Don't think this one's a happy customer
How’s your Christmas shopping going? With only 2 more shopping days to go, I thought that it would be good to talk about “customer service” at this peak time of year.
My experience over the last couple of weeks, in most shops, has been quite pleasant and I found sales staff to be quite friendly and cheery. This seemed a little unusual, given that at this time of year when tensions high, people become very agitated and customers become more impatient. Sales staff are under a lot more pressure as they work more hours, while still having to do their own Christmas shopping. So I thought perhaps that the happy mood seemed a little odd, however I certainly favour this more enjoyable shopping experience.
To see if other shoppers were having similar experiences, I asked the question over on Facebook “what one word describes your impression of customer service at this time?” The answers I received were:
1. Friendly
2. Cheerful
3. Pleasant
The replies echoed my own observations.
It’s not all good out there
Shortly later, on Facebook, on the walls of a couple of businesses I noticed some “not so friendly” comments. I won’t name the companies but it seems that both of them had got themselves into the line of fire over promotions that didn’t go quite to plan.
Company A promised a significant discount offer if they were able to get up to a specific number of “likes” on their Facebook fan page. They promoted the idea, but didn’t make it to the goal number, however they still offered a reasonably high discount, and then asked people to come into their store to receive the special discount off their purchases. People did and at this point everybody was happy.
Then they made the mistake. For the next couple of days they offered a special “pre-Christmas” sale for all their members at a 50% discount. All those people who had come in to the store the day before and bought at the special discounted price for liking the Facebook page, didn’t find out till afterwards that if they had waited another day they could have got a much much higher discount.
A few unhappy fans were very quick to start commenting aggressively on the Facebook wall pointing out how much each person would have saved if they had been notified of the upcoming special members discount days. The wall quickly filled with bad comment after bad comment.
I think the idea was good, it just wasn’t executed very well. There needs to be a time gap between promotions. It’s too hard to manage if you just have promotion on top of promotion, discount on top of discount. Not only that, but also has the impact of devalueing your stock.
Company B decided to run a competition through Facebook, but didn’t clearly outline the terms and conditions of the competition. In fact they actually communicated how the competition would be run and how people would receive their prizes (gift certificate coupons), over a series of several short posts on their Facebook wall.
Then after the winners names had been drawn, they posted a comment on their Facebook wall that the winners had to collect coupons within a matter of days or otherwise the next lot of names drawn would be given the coupon. Needless to say, this ended up causing much anger and some very disappointed winners, who quickly became “losers”. Again another promotion that should have been good for business, actually lead to a bad review or two.
Are there any good stories?
I’m glad you asked the question, because I want to share a good example of customer service that I came across. This story made me smile, as it demonstrated wonderful and compassionate service. Richenda “World Vision’s Social Media Diva” blogs over at www.imrichenda.com and was kind enough to let me share this story with you. This is how the conversation happened between a customer service staff member and an existing customer.
“I want to cancel my cable.” – Sarah*, cable TV customer
“Can I ask you why you want to cancel your service?” – Gerlinda, cable customer service representative
“I cannot afford it anymore, I am a single mum with a daughter and… I just sponsored a child.”
“That’s amazing! Can I ask what organisation you sponsored with?”
“Through World Vision!”
“Even better! My daughter works for World Vision. That is so wonderful! It’s good for your daughter, too! Is your daughter happy with the sponsored child? How did she react?”
“My daughter is so excited, especially since she saw the picture. She feels like she has a sister! She wants to learn the language they speak in Mozambique and she wants to send her toys. She can’t stop talking about her and she is praying for her now, too.”
“But know you are not just sponsoring a child but a whole community. If you have time, when your daughter comes back from school, watch “sponsor lady” on YouTube. It’s a video my daughter made about meeting her sponsored children. It’ll help your daughter understand child sponsorship and what kind of impact it has on community in Africa.”
“Oh, really! We are going to watch it when she comes home from school.”
“Well, let’s find a way to reward you and your daughter for doing something good. As a company, we appreciate customers like you. I’m going to find you a way to get a discount at the same rate as sponsoring a child.”
“Thank you so much, that is really nice of you! That can mean my daughter will have cable during the school holidays.”
“Thank you for staying with us. Enjoy your cable!”
It’s encouraging to hear that personalised service does still exist. The example that this lady set (who also happens to be Richenda’s mum) is the positive and creative attitude to service that will be remembered by that lady and her daughter in years to come.
Businesses need to reward customers for their service and support. Firstly it is easier to keep a customer than to attract a new one, and secondly, positive word-of-mouth is the most effective form of advertising and it’s free.
A trend to watch in 2012
The Internet is fast becoming the place to go to to find information immediately that is current and relevant. Yes, you still have to sift through and find the useful information in amongst a whole lot of junk. But it is becoming easier for individuals to have a powerful voice.
Bad service will lead to bad reviews and good service will lead to good reviews. You can’t make every customer happy but I need to point out that customers reviews now reach a greater audience than ever before. And so it’s important to be aware of how people are talking about your brand, it’s time to start thinking of ways to encourage happy customers to talk about your business and your brand in social media, on blogs and on your website.
Quick tips for better service:
1. Make your customers feel welcome and appreciated, by being helpful rather than doing the hard sell
2. Know your products and services and ensure your staff are well trained and informed
3. Communicate all promotions clearly, and make sure you plan ahead how they will run, how long, and put “time” space between promotions.
4. Look for unique ways to “complete” the sales experience. Consider giving a free “thank you” pack, perhaps with a discount offer for next time or an information booklet or a free sample.
5. Follow-up to get repeat sales: determine what’s the best follow-up for your business- texts, social media, phone calls, mail out, e-mail newsletter
Now it’s your turn
Do you have some tips for offering service that keeps your clients happy and brings them, their families and their friends to your business?
Or maybe you would like to share a “good” or a “bad” experience. Comment below.
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