What are customers turned off by? What’s the importance of good customer service?
In today’s fiercely competitive marketplace, businesses that fail to deliver exceptional service are destined for irrelevance. According to hotel manager Horst Schulze in Excellence Wins, this is because lackluster service can drive away even your most diehard fans.
Continue reading to learn why every business needs to invest in exceptional customer service.
Why Customer Service Is Important
According to Schulze’s opinion on the importance of good customer service, any business that wants to be successful must prioritize retaining its existing customers. Loyal customers are valuable—they’ll consistently choose your brand over your competitors and recommend it to their friends and family.
The key to retaining loyal customers is consistently providing them with a better experience than they can get anywhere else. Learn what they want most from your company, and make it your top priority to give them the best possible version of it.
Schulze notes that most businesses don’t focus enough on retaining loyal customers. Often, when companies become successful, they start skimping on product quality or service standards to reduce costs. Doing so spoils their core brand experience, causing them to lose their customers’ loyalty.
Even minor mistakes can drive away loyal customers, contends Schulze. Small oversights or lapses in cleanliness, professionalism, and attention to detail are enough to make customers question a company’s overall quality and trustworthiness. For example, if a worker at a restaurant fails to adequately clean the bathrooms, customers may start questioning the restaurant’s overall quality standards.
(Shortform note: Why would a successful company start cutting corners on the products or services that first made them successful? According to Jim Collins in How the Mighty Fall, the first phase in a company’s decline is overconfidence. If you’re a market leader (dominant in your industry), it’s easy to assume that everything your company does will automatically work out. Collins argues that to combat overconfidence, companies need to obsess over their “flywheel,” the few elements of their core business that propel their success. In the service industry, this involves attending to the details that drive a positive customer experience, like cleanliness and professionalism.)
| Don’t Create Loyal Customers, Create Superfans In Superfans, Pat Flynn argues that companies should do more than just retain loyal customers—they should inspire superfans who integrate the brand into their daily lives and identities. These superfans are not only loyal to your brand and will tell their loved ones about it, as Schulze describes, but they also travel for events related to your brand, buy branded merchandise, stay engaged online, and form communities with other fans. For instance, companies like Apple, LEGO, and Harley-Davidson have superfans. To turn regular customers into superfans, you must consistently offer them positive experiences, as Schulze notes. However, Flynn contends that you also need to forge personal connections with your customers: They need to feel seen, heard, and understood by your brand. One way to do this is by making yourself the relatable face of your brand. When you open up about your personal experiences or passions, customers see you as someone they can connect with. In your marketing messages, talk about your favorite hobbies, significant life experiences, or even your daily routines. |
