SERVICE IS A - P A C T

• If you have a good PROCESS in place you meet customer expectations.

• If your staff has a positive ATTITUDE you pleasantly surprise the customer.

• With effective COMMUNICATION you keep customers well informed and on top.

• If you perform on TIME you satisfy your customer and …

If your P A C T is in place you delight customers.

If a business primarily focuses on these four keys areas service has to be good and satisfaction has to follow.

Front line face customers while back up play support function. If teamwork is the secret to customer satisfaction, then back up staff also need to look around and identify their customers. If we have to satisfy the end user we cannot ignore the intermediate links in the chain. One must hence respond to the internal customer as they would to an external customer or end user for  “A CHAIN IS AS STRONG AS ITS WEAKEST LINK”.

An individual or department by itself cannot produce satisfaction. Customer service has various cogs in the wheel, it has its own drivers, it needs to be serviced regularly, you need to tend and care for it, for it to serve well. Unlike a machine this mechanism is more sensitive. Each part big or small can think for itself. It reacts emotionally to external conditions, that directly reflect in its output. It is human.

This reads more like an equation. As a matter of fact it is an equation. If you have a GOOD combination of PRODUCT + PEOPLE + PRICE you have to arrive at QUALITY.

Quality that is born from a good PRODUCT.

Quality that comes from good PEOPLE in the company

Quality that comes in a competitive PRICE

When employer partners with employee and together they ensure a satisfied customer who brings in more business you have a healthy tri-partnership in place to keep your business growing and successful

Statistics show that only 4% of dissatisfied customers tell us, 96% tell others. Survey also shows that 70% of complaining customers come back if their problem is solved in their favor. 95% continue doing business if the problem is resolved immediately. In all certainty a satisfied complainer will relate to at least 10 people about his experience and how it was resolved.

The first impression you give the customer has a lasting and permanent effect on business success. A pleasant environment helps customers form a positive image of the company and confirms his future relationship with the establishment. A prime reason why customers are drawn to an establishment is because the environment beckons them. It is customer friendly.

Products and services bring in sales and reap profits, a service strategy enhances it. A customer service strategy works on simple stages as PLAN, IMPLEMENT, ACT, MEASURE, IMPROVE and helps make these products and services customer focused.

While sales bring in business, service plays a very important role in sustaining that business. Any business grows when a sale is linked to satisfaction. And satisfaction is derived from a combination of both, a good product and excellent service. Service reinforces sales effort. Service is what keeps up commitments. While sales have built customers expectations, service has to maintain the excitement. While customers walk in smiling, service has the responsibility of sending him not smiling but delighted.

The departments may seem focused on the customer but is the company focused on the customer? Do the various sections work with empathy? What is your service strategy – department to customer or company to customer?.

No two customers are alike. Given this fact you will have to amend or alter your service strategy as the situation warrants. This can only be done when you empower your employees. Between company policy and customer satisfaction, let them think judiciously and take decisions. Decisions, that leads to satisfaction of the customer and not that of the company. For if the customer gains, then the company gains.

It is not how you think you are doing, that matters. All that matters is how customers think you are doing. His feedback is worth its weight in gold. If it comes unsolicited hear him out carefully, thank him profusely, think of a way to reward his good gesture, let him feel proud that he did a great deed by suggesting, think about what he said and improve.

A good and friendly refund policy speaks a lot about the establishment, their products and their ethos in customer service and satisfaction. In the true sense of the word ‘if you REFUND the product this once and satisfy your customer, he will RE-FUND your business for time to come and satisfy you’.