Why customers (or prospects) contact your business
When a customer contacts your business, she has a need or wants; she is not contacting you because she is bored or wants to know the weather in your part of the world. She reaches out to you because she assumes you can help or point her to someone who can. And you can further think that her need is time bound; she needs an answer in an actual number of minutes, hours, or days. Your challenge is to completely and effortlessly meet her expectations.
Response time is a big deal.
As you plan your support strategy, it is essential to recognize that your customer will be mentally juggling four different times:
- When she requires closure on her issue
- When she expects closure based on her history with your company
- When you tell her she will get closure for this particular call
- When she is satisfied with the closure
This is what it looks like:
Notice that the expectations and promises are mental; the only real things are performance-based. Your customer will be stressed until the problem or need is resolved (closed). This stress is something that your business should be working very hard to eliminate in the absolute minimum time!
Minimize response time to minimize customer stress.
Step 1 – Listen carefully to your customer and repeat what you heard about her needs. Say something like, “You need to complete testing five more samples in the next 2 hours because the doctor has scheduled patient calls to discuss the test results – right?” This step is critical because it removes the stress of ambiguity – “Did he understand what I need?”
Step 2 – If the customer expresses any trepidation about your organization’s ability to satisfy her needs, you should address them with something truthful like “I just spoke to our engineer, and he is 10 minutes away from your office and has a full set of spare parts”
Step 3 – Set the expectation. Having set the stage, you should tell the customer when the engineer will arrive (worst case) and how long it will take him to confirm the problem, identify and implement a fix, and run a test sample to ensure the fix performs as expected. Summarize the time with something like “So, unless something extraordinary is going on, the instrument should be OK for patient testing in less than 2 hours from now. And Joe will stay with you while you run one or two samples to ensure everything goes as expected.”
Step 4 – Tell the engineer exactly what you promised and have him call you when the first sample has been successfully tested. Then ask to speak with the customer and ensure she is satisfied with the process. This will set the expectation for her next call.
Since expectations drive stress, making this 4-step customer communication process part of all your business communications is essential because this consistency will drive peace of mind, retention, and repeat business. It will also make all your employees feel better as they see that customers reach out to your company prepared for a positive outcome, not an argument.
It sounds so simple, but how come so many customers call and end up with very dissatisfied customers?
To read more about customer retention, click here>>
About Middlesex Consulting
Middlesex Consulting is an experienced team of professionals with the primary goal of helping capital equipment companies create more value for their clients and stakeholders. Middlesex Consulting continues to provide superior solutions to meet the needs of its clients by focusing on our strengths in Services, Manufacturing, Customer Experience, and Engineering. If you want to learn more about how we can help your organization increase customer retention, please contact us or check out some of our free articles and white papers here.