Customer retention tip: Be easy to talk to

by Kevin Stirtz on December 11, 2009 · 2 comments

customer-retention-tip-be-easy-to-talk-with

Here is your Daily Dose of Amazing Service:

Be easy to talk to

And here are some additional thoughts on this topic…

As a customer it’s frustrating enough when we get bad service. Too often we get less than we expect or want. So when we have a customer experience that thrills us, we usually want to share it.  We have a psychological need to do so. The same is true when we have a lousy customer experience.

In either case, our customers have valuable information. Every business can use this information to improve the quality of what they do. Ultimately it should improve profits and sustainability too.

But almost every time I want to give feedback to a business I find it’s difficult. Either there are no easy and convenient ways to do so. Or their employees are not trained in how to accept and respond to feedback. So, for me (the customers) it can be a frustrating experience. And the business loses what could be useful information.

How many ways can your customers “talk to you? Is it easy? Is it convenient? Do your employees understand how to handle all kinds of feedback?

shaun sayers December 13, 2009 at 8:07 am

It goes beyond being easy to talk to, but I think that’s your point anyway. Make yourself easy to do business with – full stop. Too many companies seem obsessed with creating needless or avoidable barriers, expecting customers to navigate around them somehow, well most often they’ll just turn round and go home. My personal motto is never to underestimate how easily put-off customers can be. Their indifference to you is unconditional and limitless and you need to meet them more than half-way

Kevin Stirtz December 14, 2009 at 2:06 pm

Shaun – I love your line: “their indifference to you is unconditional and limitless”. It’s so true if we make life hard for them. yet, by making things easy for them we can turn indifference into loyalty in short order. Thanks for reading!

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