ترجمه و گردآوری : سعید رستگار
How do they know you can hold? They don’t even know who you are. Maybe you can’t hold; maybe you have 10 seconds of juice left on your cell phone and your hair is on fire. Then you finally get someone on the phone, only to be told, “I can’t actually help you; I’m just paid to apologize, and I’m really sorry about that.”
Being frustrated, by a lack of customer service is nothing new. It just seems that in the last few years, companies have become more innovative when it comes to not helping you solve your problems. I recently asked a hotel employee to help me with my luggage. He told me to hold on and he would have someone look into it. I thought, “Hey, you’re someone—why can’t you look into it?”
I realize that we are as busy as we have ever been, and that many younger people, were not brought up in the traditional culture of customer service. But none of these excuses will protect your business in today’s challenging economy, where customers are questioning value even with companies they have known for years.
Maybe it’s time to get back to basics and make service a real priority. Sure, plenty of companies claim to offer great customer care. But raising your service standards requires more than a promise; you need to set concrete goals and establish effective procedures to meet them. Whether you own the company, handle key accounts or just accidentally encounter your customers, you’ll reap huge benefits by applying the following customer service goals:
On the Phone
Be friendly! No one wants to send a check to people who seem to be bothered by their call.
Ask permission before putting a caller on hold. If a customer is greeted with “Hold, please,” what the customer really hears is “Hang on! Someone much more important than you just called in.”
Keep it professional. Smoking cigarettes, slurping a drink, and playing the drums on your desk makes callers feel like they are getting advice from a guy in a bar.
Make sure that callers don’t have to repeat themselves. Someone who has explained a problem three times to three different people hangs up angry, whether or not the problem is solved.
Create a positive image to attract business. Remember that squirrels are just rats with good publicity.
Display compassion for people who are upset. People who don’t think you care won’t value your solution.
Be very clear when you explain a process. When customers don’t know what you’re talking about, they assume you don’t either.
Do what you say you’re going to do. When you don’t follow through, people don’t think you have forgotten. They think you don’t care.
Know when to bring in someone else. When it becomes clear that the customer thinks you are the problem, set your ego aside and send in a fresh face.
Establish a simple, easy-to-implement customer service plan. When something is really complicated, it’s hard to tell if it’s working.
Well, I think customer service will survive—and I feel better now that I’ve written this article—but it’s important that we help nurse that ailing customer service to a full recovery, ensuring a healthy prognosis for today’s businesses.
The companies that attract and keep the best customers are usually the most effective at managing expectations and emotions. Successful companies train their people to anticipate customer needs and to solve problems before the customer knows they exist.
But before you can do any of this, you have to start with the basics. If you really want customers, set customer service goals. Remember, if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there
Studies show that the average business looses 20 percent of its customer base each year. For example, let's say your business has 700 customers that buy repeatedly from you during the year and each customer spends an average of $300 a year. If you loose 20 percent of them ( one hundred and forty), you'll loose $42,000 a year. That's a lot of money to make up with new customers.
The longer you keep a customer the more he or she is worth to you. In
part, because it takes a lot more money to acquire a new customer than
it does to keep an existing one. In fact, businesses that are able to
consistently keep the majority of their customer base are usually the
ones that have increased profits year after year. Loyal customers spend
more, they refer new customers, and it costs less to do business with
them.
Before you can effectively put a plan in place to provide the highest in
quality service and market to your existing customers, you first have to
know the lifetime value of your customers. When you know the lifetime
value of your customers it helps you budget more effectively. You know
better how and where to best use your marketing dollars. This is valuable
information that every business needs to know if it is going to be
successful. And the only way to get this information is by knowing the
lifetime value of your customer.
Once you know how much each customer contributes to your bottom line,
you will begin to understand the value of hanging on to them. To do a
better job of keeping your customers, you need a system to gather
information about them and how they feel about your product and
services. One of the best ways to do this is through using questionnaires
on a regular basis. Ask questions such as: Why do you buy from us?
How well do we meet your needs? How can we improve what we're
doing? What are we not doing that you'd like us to do? What do you find
valuable about us? What's valuable about our competition?
You can ask these questions through a mailed questionnaire, e-mail, or
by having one of your employees call them. Beside the obvious value in
knowing the answers, you get a few bonuses as well. First, your
customers will be happy the you bothered to find out what they want.
Second, you'll learn about specific problems that could cause you to
loose them. You'll get ideas for your products or services, and you'll find
out some valuable information about your competition.
When you know you've lost a customer, try to bring them back through an
interview. If you don't get them back, at least you can get valuable
information that will help prevent you from losing additional customers.
But, you first have to find out why they have stopped doing business with
you. And the way you do this is by asking questions such as; Was it a
question of price or quality? Was a better offer made by our
competition? Was it inadequate responsiveness? Were promises not
kept? Were complaints not resolved? Was it overall dissatisfaction?
Whether you are sending a questionnaire, using e-mail, or interviewing
them by phone always use open ended questions that require an active
response. Use questions that start with What? When? Where? Who?
Which? How? You'll find that open ended questions help narrow down
and specify their reasons for leaving.
Businesses loose customers due to poor service more than for any other
reason. When you make a service mistake and a customer complains,
you have an opportunity to win back that customer and gain long-term
loyalty. Here is a five step plan you could implement when a customer
complains:
Apologize and acknowledge the error.
Take urgent action. Quick effort shows you have the customer's interest
at heart.
Show empathy. Customers want to know you care about their feelings.
Compensate them in some way. (It doesn't have to be monetary)
Follow-up. Make sure you've satisfied the customer.
To transform your business into one that is committed to retaining as
many customers as possible, you need support at every level. Provide
customer service training for all your managers, frontline customer-
service people, and everyone else in the organization. Teach your lower-
level employees how important it is to keep customers, and show them
how to be on the alert for unhappy customers. Give them a system for
identifying unhappy customers, and reward them for using it.
Make it easy for customers to bring their problems to you so you can see
where you need to improve. Make sure you have an 800 number that is
designated solely for customers. Have a special section of your Web
site designated for customer comments. You could even offer a modest
gift of some kind for customers who alert you to a problem. And always
offer some type of satisfaction guarantee on your product or service.
Most businesses can do a much better job keeping their customers.
Write down your goals for keeping all your customers. Make sure
everyone in your organization is aware of them and is working to achieve
them. Identify the customers who have left you or are about to. Then,
bring those customers back by working to solve their problems and
satisfy their needs. And finally, use the feedback you get from both
former and current customers to put customer-friendly policies and
procedures in place.
A farm equipment company in Canada is blazing a new trail in customer service. REM Enterprises Inc. of Saskatchewan, Canada has developed a “Charter of Values”. This charter essentially lets customers know what they can expect from the company.
The basics of the REM charter is…
* Joy
* Character
* Integrity
* Honour
One of the statements in regards to character reads, “We are committed to corporate and personal integrity every day, through every transaction, in every relationship.”
I don’t know about you, but this statement alone would cause me to be interested in the company – and I’m not a farmer.
This ‘charter’ bears a striking resemblance to the Arena Football League’s “Fan’s Bill of Rights”. This document delineates some of the following expectations…
* The events will be wholesome in nature.
* The events will feature fair competition.
* The players will give their best effort.
* Fans will have access to players and coaches for autographs.
* Fans should expect all who are associated with the game to be positive role models.
Certainly there is more to the “Fan’s Bill of Rights”, but I wanted to give you a picture of what extremely positive customer service looks like.
The best customer service does not wait until after something negative happens to respond. No, it looks for ways to reassure customers and prospects that you already have their best in mind. A statement of what the customer can expect from your company can produce a radical
and enthusiastic response from your customer base.
Of course, all the promises in the world mean nothing if you don’t back them up. Don’t promise the world and then deliver a deserted island.
If you make big promises make big deliveries.
The “Charter of Values” REM Enterprises developed was a way to bring the issue of positive customer service to their clients, but it was also a way to move their staff to a place where they followed along with the team. When everyone was on the same page, everyone began to respond in a way that kept the client’s needs the focal point – not bottom line profits.
Interestingly profits seem to be a direct result of making customers the main priority in business. This concept is one of the primary reasons the Arena Football League continues to see strong fan support at the cities in which they play.
If you take just one bit of advice from the marketing articles you read make it this one – be proactive in customer service. When your customer knows you are committed to them they develop trust much faster.
CRM vendors speak of sales force automation and work flow improvements but they how elusive this will be. Often CRM becomes a company de-automation tool because critical customer data is mired deeper in silos and most of the sales team and service delivery team are cut off from any type of efficiency drivers. Customer relationship tools are not good enough. They are hard to use and too expensive to roll out to enterprise users. Plus the model is just plain silly. Customer relationships need to be managed, and so do partner relationships, so do prospect relations, so do product delivery relations, so do suppliers relationships. Don't they?
CRM Vendors are Usually Good at One Service
It seems CRM vendors are really good at one thing, and not so good at others. Every company, even the smallest, has several service deliveries that are critical to success. The customer lifecyle includes lead to product delivery to support. I look at a vendor that is good at lead management. Interestingly, one of the leaders states right on their web site that when the lead is closed, load the customer into CRM. How about help desk CRM modules? I am sure they are laden with functionality on issues, cases, inventories, severity and so on, yet are weaklings when a sales forecast is needed. And then you have the revenue tools that are critical, like shipment and order information, and POS and commission reporting. Not many CRM provide this important link from sales opportunity to order, to shipment to payment.
Is a Single View into Your Customers a Myth?
Let’s take a walk with a salesman. This difficult job is only done by the stout of heart and agile of mind. Our virtual salesmen is Bill Commission, a Widget Company salesperson. Bill has been nurturing a large project for months, has endured, and is at the 6 inch line about to score. It is tough because execution must be perfect. Our hero, Bill Commission, is walking from his car to the receptionist cheerfully whistling “Happy days are here again,” and he is promptly ushered in to see Mr. Vito, or very important top executive. The exec, grim faced, is seated behind his huge desk. Bill, sensing deal killing vibes, can feel a drop of sweat starting to roll down his forehead. After all Bill Commission has already told everyone, including his boss, that this is a lock. And then the exec says, “Why is our Widget broken and your support desk has not even called us back?” Bill feels dread, if Bill had a single view into this important customer he may have avoided this.
The Single View into your Customer continued
Bill is tough and right back at it. After all he is a professional. He is visiting a customer and the customer gives him a PO! Terrific, Bill hurries back to the office to dutifully enter the order into the order entry system. He is relieved and now dials the help desk to kick some help desk butt over Mr. Vito’s Widget issue. A couple of days later he receives an email from afar with bad news. His order is not accepted because the customer is on credit hold. Should Bill have known this before expending time and energy? Sure.
Enterprise Data is Mired in Silos
Most companies data is rigidly stuck in silos. Partner data is a mystery, customer support data is not accessible, and important financial data can not be distributed. It is just logical that there is a better way. The the explosion of Internet applications and web services brings powerful, affordable technologies that can clear the data cob webs and motivate your company. Customer sales and service levels can aggressively ramped up affordably and quickly.
Has Traditional Sales Tools and CRM Really Helped your Business?
The reality of expensive CRM is grim. The return on investment is vaporous as companies fight just to get the CRM to deploy and to work. Weeks and months go by, users lose interest that the ROI is slipping away. I believe the CRM deployments have created a fancier silo of data even more deeply entrenched in the mire. The silo prevents customers, partners and the product service provider to collaborate an easy and affordable manner.
This CRM Situation is Pervasive across Enterprises and Industries
I know of one large tape manufacturer that services the packaging industry that deployed SAP CRM. This company sells through a network of world wide distributors over 4000. I met the VP of Sales at Pack Expo in Las Vegas and asked him how the CRM has helped. His answer was not surprising. The complexity and lack of focused functionality which would enhance the business process. Getting a lead to the distributor and exchanging detailed prospect and customer information is now impossible. There is no way for the 4000 distributors to access the CRM affordably or easily. Critical data exchange from the customer facing team was cut. I asked the VP of Sales why is this? His frustrated reply, “ SAP is just too hard to use and too expensive for our distributors.”
CRM has Disconnected the Sales Team
Most companies sell their products through some form of channel. Dealers, distributors, affiliates, and producers, all sell the competition's products too. Mind share is aligned with the top money makers and with the companies that are easier to work with. This type of sales partner will not sign into a difficult CRM to enter and edit data. Often the distributor, based on revenues, is much larger than the supplier and will not be told what system to use. The expensive CRM deployment, bought to automate processes, has increased the barriers to the sales team. Technology should not make the silo stronger it should break down the walls.
Total Relationship Management is One Answer to Increased Service Levels
Why can't the CRM tool be easily and affordably extended across the organization and across the organization's porters? It can. DataForceCRM calls this Total Relationship Management and it smashes walls and accelerates data across barriers.
About the Author
CRM Solutions for Medium to Large Companies | ||
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Applix |
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Amdocs |
amdocs CRM |
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Siebel |
Siebel CRM |
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eGain |
E3 |
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Optima |
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PeopleSoft (Oracle) |
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Pivotal |
eBusiness & CRM Suite |
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Edify |
Edify Point |
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RightNow |
eService Center |
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mySAP |
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Siebel 7 |
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Talisma |
Talisma CRM |
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Contactual |
CRM Contact Center |
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Goldmine |
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Maximizer CRM |
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Super Office |
Super Office CRM |
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update |
Update CRM |
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Netsuite |
Netsuite CRM |
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Salesforce.com |
Salesforce |
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Sage |
Sage CRM |
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Microsoft |
Microsoft CRM |
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Since all of us have different wants, needs and perceptions, you might find yourself with several different pictures based on when you ask, what you ask and who you ask when you complete a satisfaction survey.
And, you might find that the factors that increase employee satisfaction are not the same as those that increase dissatisfaction. One does not necessarily correlate to another.
It’s also important to know the employees interest level. And basically there are four levels.
There is the survival level. I like to call this person Jungleman. They are doing everything to just maintain their job, and not much else. If you ask them to take on additional tasks, they cry foul. They basically want to be left alone and collect a check. At the first sign of trouble, they are gone, like the wind.
Then there is the acceptance level or Suitman. They have accepted the company’s philosophy and are regular and productive employees, however, if something better comes along, they may move on to greener pastures. At this level of interest, they want to see the company succeed, as long as they don’t have to do too much extra.
Next on the ladder is the person who sees merit in what they do or Superman. They can sing the company fight song, know the mission statement by heart, and believe in what they do wholeheartedly. These employees make the company go. They are the best people to have in a crisis and are the first to jump in with both feet. They are loyal and steadfast.
Last is the employee whose level is what we all aspire to be. They are the self-fulfilling or Everyman level. These people know that what they do makes a difference and are the contributors and the servants of the company. Their belief is “I make a difference because I chose to make a difference.” Every company needs a few of these people sprinkled throughout as their vision and determination is the difference between good enough and GREAT!
So the next questions is: What do your employees want?
There are several surveys you can use, some are more formal, some are online, and if you are subscribed to a survey service you can design any series of questions to measure a particular area.
One company I know wanted to gauge how employees would react to a move across town. They designed an online survey and asked employees to rate their new commute.
Keep in mind that the level of interest and job satisfaction is directly related. A person who is at the Jungleman level will not have much to say other than asking for “better pay”. They don’t really have a stake in the company compared to someone who is at the Superman level.
You may want to conduct surveys several times a year, depending on what you are trying to measure. If you are having daily interaction with staff and conducting “Attitude checks”, you probably have a good handle on things, and your survey maybe more “point specific.”
On the other hand, if you are trying to nail down a persistent problem, you may start with a wider range survey and narrow your results to the lowest common denominator by asking your employees to participate in a series of surveys.
Bottom line, although not inexorably linked, Happy Employees have the capacity to provide Better Service.
It’s up to you to implement changes based on what your survey results indicate need attention.
About the Author