10 'commandments' for keeping customers
Written by Shirley Lichti for The Record, February 18, 2004

Customer service works by the rule of tens. If it costs you $10,000 to get a new customer, it takes only 10 seconds to lose one and 10 years to get over it or for the problem to be resolved. You need to work 10 times as hard as competitors to keep your customers.

So here's a primer with ten 'commandments' for keeping customers by creating a more customer-focused service culture.

1. Learn to see through the client's eyes.
Think like a customer. From the customer's point of view, analyse the whole experience of doing business with your organization.

This includes how many times the phone rings before it is picked up, how long the customer is kept waiting at the counter, how accurate orders are, whether delivery deadlines met, whether staff is friendly and cheerful, and so on.

Ask yourself if you are treating customers the way you would want to be treated.

2. Become a student of service.
Before you decide to make any changes, determine who provides the best customer service in your industry. Then clarify your service strategy. How good do you want to be? Do you want to be the Ritz Carlton of customer service?

If not, what level of service do you want to offer and what will it take to accomplish it? How much will it cost? When evaluating any new program, ask yourself if it will make you better. If it will and you can afford it - do it.

3. Ask customers what they want.
Don't just study other firms, talk to your customers, too. Ask them how your service affects them. Listen to what your customers tell you about your business. Make changes based on what you hear to provide better service and accommodate their needs.

When it comes to providing exceptional customer service, always be prepared to go the extra mile. Underpromising and overdelivering are two keys to success.

4. Create customer-friendly policies.
Front-line employees often know what should be done to keep customers satisfied. Unfortunately their hands are often tied by company policies that prevent them from acting in the best interests of customers.

Ruthlessly weed out policies and procedures that fly in the face of delivering exceptional customer service. Bear in mind the feedback you get from clients before implementing new policies. If the customer doesn't care about it, it's not service.

5. Encourage complaints.
Not getting complaints is not a good sign. Only four per cent of customers take the time to tell you about problems. The rest just grumble, go away and stop doing business with you.

You can't stop customers from defecting if you never hear about their problems. Encourage customers to tell you what you're doing wrong. Ask for feedback at every customer contact. Good news or bad, you need continual feedback to understand what your customers think of you.

6. Train your employees.
How can you expect employees to offer exceptional service or deal with irate customers without training? Ensure that all staff with responsibility for customer contact gets training and refresher courses to keep their skills sharp. vAnd give employees the authority to resolve complaints. They need to be empowered. They can't deliver exceptional customer service if they have to ask a manager for permission for every little thing.

7. Recognize service as a daily commitment.
Magic formulas for excellent customer service do not exist.

It happens when you get it right every day - day in, day out. Quality customer service can only be achieved by practice and repetition. That's why companies that truly embrace a customer-focused service culture practice their commitment on a daily basis.

8. Foster a culture of continuous improvement.
Be perpetually dissatisfied with your level of service. Adopt the attitude that customer service is everyone's job and then challenge them to continually find ways to improve.

Internal customer service is just as important as external customer service. If you allow internal departments to deliver poor service to each other, how can you expect the recipients to deliver excellent service to customers?

9. Benchmark your performance.
Before you make any changes, take a customer service pulse check.

There's an old saying that you can't manage what you can't measure. And you can't measure improvements in customer service if you don't have a benchmark point.

10. Reward results and celebrate success.
Recognize superior performance by customer service staff. Tie rewards and recognition to results. Celebrate both the feeling of accomplishment and the desire to improve.

Then celebrate discontent with the status quo and challenge everyone to raise the bar yet higher again.

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