Service with a Capital You

Service with a Capital You
Tags: Consumer Behavior, CRM, Customer Experience, Loyalty Programs, Marketing, Retail - Apparel, Shopper Marketing
December 16, 2010

It always bugged me that almost every specialty store displays its small-sized clothes on the top rack, where small people cannot easily reach them, while the large sizes are at the bottom.

If one store switched this practice around, I may find myself shopping there more often. Such little perks, which show the merchant cares about it customers, go a long way toward winning unwavering loyalty.

Micah Solomon, co-author of "Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit: The Secrets of Building a Five-Star Customer Service Organization," knows a few things about service himself, as an entrepreneur and sought-after source on the topic of loyalty. Solomon was kind enough to share with us seven tips for winning the hearts of fickle and time-starved consumers.

1. Did you shine that doorknob? Research shows that customers remember the first and last minutes of a service encounter much more vividly, and for much longer, than all the rest of it. Make sure that the first and final elements of your customer interactions are particularly well.

2. Set your clocks forward. Today's customers expect speedier service than did any generation before – and even more than their older siblings. In this age of Blackberrys and iPhones, of Amazon.com and Zappos, you may as well not deliver your product or service if you're going to deliver it late.

3. Customers want to connect with a real person – online or off. Instead of a web-based chat window that blandly announces, "you are now chatting with Jane," try "you are now chatting with Jane Yang-Katzenberg." The customers will take her advice more seriously and be more likely to commit to her company.

4. Remember each returning customer. Whatever your business, work to achieve the computer-assisted "at home" feeling of a beloved bartender, doorman or hairstylist, the kind who would know Bob's preferences, the name of Bob's pet and when Bob last visited.

5. Don't leave the language your team uses up to chance. Develop a list of words and expressions that fit your brand perfectly. Equally important, search and destroy any words that could hurt customer feelings. Your service team should never tell a customer "you owe us." Instead, try, "Our records seem to show a balance."

6. Be patient when filling positions. In a superb service organization, a single disagreeable or unresponsive team member can erode customer loyalty and team morale. Better to leave a position unfilled rather than rush to hire someone unsuitable. Customer excellence is most fully achieved when you excel at recruiting, selecting, training, evaluating and reinforcing the efforts of service personnel.

7. Anticipate a customer's wishes. When a customer's wish is met before the wish has been expressed it sends the message that you care about the customer as an individual. That cared-for feeling is where you generate the fiercest loyalty.

Let's add emphasis on that last point. When it is snowing, keep the lot clean and the carts inside. When it is icy-cold, be sure the receipt tape at the gas pumps is full. And please, try putting the smalls on a lower rack. The results should be rewarding.