Friday, April 06, 2012
Customer experience and the company life cycle
You need to check this blog post out from Mark Hurst. Outlines briefly the company and/or product life cycle as it relates to the customer experience. Short, sweet and to the point. My take-away....a company must continue to evolve and focus on the customer experience because the life cycle product(s) won't change. Create, develop, innovate to stay a long time participant in the business world. It's about the customer and you can't forget that!
Read the blog post here.
Read the blog post here.
Labels: Business, customer loyalty, customer service
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Raving Fans....A Must To Succeed Today!
Labels: Business, customer loyalty, customer service, Marketing
Saturday, January 02, 2010
What Can Be Learned from Buying a Bed
I want to share an experience that I had recently in purchasing a new mattress set and how it pertains to exceptional customer service, customer loyalty and follow up.
For the last 6 months or so my wife and I have been discussing replacing our bed as it has been quite a while that we have had our existing one. We had purchased a Simmons Beautyrest Embassy product previously and come to find out it was almost 12 years old. First reaction I had was...what a product. Quality unmatched as far as I was concerned. My second reaction was that how time flies as I was thinking we had it around 8 years. We had started looking around at all of the discount places and kind of getting an idea where costs were going to land. The last place we went to was our local Simmons Bed Center where we purchased our original product. I have known the owner, Steve, for quite some time and that was one of the main reasons that we went back to check out our options. This is where the loyalty part of this equation kicks in. It starts with a great product and our relationship with Steve. Lesson learned: Build relationships that last. I know that this has a viral effect as I have already told several people of my experience first hand.
So we hit the store on a Saturday afternoon and start the buying process. What I found great about this purchase was some quality questions he had for us about our sleep habits, our existing bed and price range. Now you can buy a new bed anywhere from $399 to $1500 so we had a lot of choices, but, based on our needs Steve led us to just three choices and he explained the quality differences very clearly to us that separated the three styles. Lesson learned: Narrowing the options so you can unconfuse the customer.
Now the strategy that I liked was, after he explained the products, you basically get to sample the product and try out each bed. After a little bit of humor from Steve about the Three Bears scenario, he left us alone for several minutes to go from bed to bed testing the different types. Lesson learned: This allowed time for us to gather any questions and/or objections that we may have regarding this purchase. Basically from a sales standpoint, stop talking and listen to the customer.
We decide on a product, a Beautyrest Radiance Plush and start the purchase. We feel there is great value in the mattress set at $1099 and yet Steve gives us a few incentives that we didn’t even ask for. Bonus #1. They can deliver it Monday morning at 9:15 and they take the old product and set up the new product. Bonus #2. Steve takes plenty of time with me reviewing the warranty and about care and maintenance of the mattress. Making sure that I don’t have any further questions. Bonus #3. Lesson learned: Do what you say you’re going to do and provide exceptional customer service. Be happy to provide this exceptional customer service.
Now the follow up is what got me thinking about writing this post. I submitted the warranty information online which was very simple and easy to do. I get the standard email confirming that.
I notice on the email that they have a Facebook page and I ‘Become A Fan’ of Simmons Bedding Company and throw a quick post up on my experience. I love the fact that they replied back and another reason why the Social Media front has some impact on the business and the customer.
Then there is the phone call from Steve on Tuesday morning just to follow up to see how our fist night of sleep on the new mattress was. I was like...WOW! This doesn’t happen often enough. Now today I get another follow up email from Simmons.
Lesson learned: Follow up, Follow up, Follow up. That is the key to creating great customer service and continued customer loyalty. Getting the sale is sometimes easy, but, retaining the sales and having that word of mouth support isn’t always there. That should be your ultimate goal.
For the last 6 months or so my wife and I have been discussing replacing our bed as it has been quite a while that we have had our existing one. We had purchased a Simmons Beautyrest Embassy product previously and come to find out it was almost 12 years old. First reaction I had was...what a product. Quality unmatched as far as I was concerned. My second reaction was that how time flies as I was thinking we had it around 8 years. We had started looking around at all of the discount places and kind of getting an idea where costs were going to land. The last place we went to was our local Simmons Bed Center where we purchased our original product. I have known the owner, Steve, for quite some time and that was one of the main reasons that we went back to check out our options. This is where the loyalty part of this equation kicks in. It starts with a great product and our relationship with Steve. Lesson learned: Build relationships that last. I know that this has a viral effect as I have already told several people of my experience first hand.
So we hit the store on a Saturday afternoon and start the buying process. What I found great about this purchase was some quality questions he had for us about our sleep habits, our existing bed and price range. Now you can buy a new bed anywhere from $399 to $1500 so we had a lot of choices, but, based on our needs Steve led us to just three choices and he explained the quality differences very clearly to us that separated the three styles. Lesson learned: Narrowing the options so you can unconfuse the customer.
Now the strategy that I liked was, after he explained the products, you basically get to sample the product and try out each bed. After a little bit of humor from Steve about the Three Bears scenario, he left us alone for several minutes to go from bed to bed testing the different types. Lesson learned: This allowed time for us to gather any questions and/or objections that we may have regarding this purchase. Basically from a sales standpoint, stop talking and listen to the customer.
We decide on a product, a Beautyrest Radiance Plush and start the purchase. We feel there is great value in the mattress set at $1099 and yet Steve gives us a few incentives that we didn’t even ask for. Bonus #1. They can deliver it Monday morning at 9:15 and they take the old product and set up the new product. Bonus #2. Steve takes plenty of time with me reviewing the warranty and about care and maintenance of the mattress. Making sure that I don’t have any further questions. Bonus #3. Lesson learned: Do what you say you’re going to do and provide exceptional customer service. Be happy to provide this exceptional customer service.
Now the follow up is what got me thinking about writing this post. I submitted the warranty information online which was very simple and easy to do. I get the standard email confirming that.
I notice on the email that they have a Facebook page and I ‘Become A Fan’ of Simmons Bedding Company and throw a quick post up on my experience. I love the fact that they replied back and another reason why the Social Media front has some impact on the business and the customer.
Then there is the phone call from Steve on Tuesday morning just to follow up to see how our fist night of sleep on the new mattress was. I was like...WOW! This doesn’t happen often enough. Now today I get another follow up email from Simmons.
Lesson learned: Follow up, Follow up, Follow up. That is the key to creating great customer service and continued customer loyalty. Getting the sale is sometimes easy, but, retaining the sales and having that word of mouth support isn’t always there. That should be your ultimate goal.
Labels: customer loyalty, customer service, Follow Up, Sales
Thursday, July 30, 2009
The Three Sure-Fire Ways to Kill an Organization’s Sales Efforts
Great video clip from Tony Smith at the Brooks Group. Click here to watch the video.
Labels: customer service, Sales
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Twitter Comes to the Rescue
This is a very interesting article in the New York Times regarding the use of Twitter for improving customer service. I am seeing more and more of this every day. I am leaning toward any and all companies using this great online tool to interact with their customer base.
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If you’re not protesting an election or promoting a product, Twitter, the microblogging site that has been getting so much attention these days, can be easy to dismiss. Read the entire article here.
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If you’re not protesting an election or promoting a product, Twitter, the microblogging site that has been getting so much attention these days, can be easy to dismiss. Read the entire article here.
Labels: Business, customer service, Marketing, Social Networking, technology
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Keep The Customers That You Already Have
Not a unique or novel concept to keep the customers that you already have. I do training periodically on customer service and always hammer home the point that it costs 10 times more to get a new customer than to keep an existing one.
Here is a great article from Rhonda Abrams about creating a plan to keep current customers. Strategies: Make customer retention priority No. 1
Here is a great article from Rhonda Abrams about creating a plan to keep current customers. Strategies: Make customer retention priority No. 1
Labels: Business, customer loyalty, customer service, Marketing
Monday, April 27, 2009
Customer Service Training
One of my key topics that I address when dealing with my customers is how are they handling training of their employees. Here is a brief article talking about the importance of training how your employees interact with customers.
Tightrope: Now's a good time to boost worker training efforts
Tightrope: Now's a good time to boost worker training efforts
Labels: Business, customer service, Training
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Eight Key Ways to Say "Thank You" to Customers
This is a great article posted at ManageSmarter.com about thanking your customers.
Good salespeople strive to be in front of customers as often as possible. But, when we think about it, our clients and prospects give us many opportunities to stay in their minds in positive and non-threatening ways. Yet, these opportunities are often overlooked, simply because we neglect to send a note of thanks.
Check out the entire article here.
If you are looking for a way to stay in front of your customers visit my web site for a truly great business tool that will help you become the master of follow up.
Good salespeople strive to be in front of customers as often as possible. But, when we think about it, our clients and prospects give us many opportunities to stay in their minds in positive and non-threatening ways. Yet, these opportunities are often overlooked, simply because we neglect to send a note of thanks.
Check out the entire article here.
If you are looking for a way to stay in front of your customers visit my web site for a truly great business tool that will help you become the master of follow up.
Labels: Business, customer loyalty, customer service, Sales
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Providing Customer Service and Creating Customer Loyalty
I will start this story by saying that as a tech savvy person I was very confident that I can address any issue that I come across when it comes to computers and their related peripherals. With that being said, I had a problem that arose with my Epson Stylus CX4200 All-in-One printer.
This past Sunday the darn thing just decides all by itself that it will no longer apply ink to the paper. No matter what I tried it wouldn't print. I started with the software side using the Epson utility that came with the printer. Nothing. I then went to the Epson support web site to use the online tool, interactive and a great resource, but, nothing. It recommends that I put all new ink in it. Brilliant. Off I go to Staples for the new ink and $56 later all installed in the printer. Go through all the steps. Nothing. Results of the online tool, call the Epson tech support line. Yikes.
I call today and after some number prompting for printer, operating system and the such within about 30 seconds on comes John, a very nice and thorough tech support person. We go through all of the steps and after about 5 minutes of troubleshooting it is determined that it is a hardware failure. Sounds expensive. He emails me the three closest repair centers to contact, 45 miles, 70 miles and 146 miles. I would have thought that was it. But wait, there's more.
He goes on to ask if I would be interested in a new printer since repairing a 2-year old printer is really not advantagous, nor cost effective, and I had actually thought that myself. He directs me to the loyalty page of Epson and guides me through all of the printers available there at a discount as a great Epson customer (I am a long time user). I order a new CX9400 and it's discounted, has a $50 instant rebate and they will ship it for free. I mention that I have just purchased all of this new ink to test the dead printer and he provides me with a reference code for printer ink for my new printer all I need to do is call when I get it. Now that is what I call going the extra mile and making sure that the customer is happy. I will continue to buy and recommend Epson printers and inks to everyone. That includes you. Go check out Epson today.
Are you meeting customer expectations or exceeding customer expectations?? Start creating customer loyalty and not just customer satisfaction. Today was a prime example of a great experience!!
This past Sunday the darn thing just decides all by itself that it will no longer apply ink to the paper. No matter what I tried it wouldn't print. I started with the software side using the Epson utility that came with the printer. Nothing. I then went to the Epson support web site to use the online tool, interactive and a great resource, but, nothing. It recommends that I put all new ink in it. Brilliant. Off I go to Staples for the new ink and $56 later all installed in the printer. Go through all the steps. Nothing. Results of the online tool, call the Epson tech support line. Yikes.
I call today and after some number prompting for printer, operating system and the such within about 30 seconds on comes John, a very nice and thorough tech support person. We go through all of the steps and after about 5 minutes of troubleshooting it is determined that it is a hardware failure. Sounds expensive. He emails me the three closest repair centers to contact, 45 miles, 70 miles and 146 miles. I would have thought that was it. But wait, there's more.
He goes on to ask if I would be interested in a new printer since repairing a 2-year old printer is really not advantagous, nor cost effective, and I had actually thought that myself. He directs me to the loyalty page of Epson and guides me through all of the printers available there at a discount as a great Epson customer (I am a long time user). I order a new CX9400 and it's discounted, has a $50 instant rebate and they will ship it for free. I mention that I have just purchased all of this new ink to test the dead printer and he provides me with a reference code for printer ink for my new printer all I need to do is call when I get it. Now that is what I call going the extra mile and making sure that the customer is happy. I will continue to buy and recommend Epson printers and inks to everyone. That includes you. Go check out Epson today.
Are you meeting customer expectations or exceeding customer expectations?? Start creating customer loyalty and not just customer satisfaction. Today was a prime example of a great experience!!
Labels: customer loyalty, customer service, technology
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Retailers use customer satisfaction to create loyalty
This article may be about the retail industry, but, it hits home and rings true with anyone that deals with selling anything to anyone. Great stuff here.
Retailers are pulling out all the stops for the holidays: discounts, buy-one-get-one-free deals and, of course, seasonal music, scents and decorations to get shoppers into the purchasing spirit.
But there's one constant that can make a critical difference between ringing up the sale and watching someone walk out the door empty-handed: good customer service.
That may sound like a no-brainer, but studies make it clear that not all retailers understand the importance of making - and keeping - their customers happy.
Read the rest of the article here.
Retailers are pulling out all the stops for the holidays: discounts, buy-one-get-one-free deals and, of course, seasonal music, scents and decorations to get shoppers into the purchasing spirit.
But there's one constant that can make a critical difference between ringing up the sale and watching someone walk out the door empty-handed: good customer service.
That may sound like a no-brainer, but studies make it clear that not all retailers understand the importance of making - and keeping - their customers happy.
Read the rest of the article here.
Labels: customer loyalty, customer service, retail
