Small Business Managers You Are in the War of Competition
Small businesses are discovering after the recent downturn that traditional ideas about service are no longer applicable. The customers have become more discerning, more demanding and less tolerant of service mistakes. Their loyalty which was always questionable now no longer exists. The challenge for the small business manager is to audit their customer service levels, listen to the customers and install changes that will meet their needs. Customer service can be described as part of the war of competition. A battle in which the incompetents and the average die.
The problem is that customer service levels are not readily quantifiable or observable. There is a collection of small things that contribute to the perceived level of service received by the customer. And only the customer can tell you that. Some of the small things include answering outside calls as quickly as possible, making sure that the person answering the telephone gives the correct impression to people outside and inside the business, treating the customer with respect.
The small business manager can take note of an observation made some years ago that before you can deliver a high level of external customer service, you must be able to deliver a high level of internal customer service. To put it in perspective, customer service can be described as a clear commitment and drive to make the customer feel not just special but much more important than your competitors can make them. Effort and focus placed in this area will give a great return on investment. After all, how difficult is it to make your customers feel more important? One of the great mysteries in modern business is that small businesses spend so much money looking for new customers and so little money servicing the ones they already have. The golden rule of customer contact is clear. Every time there is a customer contact event the perceptions they hold of your business should be improved. Every event which puts you in contact with a customer has been described as a touch point. Remember that reality can be cruel. The reality is, that your perceptions of the encounter are interesting but the customer's perceptions are vital. Their perceptions are their reality and this is their perception that counts. Never, ever leave your customers alone so they can be hijacked by your competition. Keep in contact. Don't send them Christmas cards, they are too common. Birthday cards with a personal message are rarer and many times more effective. Send them a Thanksgiving card, an April Fool's card or just a personal message to say thank you. Arrange to contact your customer at least every 70 days. A new product, an upgrade for their previous purchase, a tip, shortcut or anything you can think of that improves their perceptions of you and your organization. This makes the customer perceive that you regard them as important. You can say that you believe that customers are important, vital, valuable etc, but no one really believes you. They will only believe what you do not what you say. Remember, "Words are cheap because supply far exceeds demand." The longest that you can afford to ignore your customers is 70 days. This is the very outside limit. Even at 70 days they can be seduced, kidnapped, hijacked, stolen, or bribed away by competitors. Remember, the rules have changed. Your customers and potential customers are more cynical, more skeptical, less trusting, less loyal, more demanding and less likely to spend as a result of the downturn in the economy. This means that you, the small business manager, must look very closely at your approach to the way you deal with your customers.