Sep
9
Customer Service Is Never Expensive…
Filed Under Affinity Brand, Marketing | Author: Gerald Smith |
If you have ever had the opportunity of experiencing some of the best affinity brands in the world, you will notice one thing they all have in common; AWESOME CUSTOMER SERVICE.
You might have guessed QUALITY. And that would be a great guess as they share that as well. But today, we are talking about CUSTOMER SERVICE.
There is a significant difference between ‘the customer is always right’ and ‘the customer is always impressed’.
The best affinity brands put much more effort into impressing customers than they do trying to ensure customers are always pleased or happy. You cannot control the customer, but you can control your customer service efforts. Many times impressing the customer does as much to distract the customer from any issues you might have as it results in pleasing the customer.
Today, I walked into the Ritz Carlton hotel in San Francisco. From the time I gave the valet my car keys to walking inside to the registration desk could not have been more than 90 seconds. In those few seconds we were greeted by name, no less than four times. “Welcome Mr. & Mrs. Smith”. Sure they were all wearing ear monitors taking cues of our presence as we entered the hotel lobby, but most impressive to say the least. They could have said my room was not ready, or that I had to sleep on the floor. It wouldn’t have mattered. I was so impressed and cared for at that point, I could only focus on the details of how well we were being serviced.
Interestingly, a half hour later we received a call from the Intercontinental Hotel in Monterey (where we had just left), asking if our stay had been pleasant and suggesting that we were always welcome back. Later in the afternoon, my wifes cell phone rang and it was Land’s End clothiers asking if she had received her recent online order, and if she found everything to her ’satisfaction’. Wow! Now that’s customer service.
So, what did these efforts cost? Really very little, because these customer service tasks are part of the on-going processes already in place at each of these great companies. First and foremost, they each were using their human resources to make the connection. Next, they were timely in their execution.
ARE YOU LISTENING? Customer Service costs very little - and pays significant dividends! And it is a primary characteristic of Affinity Brands.
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With everything I do — from building websites to hanging out with friends, I’ve always hung my hat on the fact details matter. If you think people don’t notice, they do.
–
Ramsey
http://www.ramseymohsen.com