Here is your Daily Dose of Amazing Service:
Your first contact sets the bar for customer expectations
And here are some additional thoughts on this topic…
Is it always a good idea to “wow” your customers the first time they do business with you? Maybe not.
Your first contact sets the bar for all future interactions. So if you really knock their socks off the first time, be ready to continue at that level.
If you don’t, you risk losing their confidence and their trust. They’ll wonder why things have changed and if the change is permanent. Once they start thinking this way it will be harder to keep them.
Make sure whatever their first experience is, you maintain or exceed that level of service on all future contacts.
Other articles you might like:
- Connect with your customers
- Use faith and frustration to improve
- Every Contact Counts
- How to Beat the Recession – Part 3
- Attracting Loyalty from the New Customer – Part 3
This is an incredibly important area. That initial “moment of truth”. The opportunity to impress or lose can be incredibly fleeting. If your primary “first contact” is via web-marketing then it can be over in an instant. You never get a second chance to make a first impression, so they say. But there is a balance to be struck. I have encountered numerous sales-driven companies that invest A LOT of time and effort into that “first contact” – in fact all those stages that precede the customer putting pen to paper, and then the instant that happens, things get rapidly worse. I bought a sofa a couple of years ago and the people in the showroom could not have been any more “attentive” prior to the sale. Actually getting hold of the sofa, on the other hand, was a totally different matter. I also find the current commercials on TV from the banks difficult to take at face value. They care, don’t you know? Anyone ever had a problem with their bank …?
Shaun – you’re so right. It’s the old “love ‘em and leave ‘em” syndrome. Some companies invest huge amounts upfront to attract new customers but then they almost abandon them once they have their money! What amazes me is that this still happens.