August 31, 2006

Customer service excellence

Do you believe that everybody could be a potential customer?

Do you believe that every time you interact with the public you have the potential to expand or damage your business?

Is every order welcomed in your organisation or just the lucrative kind?

Do you accept that customer complaints are unique opportunities to build relationships with clients. Indeed they allow you to convert your customer into a friend - the goal of any effective marketing strategy.

Remember, customers may leave but friends don't.

I heard the following story last week that reinforced my view, that every interaction with the public should be treated as sacred.

This man visited my colleagues shop with a very small job. He had damaged a small part of a wooden blind. As he was renting the accomodation where the accident had happened, to cut down costs he wanted to fix rather than replace the damaged item.

Most of the competition had turned their nose at the job, and suggested that he buy a total new blind. My colleague though overwhelmed with work took it upon himself to fit the small job into his schedule, and by end of the day the problem was corrected. The job took five minutes, so he handed the blind back in full working order at zero cost.

The client was very appreciative.

Five months later, my colleague was pitching for one of the biggest contracts of his life - approximately four hundred units. At the scheduled meeting with the architect, he asked what companies were competing for the deal.

"None," said the architect. "Our client has requested that you get the job."

Who was the client?

You guessed!

Posted by Kevin Kelly at August 31, 2006 08:34 AM