Every small business claims to have excellent customer service.  I’m not kidding.  Go out and do an informal survey of your own.  At your next association meeting, ask ten or twelve colleagues – read:  competitors – how they rate their own customer service.   I’d be willing to bet that 9 out of 10 will tell you exceptional customer experiences.they are just ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ when it comes to customer service and exceptional customer experiences.

For those of you who prefer to speak in simpler terms, that very, very long word from Mary Poppins just means “exceptionally good”.  By claiming to have exceptionally good customer service, they claim their customer service is uncommon or unusual, at a uniquely higher level than anyone else provides.  The truth is: if that question was asked to the customers of that same group, the answers would probably be quite different.

If you’re not sure how to achieve a considerably higher level of service than your competitors, now is the time to find out and make it happen.  Start now; not tomorrow, next week or next year.  Start with these 7 Tactics on developing Exceptional Customer Service and Customer Experience to get you started:

7 Tactics for Developing Exceptional Customer Service and Experiences

Roll Out the Exceptional Customer Experience Red Carpet For Everyone.  

If there’s one thing people hate about poor service, it’s being treated differently from others.  It makes us feel inferior and second-class.  In the movie, “Pretty Woman”, Julia Roberts’ prostitute character hit expensive shops with Richard Gere’s ‘John’ character’s platinum credit card.  Prepared for a huge shopping spree, she found herself ignored, then treated poorly.  There she was, ready to buy and the sales clerks judged her by her appearance – and lost a lot of money.  

Sam Walton, founder of Walmart and perception is not realitySam’s Club, drove a 1979 Ford pick up truck for years and lived in a modest home.  Just because someone doesn’t look like they can afford your products or service, doesn’t mean they can’t.  Are you old enough to remember the ‘Beverly Hillbillies’ TV show or movie? A family of hillbillies strike oil on their property, by accident, get filthy rich over night, move to Beverly Hills and live their hillbilly lifestyle in a mansion.  You get the idea.  Sometimes perception is not reality at all.       

Take Time to Get to Know Your Customers.

The fast pace of modern living coupled with advances in technology have put a non-human face on much of our customer service. It’s important to find ways to re-connect with your customers one-on-one. Achieve this and you’ll strike a chord with customers that will be like a streak of gold.

Some of you might remember, others may have to ask a parent or grandparent, about a time when the doctor would come to your home to check on you if you were ill.  Insurance salesmen would come to your home each month to personally collect on your account.

You would be personally greeted by the owner during a visit to your local pharmacy. They would ask about you and your family and take time for a chat.  All of those are examples of good customer service.  Businesses taking the time to know their customers.  Really caring about customers; wanting to go the extra mile to make sure they’re happy.

Make Being Easy To Do Business With Your Customers’ Experience

One of the problems with modern businesses is that the systems we use to save time and money are often developed to benefit the company, not the customers. As a result, the customer experience ends up being frustrating and difficult. Clearly, this needs to be reversed.

No one wants to be bounced from one person or department to another.  Keep things simple.  Their goal is to do business with the firm with the lowest level of chaos and disruption added to their life.  Your goal should be a strong desire to be that business.

Make a Conscious Effort To Make Your Customer Experiences Happy Ones.

One of the most important things customers want from you is a guarantee that your product or service will work to solve their particular problem.  Be willing to move heaven and earth to make sure it does.  A completely satisfied customer should be your goal.

If there is a problem, every effort needs to be made quickly to rectify the situation to the customer’s satisfaction.  They bought and paid for your service or product and expect that it will solve their problem.  Make sure that it does – quickly and efficiently.

Do Customers See Exceptional Customer Experiences at Your Place of Business?

exceptional customer experiencesA big part of what customers think about you comes from what they see and believe.  Personal Selling Power noticed the following difference in two local candy stores. “Although two competing candy stores had the same prices, neighborhood kids preferred one store to the other. When asked why, they said, “Because the person in the good store always gives us more candy. The girl in the other store takes candy away.”

True? Not really.  In the good store the owner would always make sure to put a small amount of candy on the scale and then keep adding to it. In the bad store, the owner would pile a heaping amount of candy on the scale, and then take it off until it hit the right weight. The same amount of candy was sold, at the same price, but perception is everything.

Pay Attention to and Work On Everything Your Customer Experiences.

The customer experience isn’t just about buying goods and receiving the service that goes along with the purchase. It’s about all the other little bits and pieces of things in between the beginning and the end of your sales process. Things like the look of your place of business, the ease of access and parking, and the cleanliness and order of your workplace all matter.  All of these factors are important parts exceptional customer experiences.  Other elements like the manner of your receptionist, the attitude of other staff,  the smile or lack of it, on the face of the checkout and delivery teams are critical as well.  Be like the Mirage hotel in Las Vegas.  The Mirage has a slogan that wraps up their view of customer experiences nicely.  “We spend 600 hours a week pampering the plants. Imagine what we’ll do for our guests.”

Believe In Exceptional Customer Service From The Bottom Of Your Soul.

To become a great service organization, you have to believe in customer service from the bottom of your soul. It has to be part of the way you work; all day every day.  British business woman, Anita Roddick, activist and founder of The Body Shop put it like this: “I am still looking for the modern equivalent of Quakers who ran successful businesses, made money because they offered honest products and treated people decently, worked hard, spent honestly, saved honestly, gave honest value for money, put back more than they took out and told no lies. This business creed, sadly, seems long forgotten.”  Excellent customer service and experiences must go far deeper than just a few words on a sheet of paper or entry on your company website.  They have to be something you feel strongly about on a personal level to be drawn upon in your business.

“I am still looking for the modern equivalent of Quakers who ran successful businesses, made money because they offered honest products and treated people decently, worked hard, spent honestly, saved honestly, gave honest value for money, put back more than they took out and told no lies. This business creed, sadly, seems long forgotten.”   – Anita Roddick

To be No. 1 in customer service, providing exceptional customer experiences, you need to really stand out with customers.  You need to exhibit a number of unusual, even unique, concepts that make your company stand out from the crowd. If you have already developed a culture of exceptional customer service within your company: “Hooray!” Good for you.  If you haven’t, don’t you think it’s about time you did? Time to pull your team together and brainstorm ways that will make customers sit up and take notice of how well they are being treated.  With exceptional customer service and experiences, who wouldn’t come back over and over again to do business with your firm?

 

In case you have fond memories of the movies mentioned in the above post, I included links to Amazon.com.  You might want to get a copy and bring warm, fuzzy feelings back from the past.  Amazon will pay a small ‘finder’s fee’ for any sales resulting from links to their site.  So, get your movie, pop up some popcorn, gather your friends and enjoy!