The Biggest Influence On Customer Service
The biggest influence on Customer service in 50 years – The biggest influence, no question, is social media, on so many different levels. You may even be sick of hearing about it, but each of us needs to do a social media audit of how well we are positioned for this revolutionary turning point in business. A case in point was shared in a recent HBR blog titled, “What’s New About Serving Customers (and what’s not)”, by author Micah Solomon. He shares how a restaurant owner responds to even the smallest on-line criticism with outrage. For example:
If any other jerks like ”Jjhamie319” are thinking of coming to my restaurant, listen up: DON’T. I have enough work serving the rest of you people without this kind of grief.
Social Media is NOT just for marketing & promotions – I am actually turned off by companies that only shamelessly promote themselves. Share insights, educate your Customer, show them resources, and find ways to help others; ways that can’t come back to benefit only you.
You earn business by being generous with your knowledge & resources without asking for anything in return.
Every business is under a microscope now – Companies can no longer hide if your Customer experience and treatment of people isn’t at a high level. You will be out of business. It’s that simple. I ask my employees, “How would you behave if CNN were on sight shooting a documentary?” With smart phones, everyone now has a video camera in hand. Check this out, caught on camera!
What use to be word of mouth is now word of mouse – What you do well and not so well will be broadcasted to hundreds, if not thousands, of potential Customers. They expect your company to be easy to contact and quick to respond.
You are either creating brand ambassadors or brand terrorists doing brand assassination
People do not expect you to be perfect, but how you handle imperfection better be – We need to be zero risk to deal with. Zero risk does not mean we never screw up, but it does mean we admit we dropped the ball, and Customers are now more loyal because of the way we handled the problem. Read past eService Zero Risk
Customers expect companies to share their burdens – The same HBR blog shares this great insight: world-class Customer service companies have long since realized that what was once a Customer responsibility is no longer. This is why your bank tells you when your mortgage payment is due and your pharmacy reminds you that it’s time to refill your prescription. Amazon even notifies you when you already purchased a particular title for your Kindle two years ago, and refuses to let you accidentally pay for it again.
Johnism
We do not lose any Customers to a competitor we wouldn’t lose anyway.
