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 must treat customers with delicate care. However, It’s embarrassing that few do.
Lots of elegant words and platitudes from above and crappy execution aren’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 your objective 30 second review of what you 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 tough for you to adjust your first perception. It’s a fact.
Only a few of you will have the courage to write and live by a customer service pledge.
One of my favorite restaurants is Legal Seafood in the Northeast. They have a great assortment of fresh seafood with amazing quality, taste, and 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 aggressively challenging you with a commitment to 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:
- Write out. display, and stand by a customer service pledge. Ensure that this is more than words. Your business must live by it and be woven deeply into your identity.
- Measure your customer delight scores. Figure out how to survey, interpret, and share what your customers 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.
- Pay bonuses to your leadership team for delivering customer delight long before profits or efficiency. This takes some courage, but in the end, it is the key to business longevity and profitability.
- Start every meeting by discussing client service pledges and results before any other metric or flavor-of-the-day business issues. Remember, lifetime customer loyalty is much more valuable than a 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 fantastic benefits of being the boss.
Isn’t it a significant investment to make a service delight commitment to free you to work on enjoying your life? In my simple view, that’s a fantastic motivator.
I am an unabashed, passionate advocate of committing to a customer service pledge and a clear-eyed response to ensure your pledge is executed repeatedly. It has worked for my business, and it will for you.
If you want more ideas to help you drive your business profitability, click here.
Coach Dave
Dave Schoenbeck is a professional business and executive coach who translates complex business methods, processes, and strategies into actionable plans to dramatically improve financial results. Read more about Dave
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