services information to your clients.
9. Institute customer appreciation events, quarterly, and one large event annually to show your customers that you appreciate their business. It is also a way to fact-find on your company’s strengths, and to find out things that you can improve upon.
10. Be Creative – Try new ideas continuously, to keep your plan Exceptional, fresh, and up to date. And, when implementing new customer service ideas, ask the clients for their feedback on these new ideas. Think “Outside of the Box” to renew your company’s Exceptional Customer Service Plan. And, if nothing else, as you are trying new customer service ideas, your clients will think that you are more innovative than your competitors’
Continue to make sure that your Team is Exceptional!
And since it’s not a perfect world, and issues as well as challenges will arise with your customers, after you hire those “good people,” it is most important that you train train & train and also update them on ways to solve customer challenges effectively, to save the customer timeand have them coming back!
