Customer Service it Was During

Customer Service

It was during the early years of the 1990's that several important trends developed and these tended to dominate the organizations of that time. Some of them were globalization, and deregulation, and an amazingly rapid technological progress. These in turn made the 1990's customer-facing programs a strategic as well as an operating imperative, and also gave the organizations of the time a chance to show that they cared for their customers. However, today, almost all kinds of businesses are faced with newer and tougher challenges every day, and most managers are more often than not caught an increase in the pressure to increase revenue, as well as reduce costs, on one hand, and on the other, keep up with the demand made by the customer of today who is most definitely more informed than the customer of yesterday, and therefore demand better and newer products and services from the company. This type of situation is indeed prevalent in most companies today, and the inherent contradictions in customer interaction is present everywhere. (Thought Leadership, Transforming Customer Contact)

One reason for this may be that most organizations today happen to rely on several outdated as well as unfocused customer strategies, and also operating models, and investment options, and this in turn means that most managers do not have any idea of the innate revenue potential of their customers, and do not understand the true cost in serving their customers well. On the other hand, there are certain executives who do understand what they need to change within the organization, but lack sufficient guidance and a solid plan on which to base the changes. It must be noted that newer approaches to customer care are absolutely necessary today, and most organizations would definitely benefit from such improvements wherein customers could be acquired as well as retained. (Thought Leadership, Transforming Customer Contact)

Therefore, it is very clear that the customer is the most important element in a business organization today, and as the competition between organizations is fierce, and the customer of today enjoys a wider choice and more options than ever before, more and more companies are attempting to come up with innovative and effective strategies to not only acquire customers, but also to retain them for as long as possible. Some of these companies are Lillian Vernon Corp., Inc.com, Revco Drug Stores, Green Hill Farms, Aladdin's Auto Service Center, Sumerset Houseboats, and Stitching Post. (Best Customer Service Practices)

Lillian Vernon, the founder of one of the more important direct mailer businesses in America today, states that the secret to the success of her business lies in keeping her customers happy. She also says that when she was in the initial phase of starting her business, she was browsing through some magazines and attempting to find out what it was in the advertisements in that magazine that would appeal to a buyer most, and then she decided that she would sell a simple handbag, and a matching belt. Having placed an advertisement in 'Seventeen', a teenage magazine, she says that she was astounded at the response that it garnered. (Make Someone Happy, your Customer)

Immediately, Lillian went about recoding the names of all her initial fifty customers, along with their address, and certain other information such as whether or not they were planning to place a repeat order with her again. This important information was kept updated at all times, and Lillian states that she did her best to avoid duplications as well. Although she did not know it at that time, Lillian was indeed adhering to certain stringent and accepted procedures in selling a product; she conducted a market research by finding out what would sell, she then determined whether or not there was a market for that product, and then she maintained an accurate and perfect record of all her customers in a database of index cards. Therefore, she knew who her customers were, where they lived, what types of orders they had been placing, and whether or not they would place repeat orders. (Make Someone Happy, your Customer)

Lillian feels that this system that she had devised has served her well all these years, and has successfully brought her company Lillian Vernon Corp. into a leading company today, with more than 125,000 names on the original list of fifty names. This is Lillian's philosophy that the very foundation of a mailing list rests on customer loyalty and trust and this trust and loyalty is generally established whenever a company and its customers know and trust each other well. Lillian also states that as far as she is concerned, each and every customer out of the 21 million customers that she serves today, is a very real person to her, and not just part of some long list, and it also helps to keep a clear and detailed image of the typical customer in her mind at all times, as in this case, the customer would be a female with an upbeat attitude and simple values, with a need for personal space as well as time.

This is why the catalogues are designed in an old fashioned and homely type of way, and the typical customer would be attracted to this. If the customer were to be a 'bit happier' at her store than anywhere else, that customer would be more likely to tell her friends about her experience, and they in turn would tell others, and this means that whatever happens, one must see to it that the customer is kept happy. If the opposite happens, then it would be a loss for the company, because one unhappy customer may end up influencing ten more, and they in turn may influence many more, and this would be a great loss for the company. Selecting the right product, being completely honest with the customer, and welcoming any sort of communication between the customer and the management are all the important aspects of keeping a customer happy, and hereby improving one's business. (Make Someone Happy, your Customer)

Norm Brodsky, the CEO of Inc. 100, states that it is a common mistake many entrepreneurs make that they are indeed the very best at what they do, but the point is that these doses not in any way mean that they cannot get any better. There must be a constant striving to get better, and improve things, even if they do feel that they are the best. However, this does not mean that they must not feel pride in what they have achieved; pride in one's own company demonstrates the confidence that an entrepreneur has in his own company, and also shows his customers that he empathizes and feels for them, and wants to help them in his own way. Perhaps he is allowing his customers to save their money, or maybe making their lives better by selling one's product or service to them, or perhaps he offers them something that they cannot obtain elsewhere. However, these services must be better than the very best, as seen in the example the writer, Norm Brodsky gives. He says that his relatives owned an inn in upstate New York, and they believed that they were providing their customers with an exceptional level of service, and most customers, in fact, 96% of them, seemed to believe it as well. (The Inspector)

However, when the couple attempted to apply for a membership in an exclusive inn owners' association, according to which one has to be accepted by all the other members in the region, they were apprehensive, because of the practice of the association sending an Inspector who would act like a customer and conduct an inspection without the owners' knowledge. The couple went about preparing for the inspection, and each and every room was scrubbed clean and every aspect of the operation was checked not once but several times, as they waited for the inspector to turn up. Soon, the inn became so sparkling clean that the customers started to notice as well, and their ratings too went up as a result. The couple running the inn noticed that the inn was now operating on a completely new level, and they had in fact bettered their very best, in all their preparations for the inspector. Innovations became the routine rather than a rare occurrence, and everyone was happy, not least of all the customers. (The Inspector)

Another example of how to improve performance and to keep your customers happy in the process is seen in the case of Revco Drug Stores. This store happened to come up with a customer service improvement strategy that said, "Every Customer, every time." The principle behind it was that each employee of the store would ask themselves what they wanted to happen when the customer was in their store, every time, so that service could be improved. The management of the store listed out three most important things that the employee was supposed to consider when a customer entered the store, which were, to greet the customer every time they entered the store, if the employee found that the customer was searching for something within the store, then he must ask whether he could assist them, and third, and perhaps most important, the employee must make eye contact with the customer while talking to him. (Setting and Measuring Service Standards)

The store then appointed supervisors to ensure that all employees were following the procedures properly and even used 'mystery shoppers 'to find out if all the measures were being implemented, and the reports showed that they were indeed being followed, about 90% of the time. Subsequently, the management of the Revco Drug Store measured the number of complaints, to find out whether there had been any decrease in the number and to their happiness, they did find that the number of complaints against service had come down drastically, and at the same time, the number of happy and satisfied customers had increased significantly. This program of 'every customer, every time', was therefore considered to be a success, and the important thing to be learnt from this experience is the fact that is that the customer must be treated with respect and courtesy every time he entered the premises, and this would make him contented and happy. (Setting and Measuring Service Standards)

Green Hills Farms, based in upstate New York, has a very loyal and powerful customer following, and it has a database of loyal customers who would teat the grocery store much like it were their very own. In fact, there are several big companies clamoring for the secret behind the building up and the maintenance of such a good and loyal customer following. The truth is that Green Hills Farms developed a customer loyalty program that helped it to succeed in this manner. What, exactly, is customer loyalty, and why is it so important? Can a customer be forced to like the shop, if he does not, and can his loyalty be bought at any price? The answer is that the store really knows all its customers extremely well, and this is its secret. This is the reason that its several customers would not dream of going elsewhere for their needs, and this is what is meant by 'customer loyalty'. (The Best Little Grocery Store in America)

According to the CEO of Green Hills, Gary Hawkins, he noticed that at Thanksgiving, most turkeys were given away almost free of cost, and he thought that this was quite stupid, because of the losses that stores would often incur by giving away expensive items for free. Therefore, he decided to stop this habit, and reward his customers instead. Today, a customer has the potion to join the Green Hills 'frequent-buyer' program, whereby when the customer spends $100 he immediately gets back $15. In addition, he designed several kinds of perks and incentives for his loyal customers, like for example, a free turkey if the customer returned to the store to become a 'diamond customer', and also a next to free tree for Christmas, and so on. In a nutshell, the customer would start to feel that he is being taken care of by the store, and this would mean that he would keep returning to the store again and again, and this is what any business would want and desire in order to make a profit. (The Best Little Grocery Store in America)

The Aladdin's Auto service Center is a successful enterprise that treats its numerous customers' right, and always puts them first. The owner of the store, Mahmood Rezaei-Kamalabad always tends to the whole customer, that is, his mind and his spirit, because, according to him, when a customer's cra brekas down, the customer breaks down as well, and Mahmmod, a deeply spiritual man, always finds a few soothing words and a cup of tea for those of his customers who are distressed for any reason at all, and perhaps this is the reason that he has a loyal customer following. He says that he tries to help his customer, in much the same way that he helps to take care of the car, and this soothes the cutomer, and he often relates home spun parables, and offers advice when it is asked for. This means that he knows all his several customers inside out, and he has also known them for many years, and these customers swear by Mahmood and will stand by him. According to one customer, Mahmood does a "very good job, he understands our needs." (God is in the Detailing)

Thomas Neckel Sr., of Summerset houseboats, and the CEO of the same, when he initially became aware of the fact that several companies were advertising their products and their services on the Internet through 'banner ads', researched the fact and found that not much of the Internet's vast networking powers were being used in this manner. This was the reason that 'Summerset Houseboats' utilized almost all of its marketing efforts into expanding the company's house boating community, in this issue emulating the marketing ventures of Harley Davidson that that company had used. The CEO stated that Harley Davidson was a company that had a production backlog, as well as motorcycles that would appreciate. This meant that the company must have a very strong customer rapport to get repeated business, and most importantly, the strategic points of their plan included 'road shows', which means that events are held around the entire width and breadth of the country to which the company invites their loyal Harley Davidson customers, to bring in their motorbikes, and show them off to others present, and also trade in whatever they want, at the show. (Building Customer Loyalty, the Harley Way)

According to the CEO of Summerset Houseboats, Neckel, what he initially did was to establish certain regular houseboat 'regattas', which now take place about six times a year, wherein the company's aim was to build up a sense of community, just like the Harley Davidson Company, which has a loyal sense of community. Today, the company utilizes the Internet to publicize the regattas, and to accept registrations for the event. For those customers who desire to watch the regattas but cannot attend for some reason, they can watch the event on the company's web site, through the Internet, because the CIO Cecil Helton Jr. posts events daily on the World Wide Web, which customers can access and feel a part of. This helps to build up a sort of customer loyalty and a sense of belonging to the community of Summerset Houseboating, and by bringing customers together in this type of community setting, they often produce their own testimonials, and this helps the company to a great extent. (Building Customer Loyalty, the Harley Way)

In much the same way, the CEO of Stitching Post, Joe Fulmer, has made attempts to bring all his customers together in a place where they can socialize with each other and get to know each other better. The store that Joe Fulmer runs is supposedly a sewing superstore, but the real fact is that customers are often invited in just for a chit chat, or for sharing their views on anything on earth with each other, and perhaps, buy something just because they came in. The store is in fact a stitcher's oasis, where people with a common passion can come in to learn and to advise each other. Fulmer states that this is the concept that turned his modest shop inherited from his father, with three employees and a mere $200,000 in revenues, into a flourishing $11-million company with 115 employees, that is, by building a 'community of customers'. This type of 'education program' has been used by other companies as well to ensure that customers, who are always placed first, will always keep coming back, but noweher else has success been so stupendous. (Common Threads)

In Stitch Post, most customers keep coming back to discuss sweing matters, and what the CEO has cleverly done is that he tecahes the customer hos to sew, and by doing so, he manages to make them outgrow the machine that they have acquired, after which they would most naturally wish to update their sewing skills as well as their machineryr, and this is where Joe Fulmer comes in. He has those machines ready and waiting, and when the machine is ready, what customer would not be tempted? The budget that he expends on luring a new customer into the store is, according to Fulmer, about $80 per head, an expense that would be worth its while in the long run. (Common Threads)

It is said that when a customer walked into a Nordstrom Departmental Store, put a pair of snow tires on the counter, and asked for a refund, the clerk merely noted the price tag on the tires, and without batting an eyelid, refunded the money. The point of the story is, the store never sold tires. It is often said that Nordstrom has become synonymous with excellent 'customer service' where no other store has ever succeeded. Customers receive 'Thank You Cards' for having shopped there, and all unusual request by customers are handled with equal aplomb by the customer service department, and at times, the sales staff have even been noted for having hand delivered any item upon a customer's specific request, and at times even picking up merchandise from other stores so that the customer's request may be honored. The story of the snow tires however, is a perfect example of the customer relations and services that a retail store like Nordstrom follows, wherein the secret of maintaining a loyal and trusting customer base is that the 'customer is always right', even though he is in fact provably wrong. The store has also become completely identifiable with all aspects of customer service in a way that no other store of its kind has been able to achieve. (Return to Spender)

Customer service is therefore a very important part of the running of the organization, and as one individual Muffy who regularly surfs the Web puts it, more and more people are today putting up their grievances and their complaints on the Internet, in the faint hope that someone would see it at some time and then respond to it. The obvious conclusion that anyone can reach is that customer support is terribly lacking today, especially in industries that deal with business on the Internet. However, one must remember that one would have to be 'there' for one's own customer, and this is what would indicate to the customer that he is valued in the organization. (The Importance of Customer Service)