Win the Customer: 70 Simple Rules for Sensational Service - Hardcover

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FLAVIO MARTINS is the Vice President of Operations and Customer Support at DigiCert, Inc., an organization famous for customer service in the encryption industry. A customer service fanatic at heart, he pens the popular blog WinTheCustomer!

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Wouldn’t it be great if you and your organization could follow a list of simple rules to transform ordinary customers into lifelong fans? After all, loyal customers—ones who are emotionally attached to your business—will spend more than those who just think your service is okay; promote your excellent service by word of mouth to family, friends, and colleagues; and regularly come back for more. When all is said and done, keeping your existing customers happy—maintaining more than mere “satisfaction”—costs considerably less than attracting new ones.

The reality, though, is that great customer service is hardly black-and-white. Protocols are good to have, but what do you do when a customer doesn’t quite fit into a category, or a problem or situation isn’t ordinary? Staying ahead today means reevaluating every process, decision, and metric to ensure it directly contributes toward your own vision of connecting with and serving customers . . . in other words, creating your own rules.

Packed with insightful, practical guidelines you can adapt to your company’s—and customers’—own individual needs, Win the Customer contains powerful guidelines that will enable you to:

Break the traditional rules • Stop overthinking customer service • Serve people, not shareholders • Define customer focus for your company • Create the right culture for serving your customers • Compete only against yourself • Create your own Dos and Don’ts of service • Learn the two most critical questions to ask every day • Perform a 60-Second Customer Experience Evaluation • Deal with fulfillment problems • Embrace your service imperfections • Teach your people to engage with customers • Let data drive more informed service • Create a Manifesto for Service • Take care of your employees so they’ll take care of your customers • Shift from reactive to proactive service

Imagine what your company could achieve if you managed to give your customers something special, something no other competitor could duplicate, whatever the price? Containing smart, up-to-the-minute rules for delivering a truly winning and unique customer service experience, Win the Customer gives you the blueprint you need to stop making resolutions . . . and make your service dramatically better today.

FLAVIO MARTINS is the Vice President of Operations and Customer Support at DigiCert, Inc., an organization famous for customer service in the encryption industry. A customer service fanatic at heart, he pens the popular blog Win The Customer! In 2013, he was named in Huffington Post’s Top 100 Most Social Customer Service Pros on Twitter.

Twitter: @flavmartins

Website: winthecustomer.com

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Introduction

In today’s competitive business world, most businesses inevitably will face the commoditization of their products or services. How, then, can they distinguish themselves from the dozens of nearly identical competitor products and services? In the absence of a reason, it’s often said, customers will choose price. But what if your business can give its customers something special, something that can’t be duplicated, whatever the price? What if you can offer something unique that no other competitor can provide? You can do this by delivering a winning customer service experience.

There are many good reasons why you should have outstanding customer service. You’ve probably already seen that your loyal customers, those who are emotionally attached to your business, will spend more than those who are not connected to you, who think your service is just OK. Offering excellent customer service that consistently delivers results that leave customers more than just “satisfied” is critical to the long-term growth of your organization. Loyal customers will promote your excellent service by word of mouth to friends, family, colleagues, and coworkers. And keeping existing customers happy costs considerably less than attracting new ones.

Companies recognized for their exceptional customer service know that to achieve effective service success and great customer satisfaction ratings, it’s important that employees understand the customer’s needs and are empowered to make decisions for themselves. Employees need to be imaginative in order to be able to act decisively, yet innovatively, and have the personality required to deliver a unique style of service. Customer service has to be delivered in a welcoming, positive atmosphere; the employees must be approachable, have excellent interaction skills, and be enthusiastic to help customers. This will ensure that they have the ability to offer timely solutions to any given problems.

Organizations and individuals who want to take their customer relationships to the next level need to focus on customer-care effectiveness and develop their customer-care core principles in a way that can be maintained and improved on an ongoing basis. In these difficult economic times, you can take your chances with an average customer service program and eventually fall by the wayside or you can choose to deliver exceptional customer service and reap the rewards of deserved reputation and increased profitability, as well as improved workplace morale. Winning long-term customer loyalty is what this is all about; exceptional, memorable experiences are what bond customers emotionally to your business.

By aligning everyone in your organization around a customer service mission and developing day-to-day actions based on the values of customer service, you can ensure that your people will do and say the right thing to develop the type of relationship with your customers that will turn them into lifelong fans.