Knock Their Socks Off - Customer Service that Counts

Depending upon whose research you turn to, it can cost anywhere form 6 -10 times more to capture a new client than save an existing one. I don't know about you, but those stats get my attention. The cost of a new customer varies, widely, by industry, but any way you look at it, there is value in keeping as many customers as you can.

It sounds simple enough, but here is the problem. As many as 80 percent of your customers may tell you they are satisfied with you and your product but buy from someone else, anyway.  Whoa, how do you deal with that? If customers say they are satisfied but leave you anyway? I believe there are only two "real choices:" 1.) Don't worry about it and go on doing the same things you have always done, or 2.) Figure out how to be better than good.

You see, there are many good companies out there, delivering good customer service, but they are just like you and you are both throwing money down a "rat hole."

If the money you are spending on customer service is not deterring your customers from leaving you, you are wasting it. What is worse, if you are a businessman or business owner; spending money and not getting the results you want or spending no money and just accepting what comes? I believe that neither of those choices are ideally suited for business success. I encourage you to spend no money, in your business, that does not have a real good chance of putting distance between you and your competition.

Just to make my point, lets talk about the difference between, a satisfied customer and a customer that becomes an Apostle. If the numbers above (80% of satisfied customers leave anyway) are correct, you may want to consider a new customer service strategy. A strategy that creates apostles rather than satisfaction. You might be wondering; What is an apostle, anyway?

An apostle is someone who has seen the product, experienced the benefits of the product, and then tells other people about their experience.  So, if we look at the stages of customer loyalty it flows like this: buy it - like it - buy it again - tell others about the experience - keep buying it.
How valuable would that be? If you can see the value, here are a few things you can do to create more apostles among your customers:

1.    Communicate your commitment to "superior" customer service
2.    Recognize that you are not the one who delivers the service
3.    Give those who do a "track" to run on. Make it easy
4.    Hire people that are service oriented who can solve problems
5.    Give them the authority to serve and solve
6.    Teach everyone the value in listening and how to do it
7.    Give yourself and something extra away to those who have a problem

This is certainly not a comprehensive list. Work on those until you become an expert, then look for something else that will distance you from the competition.