Is your Customer Care bank account in credit?
Jun/090
Is your Customer Care bank account in credit?
With the credit crunch biting many of us are keeping a close eye on our bank accounts lest they go into the red. If you do, be prepared for a hefty fine from the bank.
But what about our customer care bank account?
It’s a clever analogy really because it really helps us to focus on continuous good customer care. Let me explain
Last month I was on business in Ipswich and stopped off at a Travel Lodge just outside of town on the ring road. The next morning I had to be in the centre of town for a 9am start. So how do I get into the centre of a very old city? Drive? Train? Bus?
No I thought I’d try the Park and Ride.
And what a surprise. Easy to get to off the ring road with its own dedicated slip lane. Free and plenty of parking. A modern station where you could buy your ticket using credit cards and at only £2.80 return, a major bargain compared with parking costs and petrol. A smart, modern and clean bus turned up every ten minutes and whisked you into the city centre within 10 minutes as this lucky new bus had its own bus lane. How cool. Especially when I watched all those angry drivers cooped up in their cars on the journey in.
I hopped off the bus and they’ve even thought of this. The exit was exactly the same level as the pavement so no hopping required. Brilliant.
And I was at my venue for 8.15 refreshed and ready for the day.
Ipswich Park and Ride has their customer care bank account well in credit.
Expecting an equally pleasant ride home I was mistaken. Road works meant the bus-stop had been re-sited but no one had told the bus driver this as he sped past us all waiting at the temporary stop. Very frustrating. So I trudged to the next stop to catch the next one. On the way out, there was no bus lane so it took double the time to get to the station.
But do you know what? I didn’t mind. Yes these were problems; some would say deal breakers, but the park and ride were well in credit with me and I let these two items flow over me. If they hadn’t built up a credit, I doubt if I would be as so lenient.
The lesson. Make sure you always keep your customer care bank account in credit and your customers might let you off the odd slip.
Would I use the Park and Ride again? You bet I would.
Beware of Speaker Phones
Jun/090
Be careful of speaker phones or hands-free mobile phones as they might be giving your customer the wrong message.
This afternoon I was sitting in Starbucks enjoying a double espresso and the guy on the next table was using his mobile phone with his speaker enabled. I appreciate that mobile phones are supposed to give us all radiation poisoning if we press them to our ear, but the information he was giving his customer was terribly public. He didn’t seem to mind bless him, but I bet the customers did, if they knew.
Worse than that are conference facilities built into many landline phones. It might be more convenient for you to use this feature when contacting customers but again the same negative message is being given to your customer. Who else might be listening comes to mind. Besides speaker phones sound like you’re in a public lavatory.
A final phone tip for you. If you find yourself working from home and need to make prospecting or client based calls and the background noise just doesn’t work for you. Children making a noise, dogs barking and such…then download a sound file from the internet which mirrors a busy office noise and play it on your computer.
I use one and although my customers probably don’t mind where I am, the comforting office sound made me feel more relaxed and I perform better on the phone as a result. Try it – it works.