Is Service Getting Better or Worse?

I am constantly amazed by the poor service I regularly receive by various vendors – restaurants, retail store workers, and sales reps who are trying to sell me products, or services. The service skills I am exposed to range from mediocre to poor, and include such travesties as lying to get put through to me on the phone, never following up, over exaggerating what products are capable of, not listening to what I really want, not caring what I really want, ignoring me when I walk into their business, only talking to my husband (yes it still happens) and ignoring me after I make an initial purchase. Whew! It seams to me that everyday, there is less and less humanity in customer service and more and more indifference.

Could I be right?

You be the judge. According to market research firm BIGresearch A whopping 85% of Americans think customer service is getting worse, or at best treading water. As a side note I think this number is the same for Canadians we are often just too polite to say anything! Additional research from Accenture tells us that half of us have switched service providers in the past year because of crummy service. Why should you care? Consider this:

(1) The US National Retail Federation Foundation reports that if 100 people have a bad experience with your company you could lose up to 36 current or potential customers because of the verbal ripple effect.

(2) Selling to new customers is on average 15 times more expensive than selling to existing customers AND

(3) People who experience bad service tell on average 17 people about it. People who have great service tell on average 2.

It’s clear that the best sales people must also be the best customer service people. Your job is not only to sell. Its also to build a rock solid wall around your customers so they don’t want to leave. Recently during a coaching call with a client they complained to me that no matter what they did, they could not convert a prospect to a customer. this customer was dealing with a competitor and despite the fact that the prospect admitted to being unhappy with their vendor ( orders were late, incomplete and sometimes wrong) they were unwilling to leave because they really liked and trusted their sales rep. In other words, the prospect was willing to cut the vendor some slack though a tough time in order to save a relationship with the sales rep. My client asked….”What can we do?” My response was “hire the sales rep”. They thought I was joking. I was serious. Anyone who is that good at building and keeping relationships should be on your team.

The best sales people are focused on ensuring their customers only buy from them, without shopping around AND also actively refer other prospects. The very best sales people know how to make their customers feel so special and so safe doing business with them that they don’t ever leave, even when problems arise (as with the prospect above). Leaving is considered risky, staying is considered profitable.

To do this you need to build a service offering that is so valuable, the cost for the customer to switch to a different supplier is simply too high. How can we accomplish this? First, commit to yourself and your company that you will practice exceptional customer service everyday. Be n ice to your customers. Then….as Nike would say…Just do it! It’s easier than you think. Why?

Well first of all, the most recent research shows that consumer standards have been lowered by the lack of service in the market place. What was once considered a courtesy – eye contact, a handshake and thank you – now passes for great service! You don’t have to make this complicated