‘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?”
