When a person walks through your shop door or uses your service, do you become memorable to them? Do they tell their friends about your business and sing your praises? Or are their comments negative? In these days of social media, experiences are shared with hundreds of people and you risk losing more than just that one customer. How can you make your customer service amazing?
I’m one of those people that will allow poor customer service without voicing my displeasure at the time. But I will never use that service or go to that establishment again. And I will tell everyone I know to stay away. At the same time, when I encounter excellent customer service, I come back again and again, bringing others with me. Competing on the basis of price alone could never produce that kind of loyalty.
My oldest son, Daniel, is the owner of the Freshco store in Kitchener. A fairly new store, many people either don’t know it exists or aren’t sure what to expect from a Freshco grocery store. My son has learned that excellent customer service is what will keep people coming back week after week. He keeps the store spotlessly clean and attractive and his employees enjoy working there. Daniel makes sure that all of his staff do their best to make their customers feel special. Little things like notifying them when a shipment comes in, to the big things like making sure that when a person arrives with a complaint, they leave the store happy. As a result, people are telling other people and new customers are even coming from outside of Kitchener.
That’s the kind of customer service we want. Satisfied people telling others on Twitter, Facebook, or at their jobs about what a great business we have and how highly they recommend it. That kind of feedback does more than thousands of dollars spent on advertising. How are you cultivating that relationship?
Carol