Three Principles of Customer Loyalty

When one considers the reality of what keeps customers coming back, it doesn’t require a PHD in psychology for the average business person to comprehend what keeps customers coming back. To boil it all down, scrape away the superfluous minutia and forego the eons of training in mindless dribble, it’s amazingly simple. We’re going to cover what we believe to be the three principles of customer loyalty that have endured time.

Please don’t confuse customer loyalty with customer satisfaction as they are distinctly separate issues. Loyalty is earned where customer satisfaction simply means that you didn’t screw things up to the point of driving your customer away. When someone is satisfied, they may or may not be back. On the other hand, when you have customer loyalty, not only do they return but often times, they bring their friends with them.

Sales vs. Customer Service

The entire structure of a marketing based organization can be a prelude to systemic failure for the entire organization. What do I mean by this? In simple terms, established quota's imposed upon the sales force for new clients often times overshadow efforts to enhance or maximize sales through existing clients. In almost every organization, a sales department's entire existence is based upon acquiring new, and not taking care of existing customers. Where do you think most sales departments priorities are focused?

One of the very best examples I can think of that you can immediately identify with is a car dealership. The sales manager for that dealer hired on with the explicit understanding that there are goals to be met regardless of current economic downturns, unpopularity of vehicles being offered or manufacturer defects. You can bet the General Manager for that dealership is watching the numbers and could care less about excuses.

Customer Service Definition - basic

The impetus for this article was born out of frustration while doing a Google search looking for answers to a very straightforward query, "customer service definition" or some semblance of the phrase. What I found was 21 million different answers to the same question! Holy Google Batman!

Talk about confusing, after meshing through article after article, a pattern did develop though with a common thread. The common thread being, meeting or exceeding customers needs. Now that’s more along the lines of what I expected but I still wasn't satisfied with the answer. In fact the answers were so varied and said so many different ways it made the purpose of the quest seem daunting, and the answer somewhat elusive. It was during this search among the millions of answers that an old saying crept into my conscious thought and that was:

Ten Golden Rules of Customer Service - Part 3

This is the third and final part to the Ten Golden Rules of Customer Service. As I mentioned in part 2, this is by no means a comprehensive list of customer service rules but rather some core principles that should be adhered to regardless.

I fully realize that much if not all of this has been written about ad nauseum however, the content and its format may be more suitable for some than others or points are made that I haven't read elsewhere. It's my hope that you will find value in this series of articles and if it only helps one (1) other person, then I have been successful! Feel free to leave comments and offer suggestions.

Ten Golden Rules of Customer Service - Part 2

This is the second in a three part series of the 10 Golden Rules where the list actually begins. For some, this list will be anything but comprehensive yet for others, it may be more than can be absorbed at one time.

Hopefully, there is quality information that can be gleaned from this article, even if only a small snippet or two. For those wondering, yes the list is in order of priority but my priorities will differ from yours or your circumstances.

By the way, did I say thank you? Thank you for reading and do hurry back!

Ten Golden Rules Of Customer Service - Part 1

Have you ever had a bad experience when dealing with a business? Whether that business was a brick and mortar type or a merchant online, the basic principles of service after the sale remain unchanged. Unfortunately for many, the experiences of poor customer service do to.

Despite the enormous amount of time and money that’s devoted to studying customer service in business, why is it that so many businesses are so bad at it?

The Art of Customer Service

We have all experienced it, had a disdain for it and even been frustrated by it. It is poor customer service in all of its ugly manifestations. Whether it’s from being left on hold forever or not being able to get answers to questions or worse yet, a feeling that you have somehow imposed upon a sales associates time by actually having an interest in a product they’re offering.

For many if not most of us, it seems like common sense sprinkled with common courtesy to be professional and courteous to those who have sought assistance in some form. All to often, the reality is customer service is likened to a talking point with a dose of lip smacking and a don’t bother me attitude.