I Dare You to Write a Customer Service Pledge

If I polled most business owners and asked them if they believed in customer service you would get a resounding hell yes.  Who wouldn’t?  It’s built into our entrepreneurial DNA that you have to treat customers with delicate care.  However, It’s embarrassing that few do.  Lot’s of elegant words and platitudes from above and crappy execution isn’t the roadway to customer delight.  If you are skeptical about my comment, think about the last 5 meals you had at 5 restaurants and then what your objective 30 second review of what you really think of them.  Guess what?  Your clients are mentally filing away a perception review about your biz too, good and bad!  Positioning theory suggests that they will hold that view for an astoundingly long time and it will be very difficult for you to adjust your first perception.  It’s a fact.

One of my favorite restaurants is Legal Seafood in the Northeast.  They have a great assortment of fresh seafood with amazing quality, taste, presentation. and they execute flawlessly.  Several years ago I took this photo of their Customer Pledge which they have on every placemat.

This is an in-your-face example of a business that is aggressively challenging you with a commitment about their delivery.  Is there a reason that you shouldn’t do the same?

If you want your customers to be your advocates and life-long referral sources follow these steps:

1. Write out. display, and stand by a customer service pledge.  Ensure that this is more than words.  Your business needs to live by it and should be woven deeply into your business identity.

2. Measure your customer delight scores.  Figure out a way to survey, interpret, and share what your customers really think about your business and how well you execute.  There are many easy ways to do this manually or digitally.  I recommend www.surveymonkey.com.
3. Pay bonuses to your leadership team for delivery of customer delight long before profits or efficiency. This takes some courage, but in the end it is the key to business longevity and profitability.

4. Start every meeting with a discussion of client service pledge and results  before any other metric or flavor-of-the-day business issues.  Remember, lifetime customer loyalty is much more valuable than a single profitable transaction.

So, what’s in it for you as the business leader?  Simply, it’s this:  If you write out and live by a  well done customer service pledge, the promise to your customer will be executed by your team when you aren’t there.  In the end, that is a way for you to leverage your vision for your brand, while you are enjoying the amazing benefits of being the boss.

Isn’t it a great investment to make a service delight commitment to free you to work on enjoying your life?  In my simple view, that’s an amazing motivator.

I am an unabashed, passionate, advocate of committing to a customer service pledge and the clear-eyed response to ensure that your pledge is executed repetitively.  It has worked for my businesses and it will for you.

If you would like see more ideas to help you drive your business profitability, click here.

Coach Dave