It's an old adage in the business world that the “customer is king.” Good customer service is considered the cornerstone of increasing and maintaining profitability — and that's where your hand-picked customer service team comes in. A good customer service team can raise your company's reputation, attract, and retain customers, and help spread a positive attitude about your brand.
Good customer service encourages customers to return Cork Kids Bicycle Shop and do more business with you and helps build a loyal base for your company to grow on. It's also good for employee retention — employees who see their company is focused on treating the customers well and making them feel valued , they're more likely to remain with the company and share its values.
But delivering good outstanding customer service is more than just having representatives with a positive attitude and a hassle-free return policy (though those things are still important). You need a comprehensive and well-rounded strategy if you're going to take your customer service to the next level. Ideally, your customer service strategy should line up with your marketing strategy, to make the most of both.
Why You Need a Strategy
Why do you need a well-rounded customer service strategy? There are several reasons:
First, consider the high cost of getting new customers as compared to the cost of retaining them. The majority of customers cease doing business with a company because they feel poorly treated by that company — and they will tell others about it. In the age of social media and viral posts, that can have disastrous consequences. And new customers cost 5 to 10 times the money to acquire as loyal customers cost to retain.
With that in mind, the goal should always be to make customers feel valued. Valued customers keep coming back, and may do so despite better offers from the competition. Think about it this way: a referral from a loyal customer costs you absolutely nothing. You don't have to make room in the budget for it. A loyal, happy customer will tell others about how they felt valued and appreciated, and will essentially become your ambassadors, giving you what amounts to free advertising.