Wrecked. No other word for it, my white Twixes were wrecked. Well, not really, they were still very edible. But still, the chocolate was poorly covering the back of the biscuit and they looked terrible. Not what you'd expect from the mighty Mars! So I sent a complaining email. They asked for all the batch details etc, and promised to look into it. They then sent me £8 worth of vouchers. I was delighted. I can go and buy a whole lot more white Twixes!
Why am I going on about a chocolate bar? Well, let's look at what Mars achieved with their £8 investment. I will continue to buy from them, even if the next batch is also a bit ropey. In fact I'm likely to stay a good customer for some time. I have felt looked after and valued and that will go a long way towards forgiving inferior product. I'm also likely to tell others about my experience. Oh, look, I just have! So they get huge amounts of word-of-mouth advertising. I mean, I wouldn't have a reason for mentioning their product to anybody if it wasn't for their good customer service. So by investing a small amount, they could be doing very well out of their own mistake. And that's the point I want to make; it's not what has gone wrong with your customer that's important, it's how you handle them once the mistake has been made. I'm not advocating deliberately making a mistake, but when they happen, if you deal with them in a timely and empathetic manner, then you can deepen the relationship and potentially gain more revenue.
You probably already know all this. What you might not know, however, is how well your own staff are doing with your clients. Have you done any "mystery-shopping" to experience what your team is like to deal with when things have gone wrong? Have you reviewed the processes they use, the support they have and the training they have been given on how to handle clients?
Too often customer service people feel they are at the back of the queue when it comes to training, support and appreciation. They have a difficult job, perhaps having to make up for mistakes made by others and having difficult conversations with your prized clients as a result. Can you afford not to have them as good as they can be? It is said that 66% of clients who leave a supplier it's not because of price or the product, it's because they don't feel valued. And it's your customer service team that is likely to give that impression if your client gets to feel like that. Your customer service team is either one of your greatest assets or costing you clients. Can you afford to lose a client right now? Perhaps it's time to look at investing more in your customer service. And maybe we at Sandler can help with that, particularly if you are based in Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, Berkshire or Kent.
Paul Glynn
Sandler trainer
