By: Pia Rios
It costs roughly five times more to bring in a new customer than keep an existing one. Keeping your existing customers happy? That’s one of the most cost effective marketing tools.
We’ve all experienced customer service that is excellent, awful, and everything in between, and we know how that experience affects our ongoing relationship with different businesses:
- Delight me with great customer service, and you’ll not only retain me as a loyal customer, I’ll also recommend you to others.
- Give me poor customer service, and I’ll not only take my business elsewhere, I’ll also delight in telling others how rubbish you are.
We’ve all heard it costs roughly five times more to bring in a new customer than to keep an existing one, right? That means one of the most cost effective marketing tools going round is the simple act of keeping our existing clients happy.
Here are ten ways to do just that:
1. Answer your phones
One of the most common gripes you hear is how difficult it is to contact some businesses. Unanswered calls, long hold times and disconnected calls all add up to very unhappy customers.
“Give me poor customer service, and I’ll not only take my business elsewhere, I’ll also delight in telling others how rubbish you are.”
When someone is ringing about an urgent issue, they want their call to be answered quickly by a real person. If there are times where you’re unable to answer all incoming calls, consider using a Live Answering Service to capture those calls you might otherwise miss.
This is not just about keeping existing customers happy. Up to 75% of first-time callers simply hang up if their call goes through to voicemail. So ensuring that your phone gets answered will not only make existing customers happy, it will also give you more opportunities to sell to new customers.
2. Listen to your customers
Show an interest in your customers and their needs. Ask them questions to make sure you understand their situation. Come up with constructive ways to help them that address their individual requirements.
Keep it personal. Customers can sense when you’re reading from a script.
By fully understanding your customers’ needs, you often have the opportunity to sell them an entire solution instead of just an individual product. Their input can also help you to identify ways to improve your existing products, and also which new services you should consider adding.
3. Accept complaints constructively
It might not seem like it at the time, but every complaint you receive is a gift.
Not everyone takes the time or effort to complain. Most customers will simply walk away or switch to a competitor instead of telling you what’s wrong and giving you the chance to fix it.
When someone contacts you with a complaint, listen to them politely. Understand their problem fully: don’t just pay lip service. Thank the customer for contacting you and tell them you value their input. Keep them informed about how you’re going to address their problem, and also about any improvements you make to the way you do business to avoid the issue from arising in future.
A customer with a complaint that you’ve fixed can become one of your staunchest advocates.
4. Build a great customer service team
It takes a special sort of person to be a good customer service representative. Not only does this person need to be friendly, likeable, intelligent and well-spoken, they also need to have a thick skin and good sense of humour! They need to be able to deal with all types of callers, including those who are difficult, confused, and even hostile.
Once you’ve found the right people, make sure they receive appropriate training. They should not only be experts in your products and services (able to recommend the correct solution to customers), but also good listeners, friendly and helpful, and know how to handle difficult customers and diffuse potentially explosive situations.
Try doing some role playing exercises. Let your staff blow off some steam by taking it in turns to be the difficult customer. Discuss different ways in which to handle each situation. Prepare them for the worst so that they can deliver the best.
5. Go the extra mile
Don’t just look at what your competitors are doing and try to match them. Instead, you need to look for new and innovative ways of providing your customers with better service.
As an example, a bank branch recently opened in an area with lots of shopping, lots of restaurants and lots of tourists. The big four banks were already there, so the newcomer needed to find a way to differentiate themselves. With a few imaginative things like a multi-language ATM and self-service coin-counting machine, they’ve become very popular with locals and tourists alike and their business has quickly grown.
Think of things you can do to improve your customers’ experience. It’s those differentiators that will help you to attract and retain customers.
6. Keep the conversation going
Your relationship with your customer doesn’t end when the sale is made. That should be just the beginning!
Keep in touch through things like newsletters, social media and blogs. Follow-up (either by phone call or email) a few months after the sale to make sure your customers are happy with everything and see whether they’ve got any questions you can answer.
Build a relationship with your customers so that they feel comfortable to contact you with any questions or problems they may have. Create a community and a desire to belong.
7. Make it easy for customers to contact you
Provide customers with multiple ways to contact you (e.g. phone, email, fax, social media). Then make sure that you respond quickly to all of your provided contact methods.
And don’t make it difficult for customers to get help once they’ve contacted you. If someone doesn’t remember their customer account number or password, don’t treat them as though they’re a nuisance. Stay on the line until their question is answered or their problem is solved.
If you find that customers sometimes need to contact you outside of regular office hours, consider using something like an Australian-based Virtual Receptionist Service that allows you to monitor calls 24/7.
Make all of their contact with you as stress-free and pleasant as possible.
8. Keep your promises
Remember that you’ll be judged by what you do—not by what you say.
Don’t make promises you can’t keep. It’s often tempting to make offers you know you can never achieve, but it’s never worth it in the long run.
Nothing annoys a customer more than a broken promise.
9. Be helpful even when there’s no immediate profit in it
Not everything is about making a sale today.
Be generous with your knowledge and advice. If someone rings with a few questions about your services but no intention of buying today, be as helpful as possible. Provide useful information, tips and hints on your website for free.
Establish yourself as a friendly, helpful expert, and the chances are good you’ll be the first company people think of and call when they’re in the mood to buy.
10. Lead by example
Your customer service team aren’t the only ones responsible for keeping your customers happy. Good customer service should be part of the company philosophy and integral to all aspects of your business.
Everyone from the top down is responsible for creating products and delivering services that delight your customers. Remember how important customers are to your business and treat them accordingly.
Source: Flying Solo
