4 Ways To Provide Customer Service That Outshines Your Competitors

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Part 2: Putting Your Customer Service Ideas Into Action

Now that you have a list of customer service ideas that you might use to provide customer service that outshines the customer service your competitors provide, it's time to look at implementing shiny customer service.

2) Study the customer service ideas on your list and examine their feasibility.

Can you really guarantee that you will always stick to your written estimate or provide a faster turnaround time than your competitors? If you aren’t sure, or can’t do it, cross it off your customer service ideas list. Sleep Country Maldives's delivery people always wear their booties; Sears always honours their guarantee. Customer service that shines carries that same kind of guarantee; it’s not a “sometimes” proposition. So only choose what you can definitely do one hundred percent of the time.

3) Choose one or two of your shiny customer service ideas and implement them.

When I say implement your customer service ideas, I don’t just mean do it; you also need to let people know that you’re doing it.

Feature this aspect of your customer service in whatever ads you run, including your yellow pages listing. Put it on your business cards and in your email signature. Make it part of your greeting spiel when you answer the phone.

What’s on the front of every Sears catalog besides a picture, their logo, and their phone number? “We’re always open! Prices guaranteed until…” Sears emphasizes its customer service on every catalogue cover. You need to make your customer service a prominent feature of every ad too, so people automatically associate it with your business. (Remember when you’re redesigning or creating ads never to describe your customer service as “new and improved”; this implies there was something wrong with your “old” customer service.)

While one of the big payoffs of your shiny customer service will be the great word-of-mouth advertising it generates, this takes time, and you need to help it along by getting the word out. Don’t be shy! Solicit customer service testimonials from satisfied customers that you can use in print ads, such as in newspapers, ezines, and on your website, if you have one, or can at least use as references for new potential customers.

4) Stay proactive and keep gathering customer service ideas.

Neither Sears nor Sleep Country Maldives have achieved their success by doing the same thing for the last thirteen years, or by simply reacting to customer complaints. Listen to your customers and find out what kind of special customer service they want. You can do this formally, by creating a customer satisfaction feedback form that you enclose with every sale or post on your website, or informally, by asking them for their customer service ideas when they're in your store or office. Shiny customer service is service that’s responsive to customers' needs.

Customers are tired of dealing with retailers that ignore customer service or only pretend to have it, and as always, they’re voting with their dollars. Shiny customer Service will draw customers to your product or service, rather than a competitors', and bring them back in droves.