In order to be successful at any endeavor, one must recognize the essentials necessary to accomplish that feat. It’s the same in customer service. What essentials are expected to create great customer experiences that result in maximum customer retention? I’ll give you six features that I feel are key ingredients.
Reliability – Clients expect product/service suppliers to be dependable and true during connections. Take your house electricity – as long as you pay the bill you expect the lights to come on when you flip that switch. Do clients consider your organization to be reliable? Are you rated high for dependability? Can your customers trust you will do what you say you will do? These are key factors to providing a great customer experience.
Competence – This characteristic measures skill and knowledge level in regards to one’s product/services. If you surveyed your customer, what would they say about the degree of proficiency exhibited by those inside your organization? Internet access allows today’s customer to gain knowledge about yours and your competitor’s organization. Once the interaction starts, will your customer understand more about your products/services than front line personnel and others within your organization? Make certain that everyone in your organization is a product/service specialist in order to receive a high rating for proficiency.
Responsiveness – When customers enter your brick and mortar location, call on the telephone, email or initiate a internet conversation, how long does it take for someone to acknowledge their existence? How long are your customers waiting for service? When issues arise, how long before the situation is addressed and a settlement given to the customer? The responsiveness clock is ticking on your customer’s mind while waiting to be serviced or to be given a reply to inquiry.
Courtesy – In my opinion, this one is the easiest characteristics to exhibit. If there is one thing which we can all control is our ability to be considerate and kind. All clients deserve common courtesy. Body language and facial expressions also contribute to the courtesy factor. What score will your customer contact employees receive for courtesy?
Credibility – Can your client deem your organization as credible? This attribute is an image builder. We’re taking about trustworthiness here! Does your performance match what you advertise? Does your organization deliver on its promises? Choosing to take the steps necessary to guarantee credibility helps to create a reputation for believability. One act by a single person which puts your organization’s credibility into question can be a picture killer. Protect your organization’s future by insisting that everyone perform their duties in a way that passes the credibility test.
Consistency – This is the glue that holds it all together. Consistency creates long term customers. Consider this – If your organization is consistently reliable, competent, responsive, courteous and credible, you are probably providing many great customer experiences. Consistency means establishing a pattern of behavior. Does your client’s rating of your organization indicate a pattern of terrific behaviour in regards to the customer experience? Can your customer depend upon your organization to provide a high level of service each time they decide to utilize your products/services? The capability to intermittently exercise the five aforementioned features won’t assist in your quest to offer great customer support. When consistency is added, long term retention is usually the result. I’ll say it again – Be Consistently Reliable, Competent, Responsive, Courteous and Credible. Exercising these characteristics will help your business in its quest to provide great customer experiences!