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PUBLISHER INFOReturn on Behavior Magazine is published monthly by
TeleFaction A/S
DK 2000 Frederiksberg
Denmark
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Customer Service is Key in Today's Economic Climate
>>by Bob Selden
Do you know how much your customers are helping you survive the
downturn?
I was so annoyed that the XYZ coffee shop in the ABC
Centre took so long to give me a second coffee one morning, even though I
was close to the machine and kept looking expectantly, I decided to 'punish'
them by going elsewhere for a year.
At an average of three coffees a day @ $3.20 each = $9.60 a day for about
220 working days a year, that could cost them $2,112 a year. (That's why my
new office now has a cappuccino machine!!) Given that I was traveling a fair
bit, I figured their poor service cost them at least $800 to $900 for the
year that I gave them a miss.
I wonder what impact it would have on the staff at this coffee shop if they
knew that every regular customer had the potential to bring them at least
$2,000 gross revenue each year. Do the staff know how many "regular"
customers they have per day? And, what does it take to turn a "drop in" or
"first timer" into a regular customer?
How would the staff respond to customers if every time someone came in they
had at front of mind "this customer is paying $3.20, but they could be worth
$2,000 to our business".
It's been said that your first time customer, even your first time visitor
(say to your website) is always the highest cost to you. You've had to spend
your hard earned advertising dollars to get them there. But it's the repeat
customers and visitors that really provide the best returns. If they keep
coming back to check out your site, your products, your services, or your
information, you've clearly developed a relationship with them. You have
established credibility and trust. Once you've done this, the chance that
these repeat visitors will buy from you increases exponentially.
Whenever you have a business totally dependent on new clients, you're
vulnerable. When economic conditions change (as they have at the moment), or
a new competitor enters the market, you may suddenly see your customers
disappear.
However, if you've managed to build up a stable of loyal, repeat clients,
even if they reduce their purchases in a weak economy, you're better able to
maintain at least a basic level of income and keep your business alive.
Many of us know we need to become less dependent on "one-off" customers, but
we don't know how.
Here are some suggestions to help turn first timers into regulars and keep
regulars as regulars:
1. Work out the potential (in dollars, Euros or whatever) each visitor or
customer could bring to your business.
2. Run some short training courses (these can just be half-hour sessions) on
"How much does a customer mean to us?"
3. Ask your customers (either verbally or in a very short written response,
"Why do you do business with us?" "What can we do that would improve our
service and products?" "What would you like us to provide for you that we
don't currently provide?"
4. Develop some partnerships (probably informal) with like minded service
and product providers whom you can recommend to your customers.
5. Communicate regularly with these "partners" to explore ways of developing
business together and to share good "customer stories".
And if you haven't got (or don't really need) a sophisticated customer data
base, start a simple customer recording system. For example, in a retail
business, this can be as simple as a card index with regular customer likes
and dislikes, or you can computerize this so that regular customer profiles
come up whenever they are served. Above all don't overcomplicate it - it
must have meaning for all staff.
What are people's main concerns at the moment? Job security and financial
peace of mind. It's all about the simple things in life - feeling
comfortable and secure with one surroundings - not the bells and whistles.
If your business can help people feel comfortable and relaxed with the
service and products you provide, they are most likely to keep doing
business with you, even though times are tough.
In today's tough economic climate, it's not so much about getting new
customers, but keeping the ones you have extremely satisfied, that's the key
to survival, and in fact growing the business.
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Bob Selden |
| About the author: |
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Bob Selden is the author of "What To Do When You Become The Boss" - a self
help book for new managers and over 50 articles on management and
leadership. Bob currently coaches at the International Institute for
Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland and the Australian Graduate
School of Management, Sydney, Australia. More info:
http://www.whenyoubecometheboss.com.
Send an email to
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Your customers experiences equal money. TeleFaction’s Return on Behavior concept helps you to increase the value of your customers’ experiences. Whether you focus on improving customer satisfaction and loyalty, increasing additional sales and resale, reducing churn and loss of customers, or improving your critical business relations in customer service at all contact points, TeleFaction offers a solution that will yield the desired results. Return on Behavior Magazine is a free service from TeleFaction.
Return on Behavior Magazine was produced in cooperation with Customaxi
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