10 Tips To Love (And Keep) Your Customers

Quote source :
Fast Company
Image source :
Smiley Face Collection

1. Eliminate the customer obstacle course.
   If you asked customers they’d say that the obstacle course for figuring out who to talk to and how and when to get service is over-complicated, conflicting and just plain out of whack.
2. Stop customer hot potato. He who speaks to the customer first should “own” the customer. Don’t pass the customer to the “right person”. Get it done and get it done now.
3. Give customers a choice. >
   Do not bind your customer into the fake choice of letting them “opt out” of something. Let them know up front that they can decide to get emails, offers or whatever from you and give them the choice.
4. De-silo your website.>
   Websites are often the cobbled together parts created separately by each company division but this shouldn’t stop you from using the same terms across all your webpages
5. Consolidate phone numbers. >
   Get people together to skinny-down your contact list. Nothing worse than confusing your customers with a long list of irrelevant numbers.
6. FIX (really) the top ten issues bugging customers.
   It’s likely you’ve been surveying your customers for years and know what’s broken. Do something about those issues! Then tell your customers!
7. Help the front line to LISTEN.
   Let your front line be human, give them the skills for listening and understanding and help the frontline deliver to the customer based on their needs.
8. Deliver what you promise.
   Nothing annoys and aggravates customers more than having to strong-arm their way through (your) corporate maze just to get basic things accomplished.
9. When you make a mistake – right the wrong.
   If you’ve got egg on your face, for whatever the reason, admit it. Then right the wrong. There’s nothing more grossly frustrating to customers than a company who does something wrong then is either clueless about what they did or won’t admit that they faltered.
10. Work to believe.
    Don’t put your customers through the third degree when they encounter a glitch in products and services and actually need to return a product, put in a claim or use the warranty service. Suspend your cynicism and work to believe your customers.

Now if only we could get companies to believe and practise what we’ve just read. As corporations grow bigger, they become huge elephants that lose their coordination. Realistically, you can’t meet your customers’ expectations ALL the time - finnicky customers DO exist - but you CAN try your best. I believe that the first step to this end is to have a solid training and/or orientation program to educate service staff.

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