“This is a perverse thing, personally, but I would rather be in the cycle where people are underestimating us. It gives us latitude to go out and make big bets that excite and amaze people”. – Mark Zuckerberg
Everything your company does – marketing, promotions and customer service – is done with the aim to excite your customers? Or are you pleased with just having customers who are there, don’t complain and say they are satisfied? The new mantra seems to be ‘excite your customers’ through great customer service. Being able to do this effectively is not just about having a catchy slogan or a well-designed logo or even just great products or services. How will your customers know anything of what you do unless you can tell them effectively? Your customer service team must also be adept at sustaining the buzz and keep up the excitement factor for the customer. The customer must be enthused to know more about your company which makes and builds rapport and relationships. When your customer service team is able to excite your customers, it embodies the overall focus of the company. Customers perceive your company as being focused on their needs and centred on providing service with a personal touch. This excitement translates to loyalty and trust in customers.
Of course, it seems like customers are becoming more demanding since satisfying them no longer seems enough. They are. As a company if you want to be successful you would need to take giant leaps forward towards exciting your customers. It pays off – excited customers are the ones who will be your most ardent admirers and will consistently speak well of you. When others hear about your customer service from current customers, they are more likely to be convinced and lean towards doing business with you. As a company, re-look and redesign your processes and customer service practices to see what can be done to excite your customers. It would not be prudent to look in every direction but rather focus on a few areas that will create the highest levels of excitement. Choose a select few of your best customer service staff to be on a team focused on identifying market ideas that can serve as benchmarks. Use these ideas to see where you lack and what your strengths are. Then build and create your own set of activities that will serve to excite your customers.
Make this new mantra the habit for your company. People in leadership positions should typify this excitement if they want to spread it amongst their teams. Customer service teams especially must have regular programs and activities to help them imbibe this culture. Rewarding and incentives for these teams would create excitement among them which they would then be more willing to spread to your customers. Exciting and impressive customer service does not happen by chance or fluke. It is only when everyone in the company is focused on creating lasting positive memories, does customer service reach a level high enough to excite your customers. Consistently maintaining the highest levels of customer service takes time, practice and a sincere determination. The rewards you reap will be rich and abundant – growing customer base and superlative degrees of customer loyalty. Loyal customers are also your most effective brand ambassadors. How do you also let your customers know that you appreciate their business?
“Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care”. – Theodore Roosevelt
This quote speaks simply of what we all as humans exhibit. So it is true for your customers. They will perceive both care and neglect. Doing the little yet vital things will excite your customers enough to stay with you. Everything mentioned below are sub-parts of the greater whole – great customer service.
– Conceive and formulate processes and strategies that will simplify things for your customers. Payment options, information gathering and even the guidelines for the product or service you offer. Your customer service must be proficient in explaining and guiding customers through the entire processes if required. Simplicity in all that you do speaks volumes of your company’s customer focus.
– Most certainly, impeccable service standards or a flawless product contribute highly towards getting the attention of your customers. Using technological advancements and combining them with a tailor made feel, will help you create products or services that will excite your customers.
– Invest resources in to creating the best customer service teams that outshine the ones that exist in the market. Well-trained, knowledgeable, enthusiastic and empathetic customer service teams will always hit bulls-eye and create excitement amongst your customers. Take a cue from the myriad examples of great customer service available and fashion yours to make it work for you. Customers love being treated with care and kindness and every small gesture contributes.
– Continue innovating and working towards getting better at what you do. Keep records for all customer interactions and reward your staff for improving each customer experience. As customer experiences become increasingly happy, customers will be more than excited to have the next interaction or do further business with you. Your competitors will not thank you for this but you will find yourself laughing all the way to the bank! Let’s face it, you are in the business to make a profit and succeed financially. Excite your customers and let them help you achieve this goal.
– Reward your most loyal and highest investment customers by offering them some products or services that are exclusive and privileged. This will generate a buzz in the customer circles and others will want a piece of the pie too. The excitement will suffice to have more customers make a beeline for the ‘exclusive’ club.
– Use multiple channels to interact and keep in touch with customers. Talk highly of your company and the service you provide – it is okay to blow your trumpet once in a while. Unless you as a company seem excited about what you offer and what you can offer, you are unlikely to generate that excitement in your customers. Organize events, put together the highest quality interactive videos and use the power of social media to showcase your ‘formidable’ strengths. Customers will appreciate the clarity and honesty and will be more easily convinced.
– Nothing excites people more than when they don’t know something but want to. Add the mystical feel to any new product or services by sending flash teasers via some select channels. No over the top promotions or campaigns only snippets. The zeal and hype you can create with this cloak of secrecy is sure to get customers to take notice. Excite your customers with mystery.
– Within your industry there is a high probability that things are done in a more or less standard way. As a company you probably stick to some of the tried and tested ways. However, it would excite your customers if you were to go the unconventional way. There are a plethora of precedents, where companies have had record breaking sales when for example they used regular people to advertise their products rather than celebrities. One powder detergent company used a housewife to speak about how the product helped to clean the clothes way better than before. This manner of promotion is more believable and exciting rather than a celebrity endorsing the same – most celebrities would not even know how or who cleans their clothes!
Getting to the level of customer service that can excite your customers is the new frontier and benchmark for success. Profitability, stability and customer loyalty will be the natural results of creating excitement through customer service. What you do as a company to delight and excite your customers, will not take up too many or too much of your resources, but the benefits you reap will be manifold. These are but some ways to excite your customers through customer service and we are sure that you have many aces up your sleeve to better what you are practicing currently.
“Every business is a service business. Does your service put “a smile” on the customer’s face?”- Philip Kotler
