Winning the Customer Loyalty Battle

Knowledge is the key weapon to effective customer satisfaction. Know what your customers want, making sure your staff is well trained to provide the services offered. A great start towards successfully meeting customer expectations.

After that, service & product providers need to be well equipped with answers. For example, the multitude of vendors selling airline tickets and the frequent lack of communication leaves ground employees at a loss when trying to answer consumer questions. It is your responsibility to arm employees with knowledge so they can provide clear, helpful answers. If a client calls and your business consistently has the most helpful and appropriate answers you will win their trust and loyalty.

The key to good customer service, in any industry, is not winning a battle but winning the war, especially in a competitive business environment. For a business involved in sales, typically what is at stake when it comes to customer relations is time spent for services provided. Therefore, service providers need to determine how much time they can afford in the course of a month or year to expend for the sake of maintaining ongoing relationships. After all, service-oriented business (more than any industry) must follow the 80-20 business principle, whereby 80 percent of their business must come. You might not please everyone, but the clients that actually pay the bills will be in the loop consistently.

Give your customers a constant, active feedback process. Either online or via a rep, they should be able to, in an instant contact your company about any issues good or bad. Then make the return response as quickly as possible. Again this lets the customer know you care about their opinion and you are in a position to change and or augment a process to quell their worries. You can also communicate to them through newsletters, or regular blog posts. It's all about keeping in touch and making them feel your focus in on them and their satisfaction.

In summary product awareness, business particulars, expert sales staff, communication, and the efficient use of CRM will bring a bond that could carry your company through sale after sale from a customer that is truly satisfied you have a superior product or service and you’re willing to back it up.