Monday Marketing Must Do #43
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Now, onto the Monday Marketing Must Do!
Monday 8am: Read this newsletter
Monday 8:30am: How's your service?
I won't go into a long rant about my recent experience with a major US retailer. Suffice it to say, they had a complete letdown of customer service when it came to a large purchase that I made from them. It was a good reminder that we all must check our customer service level since as a salesperson, you are on the front lines of any customer service breakdown. It's no fun walking into an account and being the first person to find out that something has gone wrong. Sadly, we've all been there.
So, first I would like to give you an alternate definition of "customer service". Customer Service training is a billion (with a B) dollar per year industry. For that much money you think they'd get it right....but alas they haven't. Here is how I view customer service.
Customer Service - Everything your agency does to prevent a patient or referral source from ever having a problem with your agency.
Damage Control - Everything your agency does AFTER a problem in an attempt to recover.
Do you see the difference?
This is important to you because you are the front line representative of your agency. You are making promises about service, communication, responsiveness, etc that others in your agency are expected to deliver. If you want to be GREAT at customer service, you should have a thorough knowledge of what your agency does to PREVENT issues from happening. Once you have these in mind, you can go about crafting your service promise to your key referral sources. Great agencies spend most of their time and efforts here. Those that are not so great wind up doing a lot of Damage Control.
Now, you'll also need to know the protocols in your agency for Damage Control for the inevitable service failure (that occurs in more or less numbers to every agency). Don't call this customer service, because you've already done your customer a disservice. It's a fine, but key point to remember. You are no longer preventing problems, you are in the mode of fixing them. There is a definite different mindset when attempting to recovering from problems rather than preventing them. Make sure you understand how you go about fixing problems so that when one does happen, you can quickly spring into action and assist the process. Have a service failure doesn't need to be the end of the road for a key referral relationship. If you handle it quickly, professionally, and to your referral source's satisfaction it is possible that the relationship can be even STRONGER than it was before the issue.
How did my situation resolve? Well, it didn't. The retailer is days into Damage Control but has offered zero solutions on how they'll repair the damage. To be fair, they are probably stuck in some purgatory between customer service and damage control with no idea how to move forward. Sadly, this has become the norm in American business rather than the exception....so YOU should be the exception and make yourself and your agency GREAT at providing world class Customer Service. It'll make your job a whole lot easier.
Good Customer Servicing!
Michael Giudicissi
