“One satisfied customer will tell three other customers while one dissatisfied customer will go out of his/her way to tell 300 hundred other customers” this is a common saying in companies and businesses that deal with a lot of customers, the moral of the saying is that a company has a lot to lose by not ensuring that its customers are satisfied and happy at all times.
The customer is king and a satisfied customer will come back begging for more therefore it is paramount that the quality of service delivered is precisely of high quality. This is therefore why companies whether big or small concentrate on satisfying customers and are coming up with innovative customer service/care techniques that leave their customers smiling and begging for more.
When creating a customer care service program you should have one aim in your mind quality and satisfaction the role of staff in this process of service delivery is as important as the product itself, and in cases where the products are assumed to be of the same quality across the industry then the way staff treat and interact with customers determines who crosses the finish line in the first position (Kotler and Keller 2002).
As much as all customers should be treated the same it is also vita to know it is only fair to you to ensure that the biggest accounts in your business are treated like royalty. Below are some key elements to be considered while developing a leading customer service system:
1. Identify which of your customers is the most valuable to your business then cluster or rank them according to the level of importance to your business.
2. Find out the level of service expected by the customer. This can be obtained through conversations and use of questionnaires, surveys or gathering commercial intelligence from competitors.
3. Develop a customer service standard and programme that aims to maximize customer satisfaction and build loyalty and do not forget to involve employees in this stage. Their involvement creates an obligation for them to perform their duties diligently, at the same time create a system of rewarding excellent customer service and punishing poor customer service delivery amongst employees.
4. Create a monitoring system that will be able to gather the opinions and felling of customers and rank them in order of importance according to the various types of services that you deliver as far as customer service is concerned. Which will assist you in making any corrections to the existing programme and standards if need arises.
By understanding the concept of customer care and how customers analyze service delivery to conclude whether a service delivered is either of good or bad quality can be very useful in your case.
Below are some indicators of good customer care that you should strive to exhibit in your organization and urge your employees to ensure they adhere to: Friendliness/politeness, Responsiveness, constant communication and feedback mechanisms , acknowledging and taking notice of customers Keeping you promises by letting customers know what you can or cannot do, appreciating customers (Locker & Kienzler 2010).
“Customer service is the backbone of a company’s Customer Value Proposition” Paul (2007) customers have memories, they will remember you, whether you remember them or not and that a customer’s trust can be destroyed by one major service problem, or it can be undermined one day at a time with one thousand small demonstrations of incompetence.
It is therefore necessary that all employees be adequately trained on how to handle customers and products. In day to day business it is a fact that they will come across difficult customers some of whom are rude, angry, emotionally dependent, and unknowledgeable, stubborn and so on.
They as employees have the duty to understand them and respond in the most appropriate way possible to bring about a win- win situation. According to Francis (2009) “great service is about attitude, and a better service leads a richer quality of life, not only commercial sector.” Therefore employees should be trained well to have enough product and people knowledge as this will also improve communication between a company and its customers.
Having an open system of communication, that is inexpensive and highly responsive, such as a website or a social site, will go a long way to show that you care about your clients. “If you get everyone in the company involved in customer service, not only are they feeling the customer but they are also getting a feeling for what’s not working” Francis (2009).
It is therefore by creating a written customer care charters that you as the entrepreneur and the workforce will be able to appreciate and dedicate all resources towards customer satisfaction. A customer care charter will create an attitude of top class service delivery and harness the participation of all organizational members which will in turn make sure that all customers fell satisfied and appreciated and employees will feel motivated to do better to meet goals creating a win- win situation.
References
Francis, B. (2009). Customer Relationship Management. New York, NY: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Kotler, K. & Keller L. (2006). Marketing Management 12 ed. New York, NY: Prentice Hall
Locker, K. O. & Kienzler, D. S. (2010). Business and administrative communication (9th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Paul R. (2007). Customer Service: Career success Through Customer Loyalty (4th ed). New York, NY: Prentice Hall.