 Customer DIS-Service
- Stop Sabotaging Your Own Marketing - Part 1
By Mara Osis of Action International Inc.
Two powerful forces are at work in your business every day. One is the power to grow your
business by allocating your resources between increasing lead generation, and improving
conversion rate, average sale, repeat business and margins. (See www.risingwomen.com
(Archives/Business) for my articles on “Divide To Multiply - Five Ways to
SUPERProfits”). The other powerful force is today’s customer: time-strapped,
stressed, demanding, impatient, knowledgeable, value-driven and needing to feel important.
The five principles I outline here will help you ensure you don’t
sabotage expensive lead generation and time-consuming conversion efforts by delivering
customer DIS-service.
1) Know the Cost and Value of Your Customers - It costs time and money
to get a new client -- this is your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAQ). Your high investment
in prospecting and promotion means that you could make several transactions with a
customer before you show a profit. But once you gain new clients, their potential
LifetimeValue including the referrals they bring, far exceeds your initial investment.
Look at your client list now. Calculate your CAQ. Then, estimate the cascade of benefits a
good client brings over a period of years. Knowing these numbers helps you decide how much
to invest to get a new customer.
2) Make Them Feel Special - A classic customer service study showed
that, while customers have a variety of reasons for not coming back (and only 15% was
about price!), fully 68% stop doing business with you because they think you don’t
care. In today’s fast-paced, impersonal environment, that number climbs even higher.
I can still remember waiting… and waiting… in a jewelery store with my purchase
on the counter. Meanwhile, the sales people were busy serving other customers and passed
right in front of me without even making eye contact and acknowledging my presence! Today,
it’s not just product, not just service we shop for -- we also expect an experience
that is friendly and welcoming, respectful and accommodating.
3) Respect The Power of E-Communication! - It used to be that you might
expect a disgruntled customer to tell up to nine people about their bad experience. With
e-mail, the stakes are far higher. Our natural tendency to share a bad customer experience
takes on scary proportions when we have a desire to vent with a large e-mail address book
at our fingertips.
Not long ago I received a “forward-of-a-forward” group email
with the headline “Worst spa ever!” -- a story in excruciating detail about
PERCEIVED poor service and a business owner in denial. With one keystroke, everyone in
that group could easily send the “warning” on to hundreds of their contacts --
potentially devastating that business. Enough said.
4) Manage Their Expectations - One of the most effective ways to
prevent customer disappointment and dissatisfaction is to be aware of customer perceptions
and expectations, and to manage them. Recently, in an upscale flower shop, I watched as an
increasingly irate customer tried to complete a purchase with an equally exasperated
florist. The customer wanted “no extras” while the florist was trying to
maintain the high standard of floral design that her shop is known for.
The customer left the shop after promising to tell friends to avoid her
store and her “unhelpful” attitude; the florist was left with the anger and
frustration of selling a customer something far below her usual standard. Far better
perhaps to gently suggest that this customer might be happier visiting the floral
department at the supermarket!
5) Under-Promise, then WOW! deliver! - Along with managing
expectations, it’s good to make a habit out of exceeding client expectations.
It’s as simple as saying, “We’ll have that for you in three days.”
Then, deliver your product or service in two. Or, you could also deliver exactly what you
promised, but add an unexpected extra. It doesn’t have to cost much -- I have seen
companies who insert a high quality candy treat in each of their delivered packages. It
always brings a smile to whoever opens the carton.
An extra like this should have a high “perceived value” to
the client but a low hard cost to you. Extra service or unexpected, useful information can
also be a low-cost way to deliver a WOW! impression.
The cost of DIS-service is high. You’ll spend five to six times
more getting a new customer than you will keeping one you already have -- even if that
customer is unhappy today. A recent study confirmed that 26 unhappy customers will not
complain (to you, that is) for every one that will. Up to 91% of unhappy customers never
return; but if you fix their problem, 82% will buy again. When a customer leaves,
you’ve forfeited your investment in them, as well as the lifetime value that they and
all their referrals bring.
There are hidden costs to customer DIS-service, too. It’s how you
and your team feel when you’ve been of DIS-service and the customer lets you know it.
The resulting emotions can sap your productivity and “infect” other
interactions.
By sharpening your awareness of the value and power your customers
hold, you can protect your investment and build a customer base that becomes your built-in
sales and marketing department! You do this by making your customers feel special and by
managing and exceeding their expectations.
Watch for part 2 in the upcoming Nov/Dec issue.
Mara Osis works with business owners & professionals
who want MORE LIFE for themselves & their businesses! For your FREE subscription to
Mara’ e-newsletter, “Focus "ON" Your Business”, contact Mara at
403.225.0906 or e-mail maraosis@action-international.com
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