Adding Value to the Customer Experience
I briefly touched on how to add value for your customers earlier in this blog post, but because I truly believe in the importance of providing your customers with the best experience possible, I would like to delve further into this topic now. Adding value to someone’s day is part of the reason people begin new companies and is beneficial for both sides of the business transaction. While a businessman’s primary goal may be to earn money, when used effectively, adding value to your services encourages customers to look beyond prices and it greatly increases the chance of returning business.
Be Respectful to Everyone
As I said in my earlier article, good customer service is the core of a value-driven company. In this age where customers are already more knowledgeable and aware due to internet and navigation searches, it’s important to keep up and adapt with them. The customer’s ability to find the best price is literally at their fingertips, and therefore the value a company can provide has move away from being a monetary concept to a personal one. Competitive pricing does not necessarily guarantee customer returns, but when your customers feel like you truly care about their experience with your company and products, they will be more inclined to continue their patronage and encourage others to do the same.
The key to good customer service is seeing through the eyes of your customers and selling your product to fit their expectations. Ask yourself why your product is the best on the market, why your company will do it better than your competitors, and what other resources and benefits you bring to the table. These are the types of questions your customers will be asking, and if you can provide a positive, respectful answer to each (and deliver on them) you will gain their business.
However, customer service is not merely about saying what the customer wants to hear. Actively look for feedback from those who use your product or services and react to what you hear. Show you care about bettering yourself and your company, and don’t make promises you can’t deliver on. Your customers are relying on your to be reliable. When we offer a 24-hour customer service line with a guarantee of a response within 45-minutes, this is a promise we make to our customers that we are ready and available for them no matter what. If you can’t deliver on an initial promise, your customers have ever reason not to trust you to deliver on your service later on.
Be the Positive in Every Negative
In short, you cannot have good customer service without trust. With an overflow of options available now through the internet, trust becomes the essential foundation for building a business relationship. Customers are more likely to become involved with a company they trust than one they don’t, even if their prices are better.
Building trust does not happen overnight, but these small steps can lead to giant results when carefully followed.
- Know your customers – Take the time to get to know your customers and where they’re coming from. Understanding your customers will allow you to do your job better and will help your customers trust you more in return.
- Be consistent – Similar to what I said about making promises, be sure you are consistent and reliable when delivering your service.
- Listen and react – While you may have the expertise, your customers know what they need as well. Listening and reacting to their ideas will go much further than simply talking over them.
- Responsiveness – Being responsive proves to your customers that you care about helping them and are invested in the project. Keep the lines of communication open and always be available to answer questions and reassure your customers.
Be Grateful and Humble
Cultivating this culture of trust between you and your customers will take time and a bit of extra effort, but with practice and consistency it becomes second nature. When we first began 911 Restoration I established it on the foundation of providing a Fresh Start for all of our customers. This Fresh Start is not simply a goal, but an attitude and a culture we aim to deliver in everything we do. Over the years it has grown to permeate every aspect of our company. When you call 911 Restoration to take care of a water damage problem, we don’t consider the job done just when the damaged area is removed. In a disaster restoration situation, stress and tensions are guaranteed to run high, and it’s our goal to help our customers all the way through the process until they have received a Fresh Start, both physically and emotionally.
That is the promise of added-value that we bring to our customers, and through the pervasive nature of our Fresh Start attitude throughout the company paired with our value of customer service we are able to gain the trust of our customers, and therefore deliver a higher value of services to them.