DW's Blog
Service Companies Sell A Promise
by DW Green — March 1, 2010
Offering exceptional customer service is indeed a powerful way to differentiate your store in the marketplace. How do you distinguish yourself as a leader in service excellence?
Most retail businesses in America believe they offer good customer service, but in reality the opposite is probably more accurate. Why? With the daily demands of performing repetitive tasks in a highly productive environment, employees are often oblivious to customers and their needs. Customer service is typically given lip service by managers, who view training and developing employees to provide an exceptional customer experience as a low priority in a cost-controlling, low-margin industry. Ironically, it is just such an investment in employee training and development that can increase sales exponentially. While operational efficiencies are essential to superior corporate performance, they should not hinder the company’s ability to gain a customer service advantage.
For a retailer to gain a customer service advantage over its competitors, a serious investment of resources to train employees is critical. It is also imperative to have in place vehicles that foster communication between the customer and store, including regular interaction between top management and customers. Why is this important? Because customer service is one thing, but exceptional customer service is another thing entirely. It’s not enough that every customer is acknowledged by every employee they meet on every shopping visit to the store. It’s not enough that every customer is sincerely greeted and thanked for their business when the transaction is complete. It’s about treating every customer in such a memorable way that when the transaction is complete, the customer tells someone else how great it was.
Of course, all of this must be weighed against the fact that attracting and retaining good employees is difficult. Part of the solution is building a team of employees who share a common vision and values. Indeed, weeding out employees who do not contribute to the vision and who do not perform their work in the context of the store’s stated values could add to an unstable staffing situation. Yet staffing problems cannot become an excuse for failing to deliver exceptional customer service. A core of focused employees working to achieve a common goal within the framework of common values is a powerful force that can, in the short term, compensate for a staffing deficiency.
Service companies sell a promise. The customer’s confidence is the most precious asset for any company that sells promises for a living. Superb execution of service day after day is the cornerstone of confidence building. Strengthening the customers’ confidence isn’t about making promises, but about keeping them. When a service company loses customer confidence, it loses everything. In services performed directly for customers, such as retailing, the service is inseparable from the people performing it. An inept clerk is an inept store. Conversely, exceptional employees with exceptional training will set a store apart from the competition and keep customers coming back.
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