Tag Archives: Customer service

May 28, 2014 · 8:59 am

Reach Out And Touch Someone

In the late 1970’s the folks at the Bell System, which was part (a BIG part) of AT&T, ran commercials with the theme “Reach Out And Touch Someone.”  It urged consumers to be proactive – to pick up the telephone and “just say hi.”  After last week I sort of wish they had followed their own advice and let me explain why.

AT&T Store

 (Photo credit: JeepersMedia)

My family and I have been on AT&T Wireless for decades.  So long that two of our four accounts have unlimited data plans grandfathered in (try to buy one of those any more – you can’t!).  We found, however, that sometimes one or two of us would go over the monthly data cap and have to pay additional charges while the two on the unlimited accounts rarely used much data at all (we’re often connected to WiFi).  Our monthly bill was close to $300 and we’ve been thinking about finding a cheaper, better plan for us all.

The good news is that our bill is now $100 a month less and we’re still with AT&T.  They have a shared data plan that will work for us all and even though two of us lost our unlimited data it won’t be an issue given our usage history.  The bad news is that AT&T came very close to losing us as customers.  Why?

Because we had to figure this out for ourselves.  Do I think it’s reasonable for a huge company to look at its customers and figure out that someone could be paying them $1,200 a year less?  Actually, I do.  That’s what the digital and data revolution of the last decade has been about to a large extent.  Using what you know about your customers to anticipate their needs and provide better service.  I will say that once we went to the AT&T store to confirm what we were able to discern on our own about adjusting our plan they could not have been more helpful and we left quite happy.

No one can take customers for granted.  While AT&T knows an awful lot more about how my family uses data and wireless services than most businesses know about their customers, it’s incumbent on all of us to take whatever it is we do know and try to put it to use in a proactive manner.  That’s what I urge my clients to do.  And now I’m urging you as well.  You in?

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May 15, 2014 · 9:20 am

Love The One You’re With

One of the ongoing discussions I have with clients is the need to balance acquiring new customers with servicing exiting ones.

First customers

(Photo credit: stavos)

Many of the businesses with which I’ve been fortunate to have worked over the last few years place a far greater emphasis on acquisition than they do on showing the love to those who are already in the fold.  One of my mantras has been that it’s almost always more cost-effective and profitable to retain a customer than to find a new one and I tend to work with my clients on finding good ways to service their existing bases while helping along new customer acquisition as a lesser emphasis.

That’s why I was happy to read a recent study of small business owners from the Manta folks.  In conjunction with BIA/Kelsey, they found..well, I’ll let them tell you:

In 2012, BIA/Kelsey reported that small business owners prioritized customer acquisition over customer retention at a 7-1 ratio.  Recently, a new trend is developing as 61 percent of small business owners surveyed report over half of their annual revenue comes from repeat customers rather than new customers and that a repeat customer spends 67 percent more than a new customer  (emphasis mine!). In line with this, small business owners are spending less time and money on customer acquisition; only 14 percent are spending the majority of their annual marketing budget to acquire new customers, and only 20 percent are investing most of their time and effort to acquire new customers.  This is a significant shift in behavior as small business owners have realized that existing customers play a more influential role in business success than new customers.

In other words, existing customers bring in more dough than new customers.  The question then becomes identifying and segmenting existing customers into group that you can address in a manner appropriate to their buying habits.  You need to be having different conversations with the person who hasn’t ordered in 3 months than the one who orders once every 10 days. Maybe you handle the top 10% of your customers differently or maybe you look at spending levels, purchase cycle, or even those folks with an affinity for a specific product you’re wanting to emphasize.

No matter whether it’s loyalty programs, special customer service agents or insider news and information, customer retention needs to be a focus of every business, something I think needs to be placed ahead of new customer acquisition.  You?

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May 7, 2014 · 8:42 am

Service Done Right

I go on an annual golf trip – no shock given that golf is a frequent topic here on the screed. This year’s takes place in a few weeks and part of our group’s tradition (it’s our twentieth trip!) is that each guy brings “free stuff” for every other guy. Of course, it’s never free to the giver, but that’s part of the charm, I guess.

Over the years I’ve made a variety of commemorative T-shirts for the group as my gift and I’ll be doing that again this year (sorry if I ruined the surprise for any of my group that visits here). I designed them and sent the file off with my order to Design-A-Shirt, the company I’ve used several times before. What happened next is customer service at its finest.

First, when they began working on the order, they sent out proof sheets to show me how they had cleaned up what I sent them and to get an approval to proceed.  This is the first step in very smart customer service.  After all, why take the chance on an unhappy customer (bad) or on having to redo an order (worse, and a killer of margins)?  This was NOT a form email.  It came from a person and I responded to a personal mailbox as I approved what they were doing.

To this point, I’d call this above average, smart customer communication.  Here is where it gets extraordinary.  I got this note yesterday:

Hello Keith,

I wanted to follow up on the order you placed with us to provide you with a production photo of your design printed on fabric. Please see the attached photo for reference. We are concerned about the text… as it’s a bit hard to read. To fix that we would either have to move the “ball” up to make the font larger, or use a different, thinner font that would be more legible. Please advise!

Wow.  They printed the approved design on T-shirt fabric and had a human give it the once over.  That same human took the time to write me a personal note and to ask for guidance.  I should remind you that this is for 13 shirts and the total cost was around $150, far from a big order.  Even so, they made me feel as if I was ordering 13 dozen.  Giving equal attention to every customer is part of doing it right.  Not surprisingly, late last night I got an email that the order had shipped and will be here at the end of the week – several days ahead of when it was promised.

Think I’ll be back?  You bet.  More importantly, by using them as an example of perfect customer communication and service – that which goes above and beyond the customer’s expectations – I’m hoping you’ll both learn from them and given them consideration if you need to make a shirt or two.  I know I talk often in this space about how excellent customer service costs less than you think and retaining a customer is always easier than finding a new one.  Hopefully this real word example resonates.  Does it?

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