Yesterday, in the midst of cramming for a midterm, my computer decided to freeze. Panicked, I ran through all the usual restart motions, but nothing seemed to work. I bolted down to the Apple store, stressing that my hours of work were gone due to this unexpected computer crash. As I walked into the busy store with no appointment, I braced myself for the long night of studying that was bound to follow due to this “crisis” and the large amount of people in the store. I was pleasantly surprised though when I was ushered to the Genius Bar after explaining my situation. The Apple employee ran a diagnostics test on my computer, located the problem, fixed it for the time being, and gave me the step-by-step instructions for how to fix my computer to avoid this problem in the future. What was even better was that this employee did all of this in a matter of 15 minutes. In this desperate time, I was reminded why I continue to buy Apple products.
After this experience, I got to thinking about customer service. We live in a customer-based world. It seems that no matter what business class I’m taking at school, whether it is advertising, finance, sales, etc., we are always being told that customer service is essential in the business world today. Customers are constantly looking at your product or service compared to your competitor’s, so why not save them the time of researching this and give them the added value they’re searching for. This competitive edge is easily attained by stepping up your customer service game.
PR Daily has some great tips for how to implement customer service within your own company.
First, additional training may be needed in customer service. It is important though that all employees set this as a priority. Customers will be confused (or you may even lose the customer) if all your employees are not providing the same level of service. The article points out a very important fact, “customer retention costs less than customer acquisition,” so put in that extra effort to keep your clients.
It is also important to encourage employees to resolve customer problems. Customers are more satisfied if they do not have to hunt down people higher up in the company to get their problems solved. Work with your employees to think of creative solutions to your customer’s problem. Clients will be much happier if solving their problem only takes one interaction with your company than many along the way.
Customers also value your company actually listening to them. Ask them questions about their experience and what you can do to improve upon it. Having an open dialogue is important, but actually acting on this feedback is what counts.
The final tip is looking at what other companies are doing. Even though a company may not be in your particular industry, you can still learn from their customer service programs. Some standout companies known for providing continual excellent customer service are Nordstrom, Amazon, Apple, Starbucks and Trader Joe’s. In summary, without your clients you don’t have a business. Keep them happy and you’ll keep their business and also attract more customers. Great customer service is always good PR for your company.
For other reads on customer service, refer to these posts on the Communiqué PR Blog: