Coaching Succes: What are we doing with our Customers?

Customers.

We all know how to look after our customer’s right?

We know how to treat them, listen to them, help and support them?

So why is so few people doing this in business today?

What do we perceive when we hear a customer complaint?

What is it that makes us go on the defence and defend our product, service or personnel?

We are living in a time where business moves fast, we are in one of the biggest turnaround of the last 70 years in business. Businesses use to be able to get away with any level of service as long as the customer or supplier wasn’t insulted, business continued and boomed in the 1950’s – 1970’s (as one account recalls ‘If Chevrolet delivered my dad a car without a driveshaft he wouldn’t have complained, he was just glad he could afford a car’). This almost applied to any business..

As we have worked our way to present times we can say that we are a customer focused world where cheap isn’t always better.

The truth is it is not as straightforward as products and services. It is who buys these products or services and when customer’s budgets are tight, as almost the majority of customers budgets are at the moment. What really separates us from our competition?

Could it just be price, if we are offering the same product?

Have you ever had an experience at a hotel, shop or a service that someone has provided like your local car garage, where you have been really pleased and satisfied with your experience? Did someone do something you weren’t expecting or go out of their way for you? It is hard to think of moments like this. If I now said to you, have you ever been treated badly in any of the above places, where you will tell people to avoid those places? I bet those scenarios are a lot easier to think of.

So if we understand that we find it hard to recall on excellent customer service and find it easier recalling on bad service. What do we need to do?

Obvious answer to the obvious question would be to ‘wow’ the customer when we can. If we were just politer that normal, did more for them than they were expecting, showed them that you went out of your way to deliver your higher level of product or service, their perception of your company would go up tenfold.

Has anyone ever asked you what you thought about a place of business, where your answer was ‘yeah they’re ok, I go there sometimes’ how about when someone asks you ‘what do you think about … business’ and your response is ‘you should use them, they’re actually pretty good’. Could you make your customers react that way when asked about your business?

The thing is that all of this is obvious but so little businesses do this. They spend time looking inwards and then to where their next project is going to take them. Focus outwardly for a while, listen to your customers they may be your next innovator, they could be the person that goes ‘what I really want from a company is someone who listens’ you could start listening.

If you get a complaint, listen to what they are complaining about because right now they are your best customer, for every vocal complaint there is at least 10 people thinking the same way. We can sometimes go on the defence, but if you drop your guard for a moment you might just learn from these people, they are only speaking up because they need your help and they believe in your product or service. Win them back. (If they say they aren’t going to use you again and you can’t change the way they feel, forget them, they aren’t right for your business)

The truth is you know what you need to do, you know that customers should be listened to just like you would like to be listened to, and only you know how to implement that culture in to your business. The culture might just be the winning feature that you have over your competition.

There are two fascinating books on this subject that I recommend.

Michael Heppell – 5 Star Service

Tom Peters – A Passion for Excellence leadership