JuliannaGetting customers can be difficult, and in today’s competitive business environment, keeping them can be an outright war. So you have managed to win over that fickle customer, how do you go about keeping them? Forget about just making your customers happy, to instill loyalty and create lifelong relationships, you have to provide exceptional, memorable and personal customer service.
We are firm believers in exceptional customer service at Webnames.ca and write about it frequently on this blog – our Corporate Services maestro Michael blogged about customer loyalty strategies from the Magic Kingdom and I recently shared the story of Zappos’ above-and-beyond customer service for one of their customers. Both of these examples showed how two companies provide an extra touch and personalized service for their customers.
I recently came about another great example in a post on Freelance Switch – Pizza Guy Marketing – How to Turn a Slice into a Lifelong Customer. So what can you learn about marketing from a small pizza company – a lot. After two years of not being in the neighbourhood, writer Jonathan Fields returned to an old haunt, the local pizza joint. The owner not only remembered the writer, but also his favourite toppings and even asked about his daughter. Fields was blown away.
So, how can the pizza guy’s wicked memory get you more clients faster, make them happier with your deliverables and giddy to recommend you to others? Simple. Rather than focusing just on the deliverable, focus on the entire experience. Treat the way you interact with a client, from the first hello to every call along the way, not as customer service, marketing or PR, but as an essential ingredient of the service. It’s not value-added, it’s not going above and beyond. It is an integral part of what you’ve been hired to do. Your deliverable is not a website, design, copy, photograph or program, it’s the entire experience of working with you. And, a great place to really make that experience shine is to focus in on your clients’ micro-preferences, just the way the pizza guy remembered mine. Top boutique hotels actually do an amazing job of this, tracking what brand of coffee you drink, what paper you read and how many pillows you like and then having them all waiting for you on your next arrival.
I personally had a similar experience with my internet service provider and cable company just last week. I moved and had to change cable companies back to my old provider (my current provider didn’t offer service to my new building). I always had good service with my old provider, but when I moved into my last apartment, I couldn’t say no to the low introductory offer and fibre-optic internet. When switching back to my old provider, they welcomed me back as a customer, gave me everything free for the first month, including their fastest Internet package, and gave me a much better deal than my last time with them. Along with the savings, the customer service representative was amazing, walking me through everything and reactivating my old account, which took way less time than having to create a new one. The great customer experience carried through with the representative that came to our house to install the internet/cable, and he ended up finding a work around for my very old building to allow me to have access in every room, not just the living room with the primary jack. Overall I was blown away with how personal the service was and how valued I felt as a customer.
These two examples, from a small neighbourhood pizza parlor to a large ISP, are proof that providing exceptional customer service is attainable and necessary for a business of any size. Evaluate what you are doing for your customers, maybe it’s as simple as a follow up phone call after they create an account, or remembering preferences for how and when they prefer to be contacted. Either way, by adding these extra steps, you will elevate your company in the eyes of your most valuable asset – your customers.