‘There is a general cultural of bad customer service in this country.”
Barry Moltz began his presentation, Customer Service Is the New Marketing, at the GrowSmartBusiness Conference on November 5 with the above statement. As a prolific author and sought-after speaker on entrepreneurship (he has started three companies and founded an angel investing fund), Barry focused on the incredibly important role customer service now plays in a company’s growth and success. (His engaging and entertaining presentation was based on his newest book, BAM! Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World.)
As he alluded to in his presentation, small business owners have a competitive advantage over large companies because we consistently deliver exceptional customer service to our clients. I can only name three large companies that have built their cultures around customer service: Apple, Zappos, and Nordstrom. (Maybe this is a trick question, but are there any others you can add to the list?)
Following are excerpts from Barry’s presentation, per my furiously scribbled notes:
“In a world with no boundaries, the only sustainable competitive advantage is excellent customer service.
‘There are a lot of myths associated with customer service. These myths have to be busted, because the customer is not always right. Under-promising and over-delivering is not a customer service strategy. Unhappy customers are not part of doing business. Customers do not only care about low price….
“Good customer service is whatever a customer says it is in a particular instant on a particular day. Instead of asking, ‘How can I help you?’, ask ‘How can I make your day better?’
“To ensure your customer service is as good as it can be, put together a customer service manifesto to clearly explain what your customers can expect from you. It should include the following:
- Deliver on what you promise
- Listen to your customers
- When things go wrong, be reachable
- Resolve issues in a reasonable amount of time
- Admit mistakes
- Empower employees to resolve issues
- Make it easy to stop doing business with you (in direct contrast to cell phone and cable companies, as Barry pointed out)
- Don’t charge nuisance fees or surcharges
- Treat your customers with respect and dignity
- Don’t change the rules without prior notification (cough—credit card companies—cough)
“To get useful feedback from your customers, ask the following four questions:
- Why did you choose to do business with us?
- Did anyone do a good or bad job servicing you?
- Do you plan to use us in the future?
- Can you tell any friends, colleagues, or business partners about our business?”
Web.com is now offering forums designed to support small businesses in cities throughout the US. Learn more about these forums here: http://Businessforum.web.com/
Tags: competitive advantage, Customer Service, differentiator, GrowSmartBiz Conference, Marketing, small business
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