Businesses often claim that their number one focus is customer service, but when questioned, find it difficult to describe how this is executed and what this means for their customers. 

It’s important to define the difference between customer service and the customer experience.  Customer service is a process used to service your customer requirements, while customer experience takes into consideration the total journey the customer experiences from the first contact with your business, through the sale or service process and right through to post sale feedback/follow-up.

As we start to think about exiting the Level 4 Covid-19 lockdown, competition within your industry will be fierce as businesses frantically try to bring sales and revenue back through the doors in order to survive short term and to rebuild their business back to previous levels.  This will generally mean price discounting and promotions to get a share of any dollar that is being spent.  There is no doubt that competition will be intense. 

Despite these tough times, customers will still look to those businesses that offer positive customer experiences and the time spent now to review how well your business provides an exceptional customer experience will put you in a much better long term position over those businesses that will be seeking the quick sale over long term customer loyalty and referrals.

Some areas to consider when it comes to your customer experience…

  1. How quickly do you respond to customer website enquiry – do you have a target time and how do you measure this?
  2. If you provide quotes for your service/products, how quickly do you get the quote to the customer? How do you measure that this an acceptable timeframe?
  3. When do you follow up? How do you do this? Who is responsible for this?
  4. How do you make the customer feel special the first time they use your services or purchase your product?
  5. During the sale process, how do you make the customer feel like they are the most important customer to you?  What do you know about them?
  6. Has everyone in your business been briefed properly about a new customer and anything in particular that was discussed with the customer?
  7. How do you appreciate the customer post sale and make sure that they do not have any post purchase regrets?
  8. What systems do you have in place to keep the customer feeling that they are special in the future and not just a forgotten number?
  9. How do you thank your customers when they make a referral to a family member or friend?
  10. Lastly, does every employee in your business know what your customer experience process is and why it’s important to follow it every single time?

Take the time now to review your customer experience process.  It as a useful and effective tool to becoming a successful, long-term profitable business post lock down.

Prime Strategies can assist with this and any other business improvement matters and specialise in improving small to medium size business.  We’re happy to assist.