Customer service is more often than not a business strategy that is looked over. Customer service should not be taken for granted as in itself it has the possibility of being a great business strategy that can show you as a stand out amongst competitors. Find out why this is such a great business strategy in this snippet from an interview between Dale Beaumont and Ron McLean.
Ron is the managing director of Creating Synergy, which focuses on developing and growing leaders, engaging employees in a business, building customer service cultures, creating high-performance teams and managing and motivating performance.
Why do you believe customer service is a great business strategy?
Being in business can be a battle. Fighting to stay ahead of the competition and finding your niche can be a struggle. Developing strategies to win a share of the market can be draining. This is a war of attrition, where the strong get stronger and the weak, well, they just disappear. Businesses in similar industries or markets attempt to set themselves apart from one another so that the consumer has a reason to choose one business over another. I call this the ‘differentiation‘ battle.
Service as a differentiation strategy relies on a business providing a level of service to its customers that surpasses that of its competitors. This is a great strategy for creating and keeping customers for a number of reasons:
- Great service is hard to duplicate – a great service culture should be integrated into all of your systems, procedures and contact points. This makes it difficult for your competitors to duplicate.
- Very few businesses use service as a strategy – very few businesses concentrate on developing a business focused entirely on service. This is evident from the number of businesses that fail to offer service when you deal with them. Think back to the last time you received outstanding service that surprised you!
- The infrastructure already exists – creating a service culture is a matter of redefining the way you do business and how your systems, procedures and staff work together to deliver outstanding service. Creating a mix that not only satisfies the customer, but exceeds their expectations, builds loyalty and repeat business.
- Service is the best form of marketing – word-of-mouth referrals about your outstanding service will always overcome flashy and clever advertisements.
- Service cannot be copied by technology – building a great service culture involves integrating service into EVERYTHING you do, both internally and externally. It means creating unique service strategies throughout the whole organisation. Technology can aid in providing better service, but it cannot copy an employee’s smile or deliver a product on time without the control of people.
- Most businesses over promise and then under deliver – great service organisations reverse this scenario by under-promising and over-delivering. This way, the customer always feels that they are getting more than they paid for.
For more of this interview and business strategies check out “Secrets of Top Business Builders Exposed!“
