Roy's Blog: February 2015

February 23, 2015

5 really easy ways to make WOW! customer service


Source: Unsplash

5 really easy ways to make WOW! customer service.

Providing a WOW! customer experience is the end game of many organizations who want to create a base of loyal customers.

Some make progress.

And some fail; instead of WOW! they deliver OW!

For those in the OW! state, here are 5 ways to move your customer service to WOW!

Discover what annoys your customers

OW! is created when a customer smacks into an aspect of your business they can’t live with. It could be a policy, rule or an unfriendly employee attitude.
Reach out to them regularly for input and suggestions for improvement and follow their advice. Have the guts to put yourself at risk and ask “What sucks about us?” No pain, no gain.

Simplify how you do business with the customer in mind

Look at your business processes. Do they make it EASY for your customers to engage with you? If not, revamp them. People want “easy”; if it’s a hassle dealing with you, they won’t.

Treat each of your customers as an individual not as a face in the herd

Concentrate on discovering their unique needs; fashion your marketing efforts accordingly. We live in a “me” society where people expect products and services to reflect their individuality. Those that play to ME will be rewarded with WOW!

Show your fans regularly how much you appreciate them

De-emphasize traditional customer appreciation events which tend to mostly attract the looky-loo and offer no real value to long term loyal customers.
And personalize any recognition you do. Offering the same trash or trinkets to everyone is an insult and will result in OW!

Learn how to take a punch when you when you have a service slip-up

It’s not a matter if mistakes will happen, it’s a matter of when they will and what you do in response.
Here’s the formula: Recovery = ‘I’m Sorry’ + Fix It + Surprise! People remember how you recover from one of your mistakes; they will forget the original mistake if you do it well.

The move from OW! To WOW! depends on how much humanity you are willing to inject into your organization.

Build it to serve humans = WOW!

Build it to serve yourself = OW!

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

  • Posted 2.23.15 at 04:22 am by Roy Osing
  • Permalink

February 3, 2015

3 simple steps that will improve your understanding of people


Source: Pexels

3 simple steps that will improve your understanding of people.

A continuous process of learning about customers is a core competency that remarkable organizations have; the periodic study process of market research is simply not good enough.

These 3 steps will deepen the understanding you have of your customers and will move you ahead of the pack.

1. Deep segmentation

Define as many different customer segments as you can. Obviously the more segments the more you will know about each individual in the segment.
The objective is to learn about the unique fingerprint of each individual person as opposed to studying the ‘average’customer in a mass market group.

There is no such thing as an average customer. If you think there is, you haven’t segmented deep enough. Keep segmenting until you get as close to a segment of 1 as is practically possible.

2. Ask the customer

On a regular basis (actually every time you contact a customer) ask questions that will give you a better insight into the individual.
Every time your organization ‘touches’ a customer you have a strategic opportunity to learn something about them that you can put to good use: top-line revenue generation or loyalty-building.

Actively listen to what they say. Pay your managers on their ability to contribute toward the organization’s repertoire of customer knowledge - revise your compensation plan to reward this behavior.

3. Understand customer behaviour

Track and study how your customers use your products and services. Actual usage will help you understand the value they receive.
Product and services that tend to be bought together and in specific combinations will also be evident. Use this information to develop predictive purchase models to aid your marketing efforts.

Work on all three fronts and take your marketing efforts to remarkable levels.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

  • Posted 2.3.15 at 01:00 pm by Roy Osing
  • Permalink