Do you deliver your product/service – in full, on time, in spec all of the time?
In today’s highly competitive environment consumers expect, as the norm, to receive what you said, when you said you would deliver it – anything less is just not acceptable. One slip up could cost you that customer for the rest of your business life. Customers want consistent delivery that meets or exceeds their requirements. They don’t want one experience to be different from another. As a supplier, keep the customer happy at all times because that customer might either recommend your services or products to friends or family, or never come back.
You are probably wondering how to keep your customers happy and remain a loyal consumer. Well, let me suggest an end to end approach.
To keep a customer happy all relates to the customer experience you provide from start to finish. You want to make sure that the order or requirement for service is delivered on time and your clients receive what they wanted and paid for. The service you offer should be easy to understand and that you make your customer feel valued throughout the whole process.
Now let’s break this down to really get a better understanding on what a good customer experience is all about. To be clear, good is the minimum a customer expects as if you are not good you are poor. A poor customer experience loses clients, a good customer experience retains clients and a great customer experience generates clients so aim to be better than just good.
- Supply – “There is always room for those who can be relied upon to deliver the goods when they say they will” Napoleon Hill
As a supplier you want to make sure you can deliver the product or service your customer expects when they expect it – if you are like me I get disappointed if I spend time selecting what I want to buy and make my purchase only to find it is out of stock or can’t be delivered for an excessive amount of time. Make sure you understand what it is your customer wants and needs and when. To be great, get an understanding of why as well – so, don’t just find out that a customer wants a bike delivered for next Friday, ask if it’s for a special occasion or purpose. - Quality – “Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer takes out of it.” Peter Drucker
There is no way to get a customer back if you can’t deliver what they buy at a standard that they expect. Just delivering what you promise, with consistency, will help your business grow. It’s all very well supplying your product or service on time but it must also meet your customers expectations of quality. Everyone has expectations of the quality of a product or service, usually based on price, make sure your customers understand the quality you are providing. McDonalds are a great example of this as their customers know what to expect and McDonalds delivers consistency of product every time. Now, if you want to be great, exceed your customers’ expectations of quality. - Ease of doing business – “I am the world’s worst salesman, therefore, I must make it easy for people to buy” F W Woolworth
Too many companies make it too hard to buy! Every single customer wants the ease of knowing about your product or service, the ease of finding out about your product or service, the ease of comparing different models, packages, versions etc. Make sure that it is simply stated and easy to understand – especially as compared to the competition. Finally, the ease of selecting and ease of paying. To be great, make it easy for them to come back and buy again as well. Look at the experience from the customer’s point of view, ask for feedback, employ the services of mystery shoppers and use plain old common sense. - Service – “Don’t deliver a product. Deliver an Experience”
Once you can deliver what you say, when you say and at the quality the customer is expecting then you are ready to look at customer service. Good customer service can be as simple as acknowledging people, asking how you can help, even a smile and a nod. Also know your product or service and maintain a positive, friendly attitude. The key to good customer service is training your team to care – you may even need to replace some people who don’t care about customer service. Great customer service is understanding your customers needs through active listening, helping them to help themselves, making each and every customer feel individual and creating massive WOW’s.
Finally remember, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel” Maya Angelou
Once your customer has completed the transaction and received the service or product they will only remember how you as a supplier made them feel throughout – positive or negative. Making sure your customer is satisfied with their purchase is important and then the main focus will be to keep them as a customer. Check in with your customers, send them updates or interesting articles and make sure they know you haven’t forgotten about them. By doing this you deliver a service that isn’t just about getting the sale but also building great relationships which will not only keep your customer coming back to you but also telling other people about how great you are.
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