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This is an article written for the Mobile
Enhancement Retailers Association but applies to most retail
businesses.
How Good Customer Service
Can Actually Hurt Your
Business
By Tom Egelhoff
 Do
you agree with the title of this article? Doesn't every business
book available tout the virtues of not just good customer service
but "knock your socks off" customer service? So you
may want to ask yourself that question again at the end of this
article.
One of the great things about belonging to an organization
like M.E.R.A. is that you
have a place to exchange ideas with others that have the same
interests you do. That one thing is the success of your business
in the Mobile Electronics field.
But the other side of the sword is that you are all different.
No two of you run your respective businesses the same way and
that brings us varying levels of customer service.
What
exactly is customer service anyway?
If I asked ten shop owners to give me a definition of customer
service I'd probably get ten different answers. We find it hard
to define but we definitely know when we DON'T get it don't we?
Now that becomes the problem because each of your customers also
have their own definition of what good customer service is. You
may think you're providing it but they may think you aren't.
So the next question is how can you define something that has
so many definitions? The answer is you can't. So are you out
of luck when it comes to providing good service? No here's the
way to look at customer service.
Look
at the extremes.
Do you think, if your employees really applied themselves,
that they could drive every single customer out of your shop
without making a single purchase? I think that's possible. So
there IS a level of BAD customer service that would really hurt
your business. In fact it would probably put you out of business.
So that is one extreme.
Now, would it make sense that the other extreme could do the
same thing? Service too good could also put you out of business.
Let's explore that for a second. Could you offer free pick-up
and drop off to customers that live 200 miles from your shop?
You could but not at a profit. That would be great customer
service but you couldn't do it consistently or profitably. And
that is the real key to customer service. What is the best level
of service you and your employees can provide both profitably
and consistently?
What
is my level of service?
Why do 90% of franchises succeed and 85% of small businesses
fail in the first five years. The franchise knows how to deliver
consistent profitable service. Whether it's Wal-Mart, McDonalds'
or Pier One. When you walk into one anywhere in the country there
is almost no difference. A Big Mac is exactly the same in Florida
as it is in Alaska. Employees are trained in what to say, how
to say it and what services they can and can't offer to customers.
I don't care how bad you want a Whopper you aren't going get
one at McDonalds. Could they make you one? Would that be good
customer service? Or would the customer walk in everyday expecting
you to provide a Whopper made specifically for him.
How to
deliver consistent, profitable customer service.
Here is what makes an organization like M.E.R.A. so valuable.
At your next employee meeting ask everyone to make a list of
the products and services that you do really well and really
profitably. Then get out the M.E.R.A. membership list and call
some members in towns similar in size and demographics to you.
Ask them the same questions.
What products or services do they provide at a profit and
how do they do it? If you are having trouble in a certain profit
center perhaps they have a tool or procedure that will speed
things up. Perhaps you can't provide some services. You can't
make Whoppers because you are a McDonalds.
Trying to provide something you can't usually translates into
a bad experience for the customer. You would be better served
to send them to a competitor than to create a bad customer experience.
Make
it a company effort
Consistency is the key to good customer service. Every time
that customer darkens your door they know they are going to get
a quality product, in a timely manner at a fair price. Make sure
each employee has the guidelines they need to provide the best
service possible at the highest profit margins.
For example, there is a repair shop nearby that has a list
of key phrases near every phone. These phrases are clues that
the customer had a bad experience at another repair shop. I know
you can hear these, from your own customers, in your mind as
you read this.
Train
employees to listen.
How much training and certification have each of your employees
had? I bet the walls are full of certificates and diplomas from
all sorts of schools. How much listening training have they had?
Chances are - next to none.
Customers will give you all sorts of clues in their words
and actions that will help you make their experience in your
shop better. Learn to listen and encourage your employees to
listen as well.
Satisfaction
is contagious.
Do you have letters from customers praising your service?
I bet all of you do. One company here puts them in a binder in
the customer waiting area. They are in plastic sleeves and the
waiting customers can get a healthy dose of positive re-enforcement
about your business.
Remember, if you concentrate on the things you do well your
satisfied customers will spread the word.
Based in Bozeman, MT, Tom Egelhoff is the author of How To Market, Advertise & Promote Your
Business Or Service In A Small Town, and The
Small Town Advertising Handbook: How To Say More And Spend Less.
He is also a seminar and workshop presenter and trainer.
Would
you like Tom Egelhoff to speak on customer service at your business
function or convention?
Click here for
information, topics and pricing.
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