Customer Service – The Cornerstone of Success

Excellence in customer service is something that’s deeply ingrained within our business and we truly believe that it can be the make or break element of any customer interaction.  

In recognition of our commitment to high standards of service we’ve chosen to sponsor the Customer Service Award at the Reigate and Banstead Business Awards.  To say that we’ve been wowed by the standard of entries is an understatement. 

The conversations that we’ve had with some of the entrants clearly demonstrated to us the alignment between positive business growth and high customer service standards.

Within this blog we wanted to share some of our own learnings from the past 9 years. 

‘It costs between 5 and 25 times more to acquire a new customer’ 

This quote alone highlights the main reason for prioritising your service levels.  The foundations of this come from building a strong company culture, hiring the right people, initiating service standards and training everyone within the business to adopt them within all interactions.

The Disney Scoop is a classic example of a customer service standard that Disney customers don’t even know about.  The global theme park brand are passionate about keeping their parks clean and tidy for their guests.  The Disney Scoop is a simple and subtle movement for picking up rubbish off the ground so it goes unnoticed by everyone around. Adopted by all staff and cast members, park guests would certainly know if the standard wasn’t in place.

Managing customer service when things go wrong

The biggest thing that we’ve learnt in our years in business is how to manage customer service when things go wrong.  We are all human and even with the greatest of effort there are times when things don’t quite go to plan.  

Never lie or try and blag the situation!

It’s on these occasions that we work closely with our customers to find a resolution that works for everyone.  We’ll pull out all of the stops to make it right and our industry partners do the same.  We don’t believe in the blame game because that just frustrates everyone involved. – if something’s not right we just need to own it and fix it.

70% of consumers will tell at least one person about a negative customer service experience.

Our other top tips are:

Under promise and over deliver

It’s so easy to over promise to win a customer but when you don’t fulfil their expectations, they can understandably get frustrated and they may not come back…Particularly if they’ve made unrealistic promises to their own internal stakeholders. 

We’re huge believers in under promising and over delivering.  We will always be realistic with our customers.  We’ll pull out all of the stops to do what we can to achieve difficult objectives and if we’re able to, it’s a win-win situation for everyone. 

Detail project expectations and timings from the start

Whether you’re delivering a product or service, give your customers an understanding of next steps and timings, regularly keeping in touch throughout the whole process.  Often these steps can be automated, but if not, the ongoing communication is well worth the effort.  E-commerce retail is a good point of reference for best practice – i.e. confirming receipt of order; confirming dispatch; confirming delivery date; confirming final delivery; thank you for the order and request for feedback.

Positive human interaction 

We strongly believe that ‘people buy from people’.  It’s one of the biggest ways that smaller businesses can stand out amongst faceless conglomerates.  From a polite welcome and smile in the retail environment, through to answering the phone promptly with a warm greeting.  We’ve had personal experiences where we’ve refused to buy something that we need because the salesperson was so rude. Alternatively we’ve purchased things that we didn’t know we needed because of the polite and knowledgeable staff.  Training and service standards are key to ensuring that all of your team represent your brand in every interaction.

Knowledge sharing 

We’ve come across so many businesses that won’t share any of their expertise until the contract is signed on the dotted line.  

We’re a huge cheerleader for small businesses and are always happy to give ideas and recommendations, even when we may not get any work out of it as a result.  

It’s the best way to showcase our knowledge and skills and people will always remember the help we gave them when they do need support, or they’re asked for recommendations.

There are of course people that just go through the motion of meetings to get free ideas.  Sadly that’s a part of life and fortunately it appears to be the exception and not the rule.

Last but not least…

One of our biggest recommendations is to capture customer feedback

Whether you ask for a Google Review or just an email response, it’s important to learn from any negative reviews and you can use any positive reviews to showcase your business to new and potential customers.  It can be as simple as sending a review request along with your invoices, or capturing feedback at the point of purchase in a retail environment.

Customer service is a huge area that can clearly differentiate your business from its competitors.  We’ve highlighted just some of the things that we’ve learnt over the years, that are now embedded within our own service standards.   

To experience our customer service first hand, give us a call on 01737 428169 or email hello@wearerethink.uk.