Keeping the Customer after the Catch

As discussed last week winning the customer is just the first hurdle we face as service providers. Keeping the customers after you have won them is another task completely. Foremost in this task is communicating with the customer, constant communication is a must and helps remove any possible misunderstandings between you and your customer.

Even if your customer struggles with your pricing, if you are up front with them and explain to them in detail the customer most of the time will understand and see things your way. It is because you have built a trust with your customer and they have come to rely on you as one of their problem solvers.

Don’t we all just love the problem solvers? Think about the last storm that blew through and knocked out power. Didn’t you feel better when you saw the power company truck roll up? Why? Because you trust that they are going to fix the problem before they leave and your power will be restored. How would you feel if you the power company truck pulled up in front of your home worked a while and without saying a word drove away? You would be picking up the phone and making a call to the power company’s office within seconds demanding answers. Your trust had been broken. What was the one thing that was missing? Communication.

 How do your customers feel when you arrive on site? Are you their problem solver?

It amazes me how many people think once you obtain that first job that you are guaranteed to be doing all the work for that customer till the end of time.

Being honest and up front with your customers is another key part of keeping the customer coming back. How many times have you heard about a service provider getting a call from a “new customer” and asked to price something. As with most service providers they got a great deal of communication and honesty when the price was turned over, an effort to impress the new customer. One of two possible situations will happen at this point, the “new customer” explains their “regular” guy’s price was about the same, a few dollars more, or a few dollars less and they went with him. Or, the worst case for the “regular guy” is that his price was way out of line and he lost a customer to the “new guy”. A great deal of the time in this situation one ends up giving the customer a breakdown of the lump sum price and the “regular guy” will get nervous at this point and sometimes discover a “big” mistake was made and the price should have been “X” not “Y”. But if you are the “new guy” you are in a good position to win this customer over and start building a relationship.

Part of communication is keeping the commitments you have made to your customer, whether it is something as simple as when you will arrive, when the parts will be in, or when the pricing will be sent to them. In today’s world of electronic communication it is so easy to send an e-mail or text message to a customer, that small effort can go so far as to keeping the customer and keeping the customer happy. It’s the old joke with the cable guy, “He said he will be here between 7 and 12:00 so I took the day off and he showed up at 11:59. Or the other side of that situation is “He said he would be here between 12:00 and 3:00 and I got home at 11:30 to find a note he was there at 11:25, sorry, please call back to re-schedule.”

How did that make you feel? It is the same with your customers when you don’t keep your commitments or don’t keep them updated, they get just as upset.

I remember years ago I was still in the field and I was installing a data system for a local government client in a new building. It was apparent from the beginning that the customer’s representative expected to be kept up to date on the daily progress of the job. So every afternoon I stopped by his make shift office and left a note or told him face to face what was accomplished that day. At the end of the project I was called to my office to meet with the owner of the company. I was presented with a letter that was copied to the main office, but sent to the government department headquarters Chief of Operations praising me for the outstanding job I had done, how well informed I had kept him on the progress of the project and was a pleasure to deal with.

That small effort made the biggest impact and it was nice to be appreciated for my work by the customer and my supervisor as well.

Keeping a customer is just as important as landing a customer and to keep a customer it requires one to be mindful of the little things. If you pay attention to the little things the big things are easy to deal with in the long run.

Some people might think it isn’t costly to lose one customer, but it is much more expensive than we realize. Besides the lost revenue which is up front, what about the hidden cost. Something we can discuss next week.

Do We Really Know When Our Customers Are Not Happy?

I read an article this week about a study that was done on hotel guest satisfaction. I was surprised to read that 18% of hotel guest reported having a problem. Of that 18% the largest problem, when people were asked, was about noise. But the problem most complained about was internet connection or speed.  So the hotels weren’t talking to their customer’s to find out what was the biggest issue.

How do you gauge your customer’s level of satisfaction? Do you call back and talk with them after the service? Send them a questionnaire? Asked them to log into a website and provide you feedback?

I recently had an employee go to a client’s location to perform a service call. The customer is set up on a monthly “check in” system. I call or if I am in the area stop in and see if they have lighting that needs replacement. In this month’s case I was in downtown Charleston to see a potential client and I stopped in to see if they needed service this month. I wanted to stop personally this month since I knew the manager was out on maternity leave since last month when she informed me that was her last week and her assistant that I had met in the past would be at the helm. And she fully expected the monthly “check ins” would continue during her absence! So I stopped by, and was greeted with professionalism and excitement. We agreed there was enough lighting out that service was required.  

So that Friday morning I had my technician waiting when they reported for work the next morning and several hours later the lighting issues were resolved. He’s where the customer satisfaction payoff can in to play.

As it happened to work out I had to pick up some parts from my supplier and they had them at their downtown location waiting for me. I decided since I was downtown and we had just serviced the client’s store I would stop in and make sure they were happy.

I wasn’t able to speak with the manager since he was on a conference call at the time, but his staff was eager to help me. When I explained who I was and why I had stopped in they both stumbled on their words, smiling and confirming, “You’re the lighting guys?” Yes, that is who we are, the “Lighting Guy’s”.

The expression on their faces gave me the answer I wanted, the work performed was as expected, but by standing in front of them and checking with them I had just took that “as expected” level to an “OUTSTANDING!” They were both very eager to inform their manager I had stopped by and I think I impressed them. See my client is a high-end retail store. They provide this type of customer service daily because the people coming in their store are spending a great deal of money and they demand that level of service. Receiving that same level of customer service wasn’t expected, at least by the staff members I was dealing with this afternoon. See, the Manager and Assistant Manager have seen me do this previously.  

By placing the customer in a position where you match or exceed the level of customer service they provide you begin building a trust in that customer that you are their problem solver. How do you determine the level of customer service that is required? You think you provide the best service around, make sure your customers think that way too! Every customer has to be your number #1 customer. In their minds that is how it is, it better be in your mind as well.

Will those staff members reaction have an immediate impact for me? I can’t say for sure, but what if one of those staff members switches companies of gets promoted to manage a store of their own? Say, that store they are at needs an electrician. What do you think they will do? Or possibly something as simple a friend works at the store next door and that store mentions they are having an electrical problems.

I can’t buy advertising like that. By taking a few moments to place my fingers on the customer’s pulse I have created some of the best sales people I could hope to find.

By letting the customer know that I want to hear if they have had any issues I built a trust. But that is just the beginning.  I can’t sit back and expect that moment to be the end of my customer service. It takes constant work to stay number one in your customer’s eyes. But I cover that next week, “keeping the customer after the catch.”  

Harley Davidson Motorcycles, a Customer Service Life Story

Sitting in my office wishing I was out riding my Harley and trying to decide what I would write my blog about this week it struck me, that my passion was a model of customer service. It has kept me for 30 plus years, so why not tell how they have managed to keep folks like me loyal for years? So here is the abbreviated version.

As you may or may not know Harley Davidson Motorcycles was founded by 2 guys, William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson. Arthur’s brother Walter joined them a little later in the first year. They all were working fulltime when they started the company and making motorcycle parts at night in a shack behind one of the Davidson’s homes. Their intention was to build a motorcycle that was durable and would work well. Soon it caught on and the company was up and running on “two wheels”.

They ran into a problem competition wise in the 1920’s, this guy, Henry Ford, figured out how to build cars inexpensively, in fact as inexpensive as the Harley Davidson Motorcycle. So suddenly Harley Davidson was no longer the cheapest type of transportation. So to survive they had to make owning and riding a Harley Davidson a fun thing to do. Certainly makes sense to me, and looks like it makes sense to quite a lot of people, still to this day.

It helps that Harley Davidson worked their way into the federal and local governments early on in there development. In 1908 the Detroit Police department became the owners of the first motorcycle built for police duty to help keep the peace.

In World War 1 and the Second World War Harley Davidson was supplying the war efforts with their machines. They were modified to go over fields and rough roads so they had higher ground clearance. Sound familiar? Think every dirt bike made today. Also in the Africa Campaign in 1942 they built about 1000 shaft drive units for the Army, with the thinking the shaft would hold up better than a chain in the sands of Africa. The shaft drive the Japanese motorcycle manufactures promoted like the shaft drive was a new concept back years ago. It was around before Harley Davidson used it for the Army, they just knew their customer.

In 1969 the “dark ages” began for most diehard Harley Davidson fans like me, when the shareholders, maybe sensing the “Japanese invasion” in the motorcycle market, partnered up with American Machine and Foundry Company to give Harley Davidson a more stable financial footing. However, the marriage to AMF didn’t turn out as the company had hoped. In 1972 AMF, showing who was boss added the AMF in front of the Harley Davidson logo on the bike’s fuel tanks.

AMF didn’t realize the cost of building a motorcycle and they began directing cost cutting ideas that damaged the reliability which cost the customer loyalty the company had so long benefited from and put profits into a free fall mode.

In 1981, “AMF-Harley Davidson” was in a dangerous position of a potentially failing company, a group of executives offer AMF a buy-out. To everyone’s delight AMF quickly agrees and the turnaround begins.

Placing Harley Davidson back in the hands of people that understood their customer and the customer needs righted the course Harley Davidson was heading in.

It is the same in all our businesses, we have to understand our customers and our customer’s needs. If we don’t take care of our customers, someone else will before we know what is happening.

Customer loyalty starts with customer service. As in the story of Harley Davidson not every decision is going to be the correct one for your customers, and most of the time customers understand that mistakes happen. But by knowing what your customer is looking for and correcting your mistakes you turn that customer service into customer loyalty. 

Harley Davidson began in a shack and has grown to a multi-million dollar international corporation. Keeping the company finger on the customer’s pulse is something they continue to excel at even in our current economically challenging times. 

John Russell, former Vice President of Harley Davidson is credited with stating “The more you engage with customers, the clearer things become, and the easier it is to determine what you should be doing.”

Knowing your customers means you know what you should be doing. It really is that simple.

Charleston Historical Facts!

Over the past couple of weeks since I started this blog I have expressed my opinion on what was customer service. At the end of my blog for this week I promise I will post historical facts about Charleston that you may or may not know.

But I was pleased to find out not far from our beautiful city customer service as our grandparents and great grandparents knew it, is still alive and well.

A friend of mine that works for the United States Postal Service informed me that as a mail carrier she still sells stamps during her rounds delivering mail. I was speechless, and for those of you that know me, I always have something to say! She told me not only does she sell stamps, she gets letters with pennies taped to them or quarters left in the mail box to purchase stamps. Oh, and if you leave a note with money for a money order, she will pick it up and deliver the USPS Money Order the following day to your mail box or a book of stamps.

I told her I was impressed that this kind of customer service was still alive and well somewhere still in America. She told me that was everywhere. I disagreed and warned her she would be part of my blog this week.

So I grabbed my “www” surf board and hit the internet, searching the phrase “taping pennies to an envelope”, “buying stamps from a mail carrier” and “buying money orders from a mail carrier”.   

On the first try, I hit several sites starting that the same question was asked as far back as 2006. The answer was the same for all of them, NO! Even one newspaper article from 2006 on how the newspaper itself received a letter with a .37-cent stamp and two pennies taped next to the stamp right after a rate increase to 39-cents took effect. A postal employee was questioned and said “Under no circumstance is currency attached to a letter a legitimate substitute for stamps.” She then proceeds to add in the article “The only thing I can think of is the idiot who ran it through” made an exception.

Idiot? Really she referred to someone going above and beyond for the customer an idiot. Well, it seems Rural route carriers still offer this service. So my friend was correct as it seems she must deliver in what would be considered a rural route. At least by my research, it would be a rural route. I remember hearing stories about this being normal years ago.

I applaud the individual who processed the letter that was referred to in the newspaper article and think we need more upstanding people that go above and beyond for the customer. I have to question the postal employee the newspaper reporter spoke with, never mind what you think of the person that processed the letter, the 2 cents should have been collected and entered as income just as any other stamp purchase have been recorded. Since she worked for the branch office that delivered the letter in the end, why didn’t she collect the 2-cents? Just my “two-cents”.

Mark your calendars!! Did you know that in 1992 the U.S. Congress proclaimed the first full week of October to be “Customer Service Week”?It's coming up soon!!

Now as promised Some Charleston Historical Facts:

“Charles Town” is founded as the capital city of Carolina across the Ashley River from the current site in April of 1670

Charles Town is moved to the current site with a population estimated to be 1200 making it the 5^th largest city in North America in 1690

City Assembly establishes a tax supported free library, most likely the first public library in America on November 16, 1700

1710, Power Magazine at 79 Cumberland St. is built.

1712 The territory of Carolina is divided into North and South.

1718 Blackbeard the Pirate sails into Charles Town Harbor with 4 ships.

1728 Regular passenger and shipping services begin between Charles Town and New York.

January 8^th 1732 The South Carolina Gazette publishes its first edition

First opera performed February 18, 1735

America’s first building constructed solely to be used as a theater was the Dock Street Theater, February 12, 1736.

First fire insurance company February 3, 1736

Oldest municipal Chamber of Commerce in continuous operations December 9, 1773

First major naval battle of the Revolutionary War June 28, 1776

“Charles Town” was officially renamed Charleston at the end of the American Revolution in 1783

First golf course September 29, 1786 along with the first game of golf played in the United States.

First fireproof building 1823 (bet the fire insurance company was behind this building)

1828-29 A young Army recruit Edgar Allen Poe is stationed at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island. His first published story “The Gold Bug” is about Sullivan’s Island and the pirate lore.

First municipal college 1836

1843 The Citadel opens for the first class of Cadets

First patent for a mechanical refrigerator May 6, 1851

First shot fired in the Civil War January 9, 1861

First submarine to sink a ship in battle February 17, 1864

First Memorial Day May 1, 1865

1886 an earthquake rocks the Lowcountry with an estimated 7.5 earthquake. 83 people lost their lives and $6 million in damage.

1900 Charleston’s population has grown to an estimated 55,807.

1925 A new dance craze begins in the local pubs and dancehalls and spreads across the country called “The Charleston”

1934 George Gershwin begins to research and write Porgy and Bess, the first American Opera.

1957 Italian composer Gian Carlo Menotti comes to Charleston to start the American site of Menotti’s Festival of Two Worlds, later know as Spoleto Festival.

1963 Charleston’s Rivers High School becomes the first racially integrated high school in South Carolina.

1977 the first Spoleto Festival USA is held and Charleston is designated the permanent home for the festival.

1989 Hurricane Hugo slams Charleston with losses estimated at $2.8 billion dollars

1995 Clive Cussler and his team discover the Confederate Submarine H.L. Hunley

Thanks to the Charleston Public Library for the historical facts. dispite what my kids think, I was not around to document all of these first hand.......