CAPTURING THE PROFITS AND POWER IN
PROVIDING HIGHER QUALITY SERVICE

Dee Sanford, President
Dee Sanford International
(619) 263-6868; deesanford@cox.net

Wise business owners regularly take a close and honest look at their attitude toward serving customers, and the attitudes of their employees. Familiarity, tight timeframes, repetitive actions, and boredom can contribute to a slip in the quality of the service your company provides.

Sixty-eight percent of the reasons customers give for no longer doing business with a company is because of an "attitude of indifference on the part of one or more representatives." Rudeness, a lack of expressed appreciation (no "thank you"), poor quality work, missed deadlines, inflexible policies, careless mistakes, weak excuses, and a focus on the "bottom line" versus the customer, leave them feeling their business is no longer important to you.

Unchecked, these actions diminish profits from repeat customers, and create negative word of mouth that keeps prospective and former customers away.

Business owners who are serious about customer satisfaction detect and correct these mistakes quickly, and help employees understand how detrimental they are. They make it their business to identify customer expectations, and take an proactive, positive leadership role in seeing they are met. This requires personal observation of how customers are served, asking yourself if you would be satisfied with the same level of service, seeking what should and could be done better, and doing it.

Because customers see many services and products as generic, service and proactive management of valued customer relationships could be the only perceived difference between you and your competitors.

The two key factors in customer satisfaction, loyalty, and positive word of mouth are "doing the job right the first time, and effective customer service," says the Technical Assistance Research Programs.

Customers expect, deserve, and appreciate courteous, reliable, professional service. Companies that epitomize this are in the most coveted and powerful position a business can be in. They will capture the business, financial rewards, status, and respect available only to those who consistently deliver the service customers love. Customers will reward them with loyalty, larger purchases, referrals, and positive word of mouth. All for just doing things with the right attitude toward service.

Don't let your company miss out on this advantageous and lucrative position of power. Without a planned, and carefully monitored effort to ensure high quality interactions between your representatives and your customers, it won't happen. Companies that do focus on superior customer service will be more successful and profitable.