Gaining Customer loyalty through Service Excellence
With challenges in hiring the suitable person for the job position, many companies are having difficulty sustaining their business due to the shortage of manpower. In such circumstance, what should a company do to improve its business? Or being a salesperson, what should you do to gain customer loyalty?
Being a customer myself, I am enjoying great customer service experiences at the food places near my workplace, as the:
Toastbox service crew would remember my usual drink order every time.
Subway Sandwich Artists would remember my usual breakfast order as well! (My usual choice of food, drinks, vegetables, etc...)
Just imagine, how nice it would be to walk into a cafe and your usual order is remembered. Won't it make you feel good returning to this cafe even though there are similar cafes nearby? Such action itself is an extra mile service to the customers (By remembering their preferences)!
Apart from going the extra mile, a simple smile, a casual chat, or by getting to know more about the customer would make a huge difference! And all these apply to any Salesperson as well!
As customer, you too have the power to enhance your customer service experience with the techniques mentioned in my previous post: "Turning your customer service experience into a pleasant one".
During my overseas trip to Thailand, business owners of shops appear to be friendlier, and the quality of service provided is excellent. However, are we able to impart such passion and quality of service standard to the team members in the company? Yes we can!
To "impart" the passion to the team members, I would suggest the following:
Aligning team members with company's vision and mission - Involve them with the vision and belief of the company, and that they have a greater purpose in the things that they are doing. (E.g. Google's vision statement: Organise all of the data in the world and make it accessible for everyone in a useful way)
Show them the reward - Gaining job satisfaction from customers' appreciation. Gaining happiness through helping others (Especially when others reciprocate).
Autonomy - Allowing team members to make a certain decision even though the decision might be deviating from the usual "protocol".
With all these steps, I believe that you will be able to build rapport and long-lasting relationship with the customers and team members, and gaining their support to your business!
Summary:
Extra mile service
A smile to the customers
Casual chat with customers
Build relationship and rapport
Remembering their usual preferences
Author: Kendray Lau
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