The Key to Gaining Loyal Customers
Published in Marketing
I was talking with a friend of mine the other day about customer service. She is buying a new home and needed to speak with her bank. She called the bank's automated line and listened for seven minutes of bank promotions only to get a message that said that the customer service number (for her particular issue) had changed. And so the process began again as she called the bank's new number and listened to minutes of promotions, departments selections, just to be put in a waiting cue.
The two of us listening to this story, just shook our head in agreement as we had both left this particular banking instruction in the past.
I don't believe customer service is dead, but it is a rarity. Sometimes it is the little things that count. My mom has been buying all her makeup and skincare from the same person in Dallas for ten years. Not unusual, except for the fact that she lives in Kansas and makes it to Dallas only twice a year.
Another friend recently made several 45 minute trips to a store for a particular product. If you ask her why, it's because the boutique sent her a personal note when she stopped in the first time and they were out of the product she was wanting to buy. They invited her back for a visit and thanked her for stopping in. Guess what she did just that, found the item on her second visit and told our entire Saturday running/breakfast group. Several ladies in the group left breakfast to head over to the store. You know the drive was never necessary, she could have just went online, but the personal touch made the difference.
While bad service drives us away, good service makes us so loyal that we'll keep coming back, even if it means being inconvenienced.
Most business owners want to have great customer service, after-all keeping a customer is less costly than getting a new one, and referrals are golden.
Here are a few things as business
owners we can do to improve customer service, and maintain loyal customers.
The two of us listening to this story, just shook our head in agreement as we had both left this particular banking instruction in the past.
I don't believe customer service is dead, but it is a rarity. Sometimes it is the little things that count. My mom has been buying all her makeup and skincare from the same person in Dallas for ten years. Not unusual, except for the fact that she lives in Kansas and makes it to Dallas only twice a year.
Another friend recently made several 45 minute trips to a store for a particular product. If you ask her why, it's because the boutique sent her a personal note when she stopped in the first time and they were out of the product she was wanting to buy. They invited her back for a visit and thanked her for stopping in. Guess what she did just that, found the item on her second visit and told our entire Saturday running/breakfast group. Several ladies in the group left breakfast to head over to the store. You know the drive was never necessary, she could have just went online, but the personal touch made the difference.
While bad service drives us away, good service makes us so loyal that we'll keep coming back, even if it means being inconvenienced.
Most business owners want to have great customer service, after-all keeping a customer is less costly than getting a new one, and referrals are golden.
Here are a few things as business
owners we can do to improve customer service, and maintain loyal customers.
