Who Stole My Crayons?

If you had to name one event that could ruin your entire day, what would it be?  I’ll throw one out for free – having a bad customer service experience.  Whether its your coveted morning latte being made with  bitter coffee (yuck!)or having to wait in the doctor’s office an hour past your appointment time,  a poor customer service experience can derail even the best business, especially in today’s environment of instant messaging.  Picture the tweet: been n Dr. Late’s office 45 min, doc MIA!   Do you think Dr. Late wants thousands of people seeing that?  Guess what, they just did. I often tell people and I’ll admit, I get on a bit of a soapbox here, customer service excellence is the single most important competitive advantage a business has.  I’ll go as far as to say, it’s the only competitive advantage a business has, in my opinion. 

I just read an interesting statistic.  According to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), in 2011, 55% of customers recommended a company because of its customer service.  Wait, there’s more –  27% of customers would pay 15% or more for a superior customer experience!  Why?  Its simple. Finding good customer service today is like trying to find a dinosaur fossil in your backyard.  The odds are against it.   You don’t want to be that business on the receiving end of angry tweets or the leader of the thumbs down club! I memorized a quote a while back that I’ll share and suggest you tatoo it on your brain…  ‘ Treat your customers like they are someone else’s.  If you don’t, they will be.’  I love that!  It’s so true.  Your customers have so many OPTIONS and they will EXERCISE them at the drop of a dime if you give them a reason to.  So you ask, how does this relate to marketing?  Great question.  Marketing falls flat if you only use it to get customers.  You should also use it to keep and serve your customers.  Brag on how many customer service awards you’ve won. Via Twitter, I just learned that one of my favorites, Emma, Inc  (@emmaemail) was just recognized for their customer service with an American Business Award.  That’s the sort of cool stuff you tweet about.  So, I’ll give you some homework. Go grab your crayons, the jumbo kind,  and map out a customer service plan that will lead to customer service excellence and retention.  If not, you may find yourself wondering who took your crayons off the table!