At Work


Great service guilts customers into coming back

Offer great service that makes customers feel guilty about going anywhere else.

LET me ask you a couple of questions.

Do you want your customers or clients to come back to your business and spend more money? Do you also want them to say positive things about your business to other people?

I think I can answer these questions myself — of course you do! Because, as you are no doubt aware, it costs five times as much to find a new customer as to retain existing ones.

Here is a quick story. A few weeks ago, my reading glasses broke. Well, to be more accurate, they fell apart in my hand.

As you will gather, I was not too pleased, especially as I had bought those super-duper, titanium “unbreakable” ones that would last forever!

On Monday, I took them back to the optician’s. It turns out that I had bought them about two years before.

I left my glasses with her while she checked on their condition.

Later that afternoon, she phoned, saying: “Mr Fairweather, we’re going to replace your glasses and I’ll phone you when they’re ready.”

The next day, Tuesday, her receptionist phoned to say that my new glasses were ready to be picked up.

However, the shop closed at 5.30pm, and I told her there was no way I could get there in time.

“No problem,” said the receptionist, “I’ll drop them off on my way home.”

The next day, she phoned to ask: “Are your new glasses okay, are they alright? If you need them adjusted, just drop by and the optician will fix them for you.”

Fantastic service

Now I don’t know about you, but I thought this was fantastic service. Not only did the optical shop’s people replace the glasses and deliver them to my door, but they kept in touch, checking that everything was okay.

They perfectly balanced the business side of this customer interaction and the human side.

They made me feel special and that my business was important to them.

I am due to have my eyes tested in a couple of months and I will probably need new lenses.

Guess where I will be taking my business?

I would be too “embarrassed” to go elsewhere.

So there you have it: If you want customers to return, spend more money and tell other people about your business — make them too embarrassed to go elsewhere.

You do this by using logic and emotion.

It is not enough just to replace a faulty product; that is the logical business part of the customer interaction and your competitors will be doing much the same thing.

You need to meet the customer’s human needs by showing that you are interested in them and that you care. And that is something your competitors are less likely to be doing. – Singapore Straits Times/Asia News Network

Article by Alan Fairweather, “The Motivation Doctor”, an international speaker and sales growth expert. He is also the best-selling author of two books, How To Be A Motivational Manager and How To Manage Difficult People.

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