Your Customers Matter...Don't They?

The Tipping Point – One Very Important Way To Make Your Customers Feel Like Royalty

When was the last time that a business contacted you and asked, “How are we doing?”

Don’t count those who asked you to fill out one of those inflexible online surveys.  And exclude the calls from the market researchers who sound like robots.

I’m talking about the business that went out of their way to really ask and listen to what’s on your mind.  The business that really cares about what matters most to you. 

My answer is NEVER!  I hope your answer is better than mine.

Somehow it just doesn’t make sense to me that businesses will spend huge amounts of money on marketing and advertising to acquire new customers, yet their existing customers rarely hear from them unless they want to sell you something.

What Would You Think If Service Providers Cared Enough To Ask?  I’ll bet you’d feel like royalty!  The next best thing to receiving great service is knowing that a business truly cares about what you want from them. 

Making your customers feel like royalty is as simple as having regular conversations with them about what’s on their mind and what matters most.  Some service providers call them “client perception interviews”; I prefer simply “client conversations”.

Essentially, what you’re doing is establishing a new customer retention strategy.  It becomes a standard, ongoing, business process focused solely on listening to your customers. 

How’s that for setting your business apart from the rest?  I dare you to try it! 

Need help?  Let me know!

Hat tip to Mike Sansone from ConverStations for inviting me to participate in his Carnivale of Customer Service

Toshiba Can Teach Dell How To Do It!

Last May or June I purchased a Toshiba Satellite laptop.  I must admit that I was a bit skeptical because I didn't personally know anybody who used a Toshiba product.  But the price was right, and I needed a second computer, so I took the plunge.  So far so good!

Today I received a letter from them telling me that there "may" be a problem with the battery.  They assured me that the battery wouldn't overheat or cause safety concerns, but something about it not holding a charge.  I hadn't experienced a problem, but I typically use it with the power cord.

They instructed me to go to a special location on their website.  From there they suggested I download a small "battery check" program to determine if my battery is affected.

I downloaded the program and within a couple of seconds it came back with a message indicating that my battery might be one of the problem batteries.  The program asked for permission to take me to an online system that would process the exchange for me.

In under 5 minutes, and without any inconvenience the process was complete.  The final message gave me a confirmation number along with a promise that the new battery should arrive in about 10 days.

The entire process was totally painless.  And what's more, I was impressed with my first customer experience with Toshiba.

Well done Toshiba! 

Dell, look how easy can be! 

The Quality Of Your Work Equals Your Reputation

I flicked on my furnace this morning to take the bite out of the air and low and behold, no heat!  So I put a call into a guy that’s been taking care of my plumbing and heating woes for over 20 years. 

Greg Van Strien from Van Strien Plumbing and Heating just repaired my furnace.  Even though his day was already jam packed, he reminded me that the temperature was going down to 39 tonight, so he wanted to take care of me before he quit for the day.  That’s what I call dedicated service!  If you live in the Grand Rapids or Lowell area, Greg comes highly recommended!

As I was pondering this post I was basking in the late afternoon sun brightly shining in my newly cleaned windows.  What a sight for sore eyes.  It’s been cloudy so I didn’t really notice the true quality of the job that Dr. Windows did just last week.  Amazing streaks!  And the attention to details around the window edges…not good.  See my previous post here.

Those thoughts reminded me how much the quality of the work can impact your reputation, especially when you’re a professional service provider.  After all, what do you think I’m going to say when a friend says “Didn’t you just get those windows cleaned?” 

I often think the same thing when the stylist at the salon has a bad day.  Sometimes my hair gets fried with bleach, and sometimes she just gets scissor happy.  People still ask, “Where do you get your hair done?”

Sometimes I wonder if professional service providers take this issue seriously enough.  It doesn’t matter whether you fix furnaces, cut hair, wash windows, or anything else.  The quality of the work that you do for your customer impacts your reputation.  If you do hair or nails for a living, your customers are living, walking advertisements for your work.

Are you proud of your advertising?

Talk to me!

A Nice Surprise From Comcast

Comcast just made my day!  I thought these words would never by typed by these fingers, but it's true!

If you need a little background on my experience with Comcast, you can find it right here:
"Comcast!  I'm Your Customer!"

About 10 minutes ago, right out of the blue, I get a call from Comcast.  They called to tell me that the promotional rate for my high speed internet access is about to come to an end.  But ...with no strings attached, they were offering me a different (higher)  promotional rate for the next 6 months.

Even though the rate is higher than I'm currently paying, I'm still pleased to be saving $15 per month off the normal rate.  I'm even more pleased that I didn't have to call and threaten to switch providers (which is what normally happens) in order to get a better rate.

The last time I spoke with them about a rate adjustment, the rude CSR assured me that I would be required to pay the normal rate for a minimum of 90 days before they would consider another discount.  Must be they changed their mind :)

Good for you Comcast!  It's nice to know that you care, at least a little bit!

Lessons From The Dr. Windows Experiment

Over the years, I’ve learned that we all define “clean” a little differently, especially when it comes to hiring a cleaning service.  My most recent experiment with “Dr. Windows” is no exception.

Excerpts from the flyer stuck in my paper box:

“Sparkling, Dazzling Windows!  We wipe & clean tracks and sills.  Your guaranteed delight – if you’re not, I’ll work for you until you are.  I’ll quickly visit your home and promptly mail a quote to you providing several options.”

I live in a middle condo, so my only windows face east and west.  The condo has 5 double hung windows and 3 sets of patio doors.  All of the window frames are white, so every speck of dirt is easily noticed.

The Quote

As promised, the quote was in my mailbox within 24 hours.  Here’s what it said:

2006 Season Cleaning Options:

All exterior and Interior windows $59
Includes:

• Windows cleaned by hand
• Frames & sills wiped
• Window dividers removed, wiped, and replaced (I don’t have any dividers)
• Sills and jambs wiped
• (does not include skylights)

My first thought about the quote was “this is only one option, what about "the options"?”  I also noticed that the quote didn’t mention anything about screens, the storm door, or all of the little window panes in the front door.

When scheduled the appointment I purposely didn’t mention the things that were missing from the quote.  I decided to just let it play out to see how he would surprise me.  I expected several surprises after he told me that he expected to finish in an hour.

The guy was a bundle of energy and was both efficient and prompt in providing the quote, exchanging phone calls, and even arrived early (after calling first to make sure it was ok).  These qualities are clearly some of the greatest strengths of his business.

Before he left, he said something like “if you see anything you’d like re-done be sure to call me”.

The Quality

Generally, the window glass is pretty clean.  Some bug spots remain that could have been scrubbed off and a few spots around the edges that are a little messy.

The sills were wiped down, but the white window frames all through the house are still pretty dirty.  So the frames and the bottom of the window tracks and jambs look like he never touched them.

He tried to remove all of the screens on the double hung windows, but only 1 would come out.  He may have rinsed it with the hose, but the white frame is still pretty dirty.  He didn’t attempt to remove or clean the patio door screens.

The  glass storm door was cleaned.  I saw him wipe the outside panes of the front door, but the inside panes of the front door were never cleaned.

Overall

Dr. Windows’ greatest strengths were low cost, prompt callbacks and timely arrival.  But the quality of the work lacked attention to detail in my opinion. 

I’m choosing not to take him up on his offer to “guarantee delight”.  I’ll just live with what I’ve got until I can personally tackle the job in the spring.

You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.  The devil is in the detail isn’t it? 

What Would You Think If Your Service Providers Cared Enough To Ask?

Step back for a moment and imagine yourself reading an email from one of your service providers.  It goes something like this…

***********************************

We’ve been doing business together for a while now and it’s time to check in with you to get your feedback.  Your perception of our working relationship really matters to us, so we think it’s important to take a few minutes out periodically to ask for your thoughts on how we’re doing. 

We know that it’s not always easy to give open and honest feedback directly to someone you work with so closely, so we’re partnering with a client relationship expert to talk with you on our behalf.

Here’s how it works.  With your permission, XX will contact you to set up an appointment for a 30-minute telephone conversation.  During the conversation, you’ll be asked for your feedback about different aspects of our working relationship.  We’d like you to be as clear and candid as possible so that we know how to best serve you as we go forward.  We’ll receive a written summary (not a transcription) of your feedback and we’ll also have a follow up debriefing conversation with the person you spoke with.

Could we have your permission to have XX contact you?
******************************************

What would you think if you received an email like this from one of your service providers?  Would you make the time to provide the feedback?

Talk to me!

Be Part Of The Cure For Lousy Customer Service

Doesn't it feel amazing to have the voice of the customer heard!  As consumers, we no longer need to sit back and put up with lousy service.  We can just tell the world. 

One easy way to do that is to simply take your business elsewhere.  I posted a process for doing that in my article titled "Spend Your Money Where The Service Is".  If you missed it, go read it now.

Now Richard Levey from Directmag.com is proposing a "National Switch Day" in is post at CRM News!  He suggests that we declare a specific day - and on that day we dump every service provider who doesn't deserve our business.  What a brilliant idea!  Go read his article! Here

Update: Richard's article mentioned above was based on his previous article titled "All I Really Need To Know About CRM I Learned In Kindergarten".  Go take a look!

Let me ask you this...Have you taken back your consumer power yet?  If not, what are you waiting for?  Talk to me!

Hat Tip to Marie Palma at Customers Are Always