Tag Archives: customer retention

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Support Customers After the Sale

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Now that you’ve signed the contract and brought a new customer to your business, you may feel a mixture of pride and relief. You’re thrilled that your marketing tactics and sales talking points were persuasive. The customer is in-house and you’re ready to exhale.

But not yet. In fact, the real work is just beginning. Whether you’ve sold a product or a service, the smooth execution of project work or the product performance and ease of use are only part of the story. To declare a sustainable victory, you must ensure that the customer is pleased with the decision to do business with your organization. You and your team must enable the feel-good with a series of actions collectively known as after sales service.

The customer experience operates on several levels, including what is traditionally called customer service. In our increasingly competitive business environment, business owners and leaders are now motivated to also manage what happens after the sale because it has impact. The facet of customer service known as after-sales service is the follow-up support that customers receive after they’ve bought your product or contracted to receive your services.

Business owners and leaders typically focus attention on filling the sales pipeline and strive to convert prospects into customers. That approach makes lots of sense, but it is to your advantage to devote a portion of your resources to what happens after the ink dries and payment is received. After-sales service is an important aspect of your customer retention strategy. It is a principal factor in cultivating repeat business, generating positive word-of-mouth that leads to referrals and enhancing the company brand.

Abandon customers once you have their money and it’s highly likely that they won’t return. It’s well-known that dissatisfied customers are bad for future sales, to say nothing of your brand’s reputation. But happy customers are your friends, the most valuable asset in your sales funnel.

The after-sales service your company provides might include advice on how to properly use the product or suggestions on how to get started with implementing the service. After-sales service often amounts to listening to customer feedback and being available to answer questions or give encouragement. In short, it’s a check-in to find out if the customer is satisfied with the purchase and helping to correct any glitches. After-sales service can make the difference between a happy customer who loves doing business with your organization, or one who is underwhelmed or even frustrated.

Customers who appreciate the way you and your team treat them are more likely to share their positive experience with your company and refer you to friends and associates. A 2016 survey conducted by The New York Times revealed that 65% of new business leads come from referrals. A 2011 study of 10,000 customers of a German bank found that customers who were referred to the bank by someone they know had a 16% higher lifetime revenue value than those who were not referred.

So how can you and your team build a winning after-sale service experience for your customers?Depending on your business, you can start the good vibes by sending business-appropriate thank you notes (paper or electronic) to express how much you appreciate that the customer chose to work with your organization.

Create a responsive new customer onboarding system, in which you welcome the customer, as discussed above, confirm customer priorities or must-haves, and also verify time table deadlines (if applicable) and project milestones. Do whatever is possible to make working with your organization easy. Encourage client feedback and listen to identify the onboarding experiences and information that your customers value. Standardize the process and use it consistently to set the stage for a positive working relationship.

Whether or not you send a note, your customer may be very happy to receive a follow-up call or email to get feedback on how, or if, the product or service is delivering and if expectations are being met. When performing project work, communicating progress, with a quick email or phone call on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, demonstrates your professionalism and commitment to excellence.

If the experience is a little bumpy, be ready to make suggestions, offer coaching or training, or even make an exchange. What surfaces in these conversations can be used to evaluate and, if necessary, to build or tweak more responsive after-sale service protocols.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: In Barcelona, Spain a flamenco instructor coaches students

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Defining and Delivering Good Customer Service

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Superior customer service is a cornerstone of the customer experience and the customer experience is a foundational element of the sales journey. I see the customer experience as governing everything that leads up to the sale and customer service as governing what happens after the sale. Along with designing a confidence-building customer experience that persuades prospects to become customers once the need for your products or services is established, to remain viable, every business must develop customer service protocols that support customer retention and encourage referrals.

As reported in Forbes Magazine in May 2018, American businesses lose $75 billion annually due to poor customer service and the U.S. Small Business https://www.forbes.com/sites/shephyken/2018/05/17/businesses-lose-75-billion-due-to-poor-customer-service/#5777314e16f9 Association reported in 2018 that 68% of customers stopped doing business with a company due to poor customer service. It is worthwhile to review your company’s customer service from time to time. Below are suggestions that might guide a refresh of your company’s approach to customer service:

  1. Answer the phone.  When a prospective customer calls for information, s/he does not want to leave a voicemail message and wait for an answer. The prospect wants to speak with a live person now who can answer questions quickly and correctly, in a friendly and professional manner. Hiring the optimal number of front-line staff is the antidote. Freelancers who work alone and receive a fair amount of incoming calls can hire a telephone answering service to take calls when you cannot.

2. Take the extra step. When the intention is to help a prospective customer, understand that doing the minimum is not enough. For example, when speaking with a prospect who has questions about your products or services, merely directing him/her to the company website to obtain more information does not exemplify good customer service. Instead, ask the customer about the problem that must be solved, inquire as to what s/he would like to achieve and then discuss how your product or service can (or cannot) provide the desired solution.

3. Be helpful. If it is discovered while speaking with a prospect that your product or service cannot provide the necessary solution, do not be afraid to refer the prospect to a competitor or another company that can meet his/her needs. Your generosity will be remembered and may be returned with future business and referrals.

4. Listen. Let the customer talk. Allow the customer to ask questions or describe a problem. You (or front-line staff) ask clarifying questions along the way, to demonstrate that you are listening and evaluating how your products or services might be useful (or not) to the customer. The more front-line staff know about your customers and their needs, the more of an asset they will be to your company and customers. Prospects and customers will appreciate the empathy and product knowledge and that will almost certainly increase customer retention, new business and referrals.

5. Resolve problems quickly. No business owner enjoys receiving complaints, but those complaints reveal product or process breakdowns that you have the opportunity to fix. Customers gain confidence when a business quickly responds to and resolves complaints. Apologize profusely and throw in something extra (an upgrade or gift certificate, based on the price of the item purchased) to demonstrate that you value the customer and regret the inconvenience that you’ve caused. If handled correctly, you will win repeat business and a source of referrals (instead of bad-mouthing on Yelp).

6. Train staff. Make training a key element of front-line staff on-boarding. Conduct a product boot camp for new hires, plus an annual refresh for all staff, to ensure that employees are familiar with your product and service lines (bring in a Freelance colleague with sales training experience to conduct the annual training session). Give front-line staff the tools and information they need to support customers as efficiently as possible. Empower them to make those small customer-pleasing decisions, so they’ll rarely have to say, “I don’t know, but the owner will be back at…”

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Photograph: Date night at the malt shoppe 1930s USA