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Nowadays, businesses realize the importance of having
satisfied customers. There are several programs and processes being
employed by companies to handle their customer relations. Some call
it Customer Relations Management, or CRM solutions; others call it
Strategic Customer Care, while others just simply call it Customer
Service.
Companies that provide good
customer service make it a point to consult their customers. They do
this by having discussions with and seeking advice and information
from their customers, and taking the views of their customers into
consideration when making decisions about changing service
practices.
To improve business and service
practices, companies prefer to obtain actionable feedback from their
customers. These usually are taken from answers of customers to the
following questions: What do we do badly? What do we need to change?
Another way of getting feedback
from customers is through customer complaints. Because complaints
are useful in pinpointing areas that need improvement, businesses
must make it easy for customers to complain. As soon as a customer
mentions that he is unhappy about some aspect of the company’s
service or business performance, the company must deal with it
immediately.
Businesses should take advantage
of resolving complaints quickly because, besides being given “for
free,” this gives a 95-percent-plus probability that customers
will return to do business with the company if a service is done to
their satisfaction.
On the other hand, research shows
that if the customers are unhappy with the service, the chance of
them returning becomes slim. Worse, unhappy customers bring with
them the potential damage of bad word-of-mouth advertising. There is
a popular saying that expresses this very well: “A satisfied
customer will tell 3 people; a dissatisfied customer will tell
3,000.”
When I was senior vice president
for operations of a cement company, I would visit our major
customers—which were cement dealers and construction
companies—to ask them if they had any complaints and how we might
be able to improve the quality of our product and services. It was
very flattering for them to have a very senior company official
visit them, the construction projects and other end-users.
After the visit, I would meet
with the concerned marketing and operations people to quickly
address complaints and suggestions that I gathered.
Complaints sometimes arise
because of a difference in perception. The customer’s perception
is 100 percent correct as it is based on how he sees things. And
this is the basis of the old adage, “the customer is always
right.” If, indeed, there is a gap between what the customer
perceives and what you know to be the facts about your business,
then it is incumbent upon you to properly inform your customer.
When you get inside many fast
food restaurants or stores in malls, you hear greetings from the
security guard, the sales people and even the cleaners right away.
There are restaurants where even the kitchen people say aloud some
greetings to welcome a customer. This is good. But besides being
courteous, employees should be helpful to customers.
I see this in the gas station
where I go to refill my vehicle. Whenever a vehicle arrives for
refilling at the gas station, the attendants would greet and welcome
the customer, direct the customer where to bring the vehicle, and
gives reminders. Then after starting the pump, the attendant would
ask if the customer wants the car’s windshield to be cleaned, and
the water and oil level, and tires’ inflation to be checked. If
the customer says “yes” to any of the questions, the attendant
immediately takes appropriate action.
As far as improving customer
service is concerned, there is no substitute to feedback.
The author is a DBA student of
De La Salle University’s Ramon V. Del Rosario Sr. Graduate School
of Business. He is vice president for Training and Education of the
Bulacan Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He accepts comments at egechavez@yahoo.com.
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