Where did the love go?

Customer service and satisfaction use to be a priority with businesses across the board.  They knew that if their customers had an amazing experience, they would tell their friends, neighbours and relatives to also go to their store.  People weren’t continually bombarded with advertisements like we are today, word of mouth advertising and repeat business was more important.

Unfortunately with today’s low newspaper sales, on demand television and pop up blockers, advertisers are having more and more difficulty reaching their target markets.  Marketing companies are scrambling to find more and more ways to get ads out there, which just makes us hate them more and more because they are always in our faces.  What they don’t tell their clients though, is that in this age of social media, word of mouth is more powerful than it has ever been before, but marketing companies don’t get paid for word of mouth advertising.

Some companies think that offering loyalty point programs and valued customer sales is the way to go to build lasting relationships with their customers, and in some cases they would be correct, but not in all.  All those loyalty cards clutter up your wallet and some take too long to reward the customers.

Other companies think that the right way to go is to let customers browse in their stores without ever approaching them.  This also isn’t always the right answer, people don’t want to be bothered, but they don’t want to be ignored either.

Unfortunately I don’t have a blanket solution that would suit everyone, but what I do have is a solution for some.

If you do great work and can make sure your customers know you care about them even after you have their money, without being annoying, then you will be successful in word of mouth advertising.

This sounds complicated and more work than anyone would want to put in, but what if it wasn’t?

How would you feel if after you bought a refrigerator or washing machine, someone called to make sure it was delivered and installed properly and that you’re happy with it?  Would you be bothered?  Would you be impressed?  What if they called you a year later to make sure it was still working well?  Would this be a bother?

Maybe you think these things are both good ideas, but would rather use an automated system to call instead of a real person.  Do you like those calls?  I don’t.

When someone takes the time to actually dial my number and ask how I am and if everything is working great, I am impressed.  It makes me feel good to know that they care enough about me to take the time to call me.  It’s not just me either.  Do you think your family would rather hear from you or an automated recording telling them you were thinking about them?

This is what we do.  We call people to let them know they are cared about.  We let them know that you care about them after you have their money, that their opinions matter and that you want them to be happy.  This builds a lasting relationship between you and your customers with breads loyalty and that leads to repeat business and positive word of mouth advertising.