Mastering Customer Loyalty With Customer Service In Five Easy Steps

A couple of months ago in January, the SAS Institute, in conjunction with the Loyalty Marketer's Association, published a study that demonstrated the importance of customer loyalty. What were the results? Out of all the business-to-business companies surveyed, forty-five percent (45%) earned sixty percent (60%) of news sales from former customers.

In fact, many businesses follow the 80-20 rule by which they earn 80% of their revenues from 20% of their customers. They follow this rule because loyal customers will return time and time again if you initially win them over.

However, we must ask: how does one build a base of loyal customers? As a matter of fact, many loyalty programs and customer loyalty consultants have been developed over the past few decades to answer this hard question.

In an attempt to shed some light on this question, Sapherion Staffing conducted a survey back in November 2010 on customer preferences. They found that, besides the quality and price of products or services, customers look to customer service first when choosing between companies.

This simply proves that customer service will build customer loyalty and ensure higher profits over the long run. As a result, we have put together this short list below to offer some guidelines on customer service so that you may build customer loyalty.

Availability and Friendliness: Be Approachable. When a customer calls, you should answer immediately. Most likely they need something from you, and answering sooner beats the heck out of answering later, when the customer might become disgruntled. Not only is applying this rule beneficial to phone calls, but it is also great to use with other communication media: letters, faxes, messages, e-mail, etc.

Furthermore, you should not only respond quickly, but you should also be cordial when engaging customers by offering a friendly smile or responding to all of their concerns, no matter how irrelevant and inane. Be professional, of course, but be your customer's friend as well.

Being approachable makes you more trustworthy, and face-to-face meetings encourage both approachability and trustworthiness. If personal meetings aren't possible, phone calls are the next best alternative.

But you must remember that your customers are human, and each person will possess a unique personality. You should get to know your customer, accommodate to his personality, and be someone your customer feels comfortable with.

Honor and Virtue: Be Trustworthy. When you say something to a client, you need to be ready to back it up. Every time you diligently keep your word, the more the client will trust you.

In fact, a virtuous posture demonstrates a trustworthy stance. Customers want to be treated fairly and respectfully.

We all know that millions of schemes flood the marketplace everyday and jade your potential client, and as a result, most customers will rightly have a healthy sense of skepticism. You need to demonstrate that quality service is more important than making profits.

If you first commit to customer service by way of virtue and building trust, then customers will gladly return to you for future services.

Feedback and Improvement: Be Helpful. When your customers know that you listen to them and go to great lengths to apply their feedback, your customer service will naturally and exponentially increase. If you're customers know that you are working hard for them, then they will be honest with you, and that commitment will most likely lead them to come back to you again.

Preferably, systematically collecting feedback yields the highest possibility for improvement. Take an inventory of your services or products, and ask your customers to take a survey, either written or oral.

This data will blatantly expose your strengths and weaknesses. You need to correct the wrongs, of course, but you shouldn't just disregard what you're doing well. In fact, you should improve on your strengths as well by maintaining a high-level of quality and finding creative ways to implement your strengths elsewhere.

Expertise and Detail: Be Attentive. All employees should be experts in your field, knowing the general day-to-day operations of the company in addition to cutting edge innovations in the markets. All employees should read reputable trade journals, competitors' publications, and any other media that help improve your employees' competence.

Having a thorough knowledge of everything pertaining to your business will again build trust with your customers. And although this echoes the guideline above, a particular employee that pays attention to a particular customer and his feedback will not only establish a solid foundation for trust but also open up a familiar customer-employee relationship to conduct future business.

In other words, your expertise will impress new and old customers alike.

Humility and Flexibility: Be "Wrong". Just because you are wrong doesn't mean you're incompetent; rather, being wrong implies the opposite: the customer is always right.

It doesn't take an economists to realize that customers keep you in business, and encouraging them to come back will ensure future business, but as a result, we should always aim to exceed their expectations. Every now and then, we make mistakes, and we should openly admit our mistakes and consequently fix it. An occasional mistake won't ruin your customer base, but reacting well to it will demonstrate your humanity and unparalleled commitment to customer service. We're human, we make errors, and a customer will forgive, and maybe appreciate, an occasional mistake or two if we go all out to rectify them.

This extra-effort in going-out-of-your-way will build trust, earn respect, and guarantee loyalty over time. If you treat every customer as a VIP, they feel important and connected to your business.

A certain flexibility with your customers will most easily separate you from the rest of your competitors. If you go out of your way for customers, they may recognize that other companies in your field don't work as hard for the customer as you do, and they will return to you time and time again.

Where do you go from here? Make the best of your customer service, develop more customer loyalty, and reap higher profits.

This article is brought to you by Barnhart Crane & Rigging Company, striving for customer loyalty with customer service. For more about our quality services, please visit our Crane Service and Machinery Moving web pages. 

Building Values, Building Great Construction Business

To be one of the best construction businesses, companies must consider numerous aspects of their business. From business planning to day-to-day operations, improving all aspects of the company will transform your business from mediocre to great.

Since there are so many things to consider, the easiest way to transform all of your business practices is to create a list of core values. Not only do mission statements and core values enhance a positive reputation, but they also provide moral standards for your entire company to work and act by. Being great beats the heck out of just appearing great!

Setting high standards is the first step to great business. These values will shape your entire business. The following list will give your business a purpose and some standards to work by everyday.

Safety. Safety is perhaps one of the most important standards in the construction industry. In addition to protecting your company and avoiding liability, you should aim to make your customers feel safe, and in doing so, they will rest comfortably knowing you are doing the job right. If safety is a priority, a stellar track record will market itself.

Quality Service. We don't mean to insult your intelligence with this value, but we would like to note that quality service means more than meeting industry standards. In fact, quality service requires that you go above and beyond the standards, and this value will ultimately set you apart from your competitors. Raise the bar higher than everyone else, and this extra effort will yield more business from customers.

Innovation. Although budget may restrict you from buying into cutting-edge technology, any improvements you can make to your equipment, service, or management will elicit higher efficiency. Make it a priority to study the market, research new methods in the industry, and apply them to your particular fields. This will give you an edge on your competitors, and again, make you stand out in your market.

Continuous Improvement. We've all heard, "there's always room for improvement." And this is definitely true, you should always be looking at the internal processes of the company to see what could be more effective and efficiency. If you do this, you will save time and money, in addition to boosting your services, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

Fairness. Honesty, transparency, and fairness are all virtues you should strive for with your customers, employees, and vendors. You should not make your fairness very rigid either; by that, I mean forgiveness and compassion towards others will build trust and respect. Stay true to your word, provide fair prices, and pay your employees well. Virtue works just as well in the business world as it does in personal affairs.

Profit with a Purpose. We all know that profits are necessary for the future of a company. When you make money, you must invest in the company to extend its life.

However, when you make excess money, you should consider what purpose you are serving with the extra bread. There are, in fact, many benevolent uses for that money.

Most of the time, you may attribute the profits to the hard work and long hours expended by your employees. Treating your employees well, increasing their pay and benefits, and offering educational opportunities will build incentive for your employees to keep up the hard work.

Similarly, you may consider charitable giving. Charitable donations not only allow for tax-deductions, but you can reach out a helping hand to the less-fortunate, the sick, the homeless, and others in need. Profiting with a purpose allows your company to work for something greater than the work you do and provide for those in your community and society at large, and all of this will only multiply your company's success, materially and immaterially.

The bottom line remains: core values shape everything your company is and does. Construct positive foundations for your company to act by, set exceptional goals, and as a result, you will base your company in greatness and move it toward greater and greater business.

Barnhart Crane and Rigging Company stands on these core values and only strives for greatness. See how we are going the extra mile with our Crane Service and Machinery Moving.