In the movie, License to Wed, there’s a funny scene that offers a useful customer service lesson. A reluctant groom stops in a jewelry store to pickup the rings for his wedding. As he looks at his ring he notices something wrong with the inscription. It was supposed to say: “Never to Part” Instead it said something else. The person doing the inscription thought the “P” was an “F”. (I’ll let you figure out what the ring said.) The groom brings this to the store clerk’s attention. Rather than apologizing and working on a solution, the clerk avoids eye contact [...]
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If you’ve been paying attention, you know things have changed in the world of business. As customers, we are smarter than ever. We know we have more options. We know we deserve to do business with companies that help us accomplish our goals. And we understand it’s okay to expect companies that will work WITH us as partners rather than adversaries. Companies that ignore this will end up just like “Mr. Advertising” in this video: alone and wondering what happened.
Last weekend I spoke at the Ensemble Travel Group 2009 International Conference. It was held at the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel in Banff, Alberta. This week I will be sharing some of my experiences there and using them as examples of how we can all increase customer loyalty by improving customer service. For now, I’ll start with a short video. This was an interview we did before I spoke. The Ensemble Team made wonderful use of technology to capture and deliver learning throughout the conference.
Here is your Daily Dose of Amazing Service: Don’t go overboard for your customers. And here are some additional thoughts on this topic… This might sound contrary to what we’re all about here in the land of Amazing Service. But it’s not. Because if you go too far in trying to serve your customers, you can actually drive them away. This video puts a funny spin on how customers might respond to someone who goes overboard. It’s not the response you want if you’re looking for more loyal customers. Going overboard means doing too much. It means you’re not sure of [...]
A powerful way to increase customer loyalty is to give your customers a positive and memorable experience. Some days it’s easy. Just be nice, attentive, listen well and be helpful. But other times you might break out of your comfort zone and give your customers something they’ve never seen before. This Ford dealer clearly went beyond the usual and expected when they decided to treat their customers to the “A-B-C’s of the Ford Focus”. It’s not something every business would do. And it might even annoy some customers. But you have to give them credit for trying.
Here is your Daily Dose of Amazing Service: Make it easy for customers to leave And here are some additional thoughts on this topic… Too many companies make it easy to become a customer and hard to leave. Maybe they think people will change their minds if it’s hard to quit. The classic example is this call to AOL that made national news:
We hear a lot about customer experience and going the extra mile for our customers. And these are good things. Every employee in every business should pay attention to these. But it’s not just the employees who are responsible for this. Management has to lead the charge. If you want more loyal customers, the kind who come back again and again, the wonderful people who tell their friends, neighbors and everyone else about you, then you need to make service a priority across your organization. Front line employees can’t make this happen alone. And when you make this commitment, you [...]
I talk and write a lot about giving our customers what they want. Because if we fail to give them what they want they’ll leave us. That’s what customer loyalty is all about. But as we do this, we should keep in mind some guidelines. The following video helps us see (in a funny way) what some companies do wrong as they try to keep their customers coming back. First, they forget to
One of the best ways to keep your customers coming back and get more referrals is to give your customers a great experience. And that’s true even when your customers aren’t human. When I watch this video, not only would I want our dog to be a “customer”, I want to go there too! If you like dogs you’ll love this video. It doesn’t tell you the experience this doggy daycare business provides. It shows you. And it does so brilliantly. Customer service is more than
