I ran this blog several months ago, but have received many requests to run it again and since the fist time it ran, I have hundreds of new readers, so it's a good time to get re-acquainted with your CSQ.
Determine Your CSQ (Customer Service Quotient)
We've all gone into stores, restaurants and other businesses only to wonder when customer service died and how come we did not get the memo. The question is, then, do your customers know more about customer service than you do? Think about it. In an average week, businesses have hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of customers. Some of those customers will be first-time job holders, while others will have PhD’s, be presidents of companies (maybe your own!), directors of human resources, etc. No matter what your customers do for a living, they all have one thing in common. They know good customer service when they get it, and you can bet they know when they don’t get good service.
The most important thing to remember about customer service and management training is that the principles to be applied are universal and identical, although the situations to which they apply are always different and changing. Nonetheless, the basic customer service principles that save you money, and make your customers more loyal are the foundation on which your service empire will continue to grow or flounder. The choice is yours.
The following excerpt is from one of my Customer Service Experiences I teach around the US and the world in my three-day Marketing Mogul Boot Camps. It can help you to see your business through your customer’s eyes instead of always relying on your own opinions and those of your upper management.
CUSTOMER SERVICE QUIZ:
Give yourself one point for each “yes” and zero points for each “no” response.
1. Is your advertising and marketing always correct in the newspaper, TV, radio, and on the internet? Yes___ No___
2. Can all of your employees answer your guest’s questions, or know where to find the answers if they can't? Yes___ No___
3. Is the parking lot always clean and well-lit? Yes___ No___
4. Is all your in-store signage easy to read and understand? Yes____ No____
5. Do your customers have to wait less than 5 minutes to “cash out”? Yes___ No___
6. Do your cashiers always greet your guests with a genuine smile? Yes___ No___
7. Is your store always neat, clean, and well-stocked? Yes___ No___
8. Are your restrooms cleaned really well many times throughout the day? Yes___ No___
9. Does your floor staff constantly “work the floor” to make sure that all guests are being served? Yes___ No___
10. Do you ever ask your guests what they think about your staff and your service (surveys)? Yes___ No___
Time to score yourself:
9-10 yes answers Outstanding! You’re a customer service Pro!!
7-8 yes answers Great job, keep up the good work
5-6 yes answers Doing good, need a tune-up
4 yes answers Trouble on the horizon – additional training needed
3 yes answers Red Alert! Severe problems – customers may be going somewhere else
2 or less yes answers Crisis situation – customers ARE going somewhere else
Customers have almost limitless choices when it comes to where they shop and where they chose to spend their money, online and off. While this survey is geared for the real world application, ask yourself similar questions for your customer's online experience. Customers are much more concerned about where they spend their time and money, especially in today’s economy than ever before.
With literally thousands of shopping opportunities available to consumers today, you must provide a higher level of service. More importantly, people deserve to be treated well with dignity and respect and great service and they’ll reward you for your super service by not only spending money with you, but they’ll tell their friends about your store, your service and you will capture a larger share of the market faster than you thought possible.
When customers go shopping they expect to be treated well and to have an enjoyable time. If they like your products, but your store is dirty and your staff is rude, do you really think they’ll continue to come back? Think about it. Would you want to continue to shop a company that didn’t care about you – that treated you only as a scan bar with a price tag? If you answered yes, call me. I’ll recommend a good psychiatrist.
You must pay attention to the service you provide your current customers, or I guarantee you’ll lose those customers. One way to reduce the chance of your ever losing a customer is to ensure that your managers, assistants, supervisors and front line staff understand the importance of providing great service. Don’t just settle for the IDEA of customer service, grumble about it behind closed doors, and get caught in the blame game. Instead, DO something about it, and you’ll create happy, loyal customers for life.
DyVal (Dynamic Value) is critical to the customer service equation. When you deliver a service level that is so much higher than the expectation (and this can be done on very little money) the customer will grow to appreciate your service and your store so they will continue coming back.
In parting remember this... Customer service while important is really dead. Yes, there I said it. Customer service is dead. But, and that's with a huge capital "B," what is very much alive and driving today's economy is customer APPRECIATION. No one in their right minds ever leaves a person or company they appreciate.
This will shock many of you, but in my experience it is true. Even customers who are satisfied defect from businesses they say they love. However, in my research I have found when a customer knows they are appreciated and they, in turn, appreciate the business, the customer tends to stay with that business for years.
Be well and I am yours in success,
Randall
p.s. I'll blog in the near future the quiz on internet customer service!
