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The Customer is "King" posted by Peter J. Patsula

Seven strategies for developing a customer service plan.

No business can profit without first winning over the hearts and minds of its markets, at least not for long. Consider the following customer service facts:

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FACT ONE
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A typical business will hear from only 4% of its dissatisfied customers. The other 96% will just quietly go away, 91% never coming back.

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FACT TWO
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A typical dissatisfied customer will tell 8 to 10 people about his or her problem. 1 in 5 will tell 20.

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FACT THREE
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7 out of 10 complaining customers will do business with you again if you resolve the complaint in their favor.

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FACT FOUR
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The average business spends 6 times more to attract new customers than it does to keep old ones.

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WRITING A CUSTOMER SERVICE POLICY
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The following seven strategies can help you design a policy for keeping customers for life:

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STRATEGY 1
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Create a positive business environment.

Making people feel good about themselves and your company makes it more conducive for them to spend their money.

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STRATEGY 2
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Offer free coffee, donuts, mints or suckers.

Some companies give away suckers that look like their company logo. Although, creating a potential negative connotation, "they're suckers for buying from us," most people accept it in the spirit it was intended, as an expression of fun and good will.

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STRATEGY 3
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Establish a professional image.

A professional image is created when you are reliable, courteous, and service orientated. It is also the result of treating each customer with dignity and respect as if each was capable of giving you thousands of dollars in business, when often only giving you a few. It means treating a coal miner who walks into your dainty jewelry shop - dirt under his finger nails, hair hanging out in clumps - like any other valued customer not a contagious virus. Who knows, the coal miner might pull out a hunk of gold quartz worth ten grand and trade it in for a little diamond ring for his sweet heart.

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STRATEGY 4
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Commit to quality.

Commitment to quality breeds loyalty. Consider the following: to eliminate the majority of hairs that stick to the average chicken wing, Fran Perdue, chairman of Perdue Farms, purchased a quarter-of-a million dollar jet engine to blow them off.

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STRATEGY 5
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Handle complaints right away.

It's hard to remain calm when a hotheaded customer is yelling a few inches from your face. But in any confrontational situation, you must assume the role of the parent, let your customer have their temper tantrum, and then calmly and coolly listen to and solve their problem. This, more than anything else is a sign of professionalism, quality service, and management sensitivity.

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STRATEGY 6
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Get people at the top actively involved in both listening to and helping resolve customer complaints.

"Just a second let me talk to the manager." Is better than, "Sorry the manger won't be back until tomorrow."

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STRATEGY 7
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Make it easy to complain.

Seek out and welcome complaints. Remember that most dissatisfied customers don't complain, they just quietly move their business elsewhere.

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ADOPTING A CUSTOMER SERVICE MAXIM
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BELOW IS a list of customer service maxims or mini-philosophies you can use to help inspire your own customer service policy.

CUSTOMERS ...

- ARE our bosses, we are the employees.
- ARE people first, business second.
- BECOME our best source of advertising and marketing when satisfied.
- DO NOT depend on us; we depend on them.
- DO NOT interrupt our work; they are the reason for it.

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