Is the Customer Still King?

It may be a cliché, but in business, the customer is king. Your customer service can define your success.

How you look after customers and clients dictates whether you retain them. It will be instrumental in attracting new business. It will determine how your firm is reviewed and perceived.

So, when it comes to customer service, don’t think of them as a mass, don’t let bureaucracy get in the way of taking care of them, and don’t lose your cool with them. Always remember that “service” is 50% of the term.

Why Customer Service Matters

Your hopes of controlling the conversation about your service to customers are in vain.

In a social media and online presence-dominated world, conversations about your business, its products, and its services are beyond your control. Perception of your brand will be shaped not by your marketing, but by how people talk about you.

Poor service makes for good content on Twitter and Facebook. Many enjoy venting at being badly served through Google and Amazon reviews. Rarely will good customer service be posted about.

If you want an example of how your brand perception is beyond your control, visit the Brands Getting Owned Twitter feed and join its 275,000 followers in laughing at corporate messaging.

Much marketing and advertising are wasted, as many people skip the ads or pay for ad-free services. There’s also a lot of cynicism toward advertising, with people much more prepared to believe a tweet from a disgruntled, anonymous customer than your costly campaign.

You also cannot rely on customer loyalty. There might have been a time when you could retain a customer for life, even if your service wasn’t great, but those days have gone.

The majority of your marketing is now done by your customers and potential customers. Despite this, businesses continue to pump out messaging in the hope of converting 1% of the audience into customers.

That means you are paying to be ignored by 99% of the audience and, potentially, annoying a great deal of them with what they see as irrelevant information. A satisfied customer will tell seven other people. Someone who is annoyed will tell 19.

The only way to retain some control of the conversation is by delivering exceptional service. Give happy clients something to tell seven friends about and don’t give the rest anything to complain about.

Make It Personal

Many brands, especially the big names, tend to think of their customers as a “mass”, not individuals. They adopt one size fits all solutions, putting cost-cutting and resource management in front of contented customers.

We need to be more personalised in how we speak to our customers. We have to remember that customer service is about their personal experience.

That doesn’t mean you have to design a different message or interaction for every customer, but that your style needs to feel personal and conversational so that it feels like you are talking directly to them.

As I said earlier, a lot of your marketing is being done by your customers. They have a query or complaint and take to platforms like Twitter. Often, these posts become a conversation: a conversation all about your business, shaping perceptions of it.

Just witness what happens when a ‘celebrity’ has an issue with a telecom or travel provider and tweets about it. Their followers pile in with similar poor experiences or simply empathise just to be part of the conversation.

This is where you can take some control of brand perception. By having a conversation with your customers, directly or via social media, you can demonstrate that your business cares, understands, empathises, and wants to find solutions.

This can help shape the public response to customer issues.

This applies to individual complaints, but can be extended to broader messaging. Turn on your antennae and do some environmental scanning.

You know what your target audience is, so understand what they care about, what their general gripes are, and how they feel their lives could be improved. Respond to these trends, show understanding, and explain how your services can be part of the solution. This creates a perception of a caring customer service philosophy.

Also, remember to ask. Don’t just tell potential and existing customers something; ask them what they want and need. Make them feel listened to, and they will reflect that they feel cared about.

Customer Service Control

When you accept that an important percentage of your marketing is beyond your control, your job becomes a little easier.

Forget the old-fashioned method of shouting at your audience about your product or service until they buy it. Instead, ask them what they want, then show them how you can fulfil that need.

You can save time and money managing big sales funnels and major advertising campaigns too. Go to where the customers are – on social media – end engage with them. Be curious, be empathetic, be interested, and be responsive.

Let them tell you what they need and what they would buy. This is a way to see a genuine RoI from focused customer service.

New Customers, New Methods

Modern customers are wise to the old tricks, like cold calling and sales scripts. You cannot afford to let internal corporate bureaucracy and old-fashioned agendas get in the way of putting customer service first.

What your business wants is no longer at the centre, if it ever was. Potential customers approach your sales pitch with caution and ask, “What’s in it for me?”. You need to answer that question before your audience finds a competitor who does.

Too many businesses have fallen into the habit of implementing internal procedures to meet their own needs. It is about staffing, resources, costs, and efficiencies. Customer service procedures should SOLELY be about serving your customers effectively and quickly.

That helps you control the external narrative. A happy customer may not share their positive experience, but they will not be able to moan about you online and damage your reputation, because you haven’t left them dissatisfied or feeling ignored.

Yes, you will come across customers who are time wasters or on the make that will take advantage of your good nature. However, the benefits of making customers feel listened to and understood should outweigh any losses.

Customer Service Conclusions

Today’s customers are less likely to be loyal to a brand or won over by generic, mass-appeal advertising.

They inhabit social media and want to be listened to, engaged with, and understood. If you fail to deliver customer service that meets their expectations, they will not just go elsewhere; they will invest time ripping up your reputation online.

Take back control by abandoning your outdated customer service methods and joining your customers where they are. Ask them questions, listen to them, talk to them, and always, always, put them first.

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Brendan Beeken FInstSMM is an Entrepreneur, Commercial Strategist, Investor, Philanthropist and the Founder and Chairman of cryptocurrency exchange Moni Talks. By sharing his business journey, both the successes and failures, and his personal values and vision, he hopes to inspire and assist fellow businesspeople and budding entrepreneurs. Find out more at brendanbeeken.com