Monitor your Customer Service in Savannah, GA

This fantastic article was written by Dan Elder, a business coach, management consultant, speaker, and author of The Business Growth Accelerators Guide to Creating Customers for Life on Amazon.com. Learn more at bgaccelerators.com

Does Your Service Measure Up?

If you’ve just joined us, we’re talking about how to turn “the angry man into a raving fan”of your busi­ness. Last time we covered the shopper’s creed, outlining what patrons expect when they come in your door. But, how do you know if the service you offer meets the standard?

A service-standard example

I recently spent the night at the Best Western Lafayette Garden Inn in La Grange. Frankly, I was prepared for the typical motel experience, so I was pleasantly surprised by a cheery greeting from the front-desk clerk the moment I walked in the door. Her greeting seemed genu­ine, and she listened to what I had to say with patience and appropriate eye contact. That experience was repeated numerous times during my stay by everyone from the housekeeping staff to the restaurant service.  I checked out the next morning with a positive impression of the establishment.

As I unpacked the follow­ing night, I was dismayed to discover that I had left my cell phone charger in my hotel room. Having occasionally goofed and left behind items in the past, I knew there was little chance of recovering the charger. I gave it a try anyway.

I dialed the motel and spoke to the front-desk clerk.  I explained what had hap­pened and asked if housekeeping had turned in my charger. She said no, but then earnestly replied that if I had left anything behind it most certainly would be turned in and they would mail it to me.

Expecting it would never hap­pen, I left my mailing address anyway and offered to pay any shipping charges.

Three days later, my cell phone charger showed up in my mailbox, postage paid.

What do you think my reac­tion was? Where do you think I will stay the next time I’m in La Grange? How many people do you think I’ll tell about the extraordinary service this establishment offers?

Does your service measure up?

How can you tell if your business is delivering the positive experience you’re striving for to create this kind of patron loyalty?  Regular review and monitoring of your business processes and sales staff will give you the information you need on the quality of service you’re delivering.

Your reviews should include:

• Frequent, direct observa­tion of your staff’s customer interaction. Give face-to-face feedback; praise their efforts in public when possible and point out specific areas for improvement in private when necessary.
• “Mystery shop” your business by phoning your customer-service line weekly. Evaluate promptness of ‘ answering, correctness of routing and quality of service.
• Monitor e-mail traffic to determine appropriateness of responses.
• Frequently use your website to make purchases and do searches to determine usability.
• Routinely ask for sub­stantive, constructive feed­back from both your regular and first-time customers on their experience.

• Identify and proactively reach out to your dissatisfied customers.

From dissatisfied to delighted

You want to address effec­tively the concerns of dissatis­fied customers, rather than ignoring them and hoping they’ll go away. A dissatis­fied customer, or a customer with low expectations, can potentially be turned into a raving fan and one of your greatest assets. In fact, it’s even possible to get a positive testimonial from a patron whose problem was addressed promptly to his or her satisfac­tion.

How powerful do you think a testimonial like, “I brought my problem to their attention and they immediately made it right” would be in your mar­keting efforts?