The customer experience is the most crucial aspect of your business, beating out even your products and service offerings in the hierarchy of whether customers choose to shop with you or with a competitor. This was confirmed again by Shep Hyken, who recently put out a “special report on customer preferences, habits,” aimed “to help you create an amazing customer experience.”
Most of the conclusions found in the report will be unsurprising if you’ve listened to any word-of-mouth or read any online reviews about any business anywhere. Time after time, no matter how good the product or service is, most customers are unwilling to tolerate bad customer service, no matter what form it takes. Whether that’s discourtesy, thoughtlessness, or worse, they will tell their friends in-person and online about how negative an experience they had.
In addition to the potential damage to your business’s reputation, Hyken’s report found that a whopping 96% of customers were willing to leave your company due to that bad customer service. That’s a double punch to the gut, as you lose the existing customer as well as potential new ones due to the negative word-of-mouth.
Many business owners and managers know this, as there has been a concerted effort to improve customer service in recent years across most industries. However, Hyken also discovered that just over half of customers do not believe that customer service has improved over the last year. Now, the good news is that almost half believe that it has in fact improved, but this ratio is definitely a sign that we all need to keep striving to get better.
Of course, we all know that customer service is an investment. Businesses have to invest in training and pay employees more to retain them in order to uphold these standards. However, this report also found out this about customers: “Sixty-two percent (62%) said they would be willing to pay more versus 12% who said they wouldn’t. Twenty-six (26%) were indifferent.”
As an example, Hyken mentions Ace Hardware, a much smaller competitor to the likes of Home Depot and Lowe’s. The behemoths “have larger stores, a much larger selection of merchandise and will sometimes outspend in advertising by more than 30 times what a local Ace Hardware retailer will spend.” Oftentimes, these mega-chains have at least somewhat lower prices too because of the scale of their deals with suppliers. Nevertheless, Ace has thrived by doubling down on their “service and expertise” to set them apart. Reputation is worth more than product selection, advertising budgets, or even price.
—That’s not to say that price doesn’t matter, “but a better customer service experience will make price less relevant,” Hyken concludes.
So, reputation is a critical investment. It’s not something you can buy with some slick ads or eye-catching sales; a business has to earn it on the back of customer service, ensuring each person’s experience is extraordinary. You can’t shortcut through that, but this isn’t as complicated as it may seem. The answer is found in having high-quality employees. Not just people of high character but also of good training. To ensure both, your business needs real-world feedback that’s targeted at your customer service initiatives and sales goals. You need a partner that will help you design the right kind of program to probe, analyze, and report these findings back to you. You need mystery shopping.
At The Brandt Group, we’ve specialized in this philosophy for more than 25 years. We don’t just believe in the value of customer service, we practice it too. Reach out today and see for yourself, and together we’ll help you maintain your business’s great reputation and ensure many more years to come of profitability and success.
