Customer Service Articles > From Emotion to Devotion
From Emotion to Devotion
by Drew Stevens
Ask an organization why they are in business and they instantly state, “To make money.” Yet business growth is more than money. It’s about creating value for those that request it—your customers. Unfortunately, too many businesses and their leadership team focus on new acquisition and not on existing clients. There is no better way to remain competitive, produce a strong brand, and lower cost of acquisition then customer fidelity.
Today most businesses clamor for customer satisfaction. There is so much literature on the subject that tips are as frequent as channels on cable television. Customer satisfaction is a bromide. The more important issue to focus is the customer experience The customer experience starts at the initial reception, goes through the purchase and ends with the follow-up. Presently, organizations operate in an acute microcosm looking solely at customer satisfaction by reviewing sole interactions with clients. Customer experience is a constant and repetitive occurrence that illustrates accurate and consistent trends.
Some companies don't understand why they should worry about customer experience. Others collect and quantify data on it but don't circulate the findings. Still others do the measuring and distributing but fail to make anyone responsible for putting the information to use. In a recent survey by Bain and Company only 8% of clients believe they had experienced superior service. The reason for its importance is the multiplicity of potential new clients. Key exemplars engage their clients and understand how to keep them engaged.
A consumer and frequent client for a local UPS store requested brochure copies. The copies were promised for delivery late on a Friday. Through a series of unfortunate events the store missed the deadline. Defying defeat, the store operator personally completed the order. The client received a telephone call at 9:30 PM on a Sunday evening. The owner was personally dropping the brochures.
Other exemplars are Starbuck’s where Baristas remember not only names but the drink orders of repeat clients. Southwest Airlines personally developed a culture of customer experience with its communication. Further, Apple Computers for decades enraptures customers with flexibility, ease and personal commitment. These companies purposefully engage clients and create a customer culture. The mantra for each assists to lower marketing costs, yet multiply clients due in large measure to personal success stories. The clamor for assistance, the desire for personal attention and the yielding of profits to performance creates a devoted and loyal fan base. Satisfying clients achieves numerical goals, however translating them into an experience is a lesson in long term business success.
