Building Reputations: The importance of customer service to your business

28/11/2011

By Elena Davidson, Client Services Director at Mi liberty

A brand’s image is undeniably linked to its reputation for customer service[b/]. Consumers expect no frills airlines to provide no frills service and expect high —end clothing stores to offer high end service. Customer experience is also undeniably linked to profitability. Recent Maritz research showed that twice as many as car dealerships with low satisfaction went out of business in recession as those with high scores.

Despite the undeniable link between customer service and profitability, many providers of B2B services including marketing and PR fail to focus on customer happiness....

... Many fall into the trap of seeking to win rather seeking to retain business.

This can have a number of negative impacts including falling revenue and negative publicity. Conversely improving customer service leads to an improved reputation and greater revenues. Longer term partnerships also foster a sense of trust between companies, meaning an agency can act as a trusted adviser to its clients. This creates a more positive environment and also enables agencies to provide the sometimes difficult but necessary advice that can be fundamental to a company’s future success.

Research shows the average business never hears from 96% of its unhappy customers so how can companies make sure their customers are happy and what can they do make sure their customer experience is all that it should be?

[b]Know your customer - Building an in-depth knowledge of the area that a company works in will enable you to build the solutions that work best for them, meaning you can make them stand out against their competition. Similarly getting to know your individual clients will allow you to tailor the way you work around their needs. This can range from preferred call times to different reporting... continued on page two >

 

 

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