The importance of good customer service

Good customer service is something all businesses need to ensure sustained success.

However, the real challenge lies in how it is delivered. It’s one thing for a business to pay lip-service to the concept and another entirely to ensure good customer service is placed solidly (and consistently) at the forefront of everything a company does.

Everyone talks about how important it is and the need for it. However, it’s easy to talk about it, much more difficult to do.

So what do we actually mean by customer service? Here are a few definitions courtesy of CustomerServiceManager.com - the online community for customer service professionals:

• Customer service is the ability to provide a service or product in the way that it has been promised
• Customer service is about treating others as you would like to be treated yourself
• Customer service is an organisation's ability to supply their customers’ wants and needs
• Customer Service is a phrase used to describe the process of taking care of customers in a positive manner

There you go - as clear as it is logical. Treat people right, give them what they want (moreover, what they've paid for) and they’ll come back. Easy!

If only. In a recent survey, the global research body Harris Interactive found as much as 86 per cent of customers turn their backs on a business or product due to poor customer service. Elsewhere, in a similar study, Right Now Technologies puts the number at 73 per cent while the prestigious Rockefeller Corporation previously pegged it at 68 per cent. The slight percentage variance notwithstanding, the bottom line remains: good customer service is crucial to the retention of clients/customers.

Why is this important? Well, Peppers and Rogers in 2009 showed that 81 per cent of companies providing excellent customer service outperformed their competitors - clearly illustrating the importance of getting this right and keeping it right.

If a company fails on this score, it not only loses existing business, it also risks putting off future customers since dissatisfied customers are the most effective way of dissuading others from using or buying a product or service. An unhappy customer will usually tell around 20 other people about their dissatisfaction!

Of course, it’s easy to highlight the negative and lose sight of the fact there are many companies out there consistently getting it right on customer service. Businesses who are becoming more “customer intimate’’, investing in customer service, training staff to consistently follow it through and placing it at the very core of their business strategy.

More and more of our clients are moving towards developing strong, long-lasting customer relationships, and this is becoming critical in tough economic times.

It’s hard enough out there in the business world at present, with conditions ever more competitive and customer choice higher than ever. We must look after our customers and the answer lies in the attitude and behaviour of employees who interact with them. Again that is easier said than done and demands investment to help employees develop the skills and behaviours that underpin great customer service. It needs to be installed in every fibre of the business - because the alternative is even more expensive. If you would like to hear how we could work with your people to deliver excellent customer service, then please get in touch.