With the ever-increasing rate of technological change, companies are more inclined to continually offer bigger, improved, feature-rich products and services, convinced that the latest and greatest will ensure continued loyalty. This is often done at the expense of core service and product delivery. Providing products and services on time and to specifications is far more likely to win the hearts of your customers than giving them more than they want (or need) half the time.
Companies of any size have their own unique process and develop their own nomenclature and acronyms to the point that many of them compile internal dictionaries or glossaries of terms for staff. Your customer may adopt some of this language giving the appearance of being an “insider” to your company. Remember, they are customers. Their understanding of your company’s world is different than yours. They have only partial knowledge, at best. Make sure communication is clear, concise and complete. It is hard to over-communicate with a business customer.
Everyone wants to be valued, even the business customer. Make sure they understand that you want their business, are grateful for it and will value it always. One company, a multi-national industry leader, instructs its sales force to close every customer interaction by always asking for the new business and thanking the customer for their custom in the past. The simple forthright request and thanks are great relationship builders and indicate that every customer is important to this company.
You and your customer are in this together – your success (or failure) is mutual. Help your customer help you by asking them for their insights and candid feedback on your performance in a way that helps you drive actions in your organisation that make your company a better provider for the customer. This not only shows you value their feedback, it creates more psychological investment on their part.
A business relationship with any volume to it is going to occasionally turn up problems. When you notice problems before your customers, alert them as soon as possible – particularly if they have a customer who is likely to complain to them when the problem surfaces publicly. When you contact your customer, do so with a predetermined set of potential solutions that don’t involve more work for them. Make their service recovery easy.
Fornell’s book, “The Satisfied customer: Winners and Losers in the Battle for Buyer Preference” is released this month.
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