Customer Service:

It's Not Just a Department, It's An Experience - February 2010

 

Welcome to the February issue of "Customer Service: It's Not Just a Department; It's an Experience." February brings us Valentine's Day and for many couples, getting engaged on Valentine's Day is the most romantic way possible to take a relationship to the next level. Engagement leads to a long-term commitment. There's nothing nicer than seeing two people in love. Isn't that what most of us want in our personal lives?

What about in our business lives? Don't we want to be in a committed relationship with our customers? One way to have that kind of relationship with your customers is to have engaged employees. This month's newsletter will take a look at committed relationships; how to get them and what happens if you don't have them!

Welcome to our new subscribers and new clients. Our goal is to help you improve the service you are providing to your existing customers as well as prospective customers, increase customer retention and generate additional revenue through cross-selling, up-selling and referrals.

This month, show some love. To your customers, to your staff, and to your romantic partner!


In This Issue:

Which type of employees do YOU have?   |   How Important is Engagement?   |   In the News



Which type of employees do YOU have?

Customer service nuggets.....

The most valuable thing we ever give each other is our attention. And especially when we give it from the heart.

Affirm the customer's feelings - value starts with the heart, not with product, price and promotion.

Revolve your world around the customer and more customers will revolve around you.

Employees generally fall into three categories: engaged, non-engaged and disengaged. An engaged employee is someone who is committed to quality, growth and the company. That employee is productive, provides exceptional customer service and generates revenue for the company. A non-engaged employee is indifferent; doesn't have anything good or bad to say about the job. A non-engaged employee looks at the job as a means to a paycheck. A disengaged employee doesn't take initiative and has no pride in what he does.

The types of employees you have working for you will determine what kind of experience your customers have with your company.

Employees become engaged when employers:

  • Provide feedback and guidance
  • Make real time to discuss problems
  • Seek ideas and value input from staff
  • Allow employees to make decisions
  • Provide the resources to solve problems
  • Give real recognition and/or reward
  • Provide opportunities for people to develop their potential
  • Are flexible; help people to actively balance work and home responsibilities
  • Set employees up for success

What kind of environment are YOU providing for your employees?






How Important is Engagement?

Fully engaged customers buy more, stay with you longer, and are more profitable than average customers. Organizations that engage their customers outperform those that do not. Do you need any more reasons to engage your customers?

Today's customers are harder to win and keep. To meet this challenge, companies are focused on fostering customer engagement: creating deep connections with customers that drive purchase decisions, interaction, and participation over time. Customer engagement drives clear benefits for organizations that serve both businesses and consumers, such as improving sales and loyalty, exposing valuable leads, and providing better customer feedback.

According to a study by Gallup, customers are categorized into four distinct groups:

Fully engaged customers, who are emotionally attached and rationally loyal; they are your most valuable customers

The Benefits of Engagement

Engaged customers are willing to pay more.
Engaged customers buy more.

Engaged customers go out of their way to do business with you.

Engaged customers recommend you to others.

Engaged customers are more forgiving if you make a mistake.

Engaged customers do your advertising for you.

Engaged customers increase your bottom line.

Engaged customers, who are beginning to feel the stirrings of emotional engagement

Disengaged customers, who are emotionally and rationally neutral

Actively disengaged customers, who are emotionally detached and actively antagonistic

World-class organizations make customer engagement a priority by focusing on the following:

Emotional Attachment. Customers are not strictly rational; your most profitable customers have strong emotional bonds with your organization. Those bonds must be honored and strengthened.

Moving Beyond Satisfaction. Focusing on creating highly satisfied customers is a one-way ticket to mediocrity and poor business results. Simply satisfying customers is not enough. You have to WOW your customers.

Key Touchpoints. Every time customers interact with your organization, they either become a little more or a little less engaged, but they never stay the same. As the old saying goes - "You can never step into the same river twice."

Customer engagement is a must-have for any successful business. Have you got it?




Workforce Development Group in the News

Here's a link to an article I wrote that was recently published on fuelNet Daily tips, a great resource for marketing your business.

Click here to view the article!

 




In Conclusion...

Thanks for taking the time to read this edition of "Customer Service: It's Not Just a Department; It's an Experience". It is our hope that you not only get the customer or client, but that you also hold onto them! If you have clients, colleagues or friends who wants to hold on to their customers too, do them a favor and forward them this newsletter.

Until next time, take good care of your customers, or someone else will! See you next year!

Sincerely,
Randi Busse

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