Customer Service: Do you know your score?
How do you rate your business’s customer service?
How do your customers rate your customer service?
Need help improving your business’s customer experience?
Customer Service awareness, from the customer view point, is key to understanding how you can improve your business. Just to be clear: it’s my point of view as well! Last week I had a couple of unpleasant customer service situations – as a customer. Being the customer who had to switch over to Plan B because of a business’s incompetence was frustrating as well as an inconvenience. How often do our own customers have a less than favorable experience with our business?
Do you rate your business’s customer service?
When my neighborhood was invaded by a utilities company putting in new lines, and disconnected several residents in the process, my neighbor (a regional service manager) said, “Here’s the thing, aren’t we all in the customer service business?” The answer is, “Yes, whether we realize it or not!”
Have you temporarily forgotten that your business lives and dies via the customer service it offers? Often the honest answer is “yes”. Your business, you, and/or your team has the opportunity to make great customer experiences. Regardless of what we think, it all impacts our revenue!
As a female Harley Rider, I have a new found appreciation for janitors or whomever provides the role of cleaning restrooms. Yep, I’m talking about this 🙂 When I need to stop for a restroom (and I know some guys who should do this more often too), we usually tank up the bike and rehydrate. The service station we stop at incurs revenue. Why do we stop at certain locations and not others? The consistency a business has with delivering great customer service – in their restrooms of all places!
What do you need to measure to assess your customer service?
Even though we are speaking of customer service, whenever we address the measurement of assessment, the conversation is about what the customer wants and needs. Customer service is all about giving customers what they want. Additionally, it’s about what they need whether they realize it or not (your wisdom shines through here)!
If you sell mobile devices, are you going to include a charger for your device or are you going to make your customers buy it separately? Your answer should follow this question, “What will offer the best customer service?” We all know the answer and yet some companies do differently. It’s silly! Take the time to do what’s right and your business will grow.
There are many different aspects you can measure to assure customer service. As we always over-simplify here in this blog, let’s start with the most basic, which is data rich onto itself.
3 Basic Customer Service Metrics:
- Measure what you customer wants (click here for more on this)
- Measure what your customer needs (click here for more on this)
- Measure what you and your team know your customer needs (click here for more on this)
Even if you don’t do anything else except focus on these 3 steps to create a great customer experience, you will serve yourself and business well. Since many businesses don’t do this, your customer service should be noticeable in the marketplace, which will ultimately gain revenue for you!
What do you do with your customer service feedback?
Of course you need to find a way to collect feedback. Some techniques work better than others. Select the best way to approach your particular customer for them to be eager to give you feedback. Once you do, create a folder (low tech) or a file (high tech) to gather all your feedback data.
If a customer has a less than favorable customer service experience, I urge you to act immediately upon it to rectify this situation. Rectification may require an apology, which may need to occur publicly. Virtually or personally, make it obvious to the customer that you want to work with them. Your job is to create a great customer experience. Again, rectify the situation immediate. If you do everyone wins!
You know what you need to do. Take some time to do it… before you need it! If you are a new business, there is gold in the links in this post. If you are an established business, utilize the info in the links as a quality control opportunity. Please reach out for any questions or comments. I’m always here to help you optimize your performance 🙂
THANKS FOR ALLOWING ME TO HELP YOU IMPROVE YOUR BUSINESS!
If you want to discuss how to strategize or a particular strategy you need some assistance with,
please reach out to Maggie (262) 716.7750, Central Time, for YOUR No-cost Consultation
Blessings of Success to YOU ~
Maggie Mongan, Brilliant CEO & Founder
Brilliant Breakthroughs, Inc.
Direct Dial: 262-716-7750
LinkedIn: MaggieMongan
