Customer service comes full circle
Published September 1, 2008
by Fermin Cruz
Dial An Exchange, LLC
According to MSNBC.com (www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23283402), “the sting of a bad customer service experience cuts so deep that it transforms (consumers) from a mentally upset customer into an activist no longer just looking for a refund”.
The old “I tell two friends, they tell two friends, and so on and so on,” is now on steroids! Today, we email to personal databases, we post opinions on blogs, forums and chat rooms that are viewed by hundreds or thousands of consumers at a time. Talk about telling two friends!
The new “Social Media” consists of near real time conversations between consumers. Large groups of them. Those conversations are happening with or without you but certainly about you. From personal blogs and online discussion forums to Youtube and Myspace, postings are being read by many in a very short period of time. What are your members or customers saying about their timeshare ownership experience? What are they saying about you? Are you listening, learning and acting on the data?
If the consumer is unhappy they will complain. It may not even be your fault the customer is complaining! It may be a close partner that interacts with your customers, but doesn’t subscribe to the same customer service standards you have established, or hope to. Watch your partnerships and make sure the customer experience when working with them matches the quality you strive to achieve – don’t be caught by surprise.
Was your customer’s experience with your resort a good one? Is there a place for your customer to let you know? Was your customer’s experience with your resort a bad one? If you don’t supply a forum for feedback, rest assured that an unhappy customer will find one. What are you doing to gather that information to be used as useful and applicable rather than harmful and widespread?
Customer service is about relationships. It’s not just how you treat a transacting customer, it’s not just how you answer the telephone, or greet a member at the door. It’s a complete strategy to keep your customers engaged, happy and talking about the wonderful experience you helped to create. Good customer service is good marketing. If you succeed in pleasing your customer, and you give them a forum for expressing their gratitude you’ve created not only a single testimonial, but have created a living breathing referral marketing campaign. They are happy, they are telling folks and they are now part of your overall marketing strategy. Get more of them out there, they will tell a friend.
The strategy
Personalize your business. People do business with other people! Not with buildings, companies, brands or any other inanimate object. Does your team refer to a customer by name? Do they greet customers that are within talking distance? Can a customer always find a human in your organization to speak to, to ask questions of, to solve their problems?
Set a high standard. There are some basic standards that you can set with everyone that comes into contact with your customers. Every one of your staff that comes into contact with a customer should hold to a high standard of customer service and be consistent! Customers return because they like what happened in their previous experience. When you enter into a partnership with an organization that will be “touching” your customers do you explain what your service standards are? Do you compare your standards to theirs?
Inform your customer. Let the customer know you care and supply a forum to submit their feedback. Are you sending out an email or newsletter quarterly from your resort (with your brand)? How are you actively communicating enhancements, fixes, new happenings and improvements? What are you doing to solicit feedback from members? Are you contacting your members with more than just an annual billing statement? Do your members know of all the great accomplishments you’ve made on their behalf?
Listen to your customer. Create a dialogue. A bad customer review can be turned into a good one if you solve their problem. Don’t ignore complaints, they are just as valuable as compliments. Engage and thank your customer for the input. Why allow someone else to steal your conversation with your customer. You can best represent yourself.
Answer the hard questions. Whether in person or in another forum, not dealing with difficult questions just eliminates you from the ‘conversation’ all together. Don’t disconnect the relationship, actively participate in forums and discussions and answer questions directly and honestly. Get an answer or a fix and follow up. Present a solution with value and strengthen the relationship. Or learn from an honest complaint and better your business.
Close the Loop. The most important part of creating the perfect customer experience is hearing feedback, responding and taking corrective action. If your customers are talking about you, don’t just be in on the conversation, learn something, take corrective action and better your product.
While good customer service starts with creating a consistent, great customer experience, it doesn’t end there. It is only the beginning of a cycle that includes listening after the fact, responding appropriately and continuously improving your product or service. It creates evangelists for your product on a grander scale than ever before. Your best marketing arm are your customers, make the most of it! After all happy customers pay maintenance fees on time, are more apt to upgrade their purchase and buy additional weeks or points, rent additional days, but most importantly they tell a friend.
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