In business it’s critical to build a customer base while holding on to existing ones. Knowing what consumers are looking for in every transaction is a vital part of ensuring your business stays healthy and thrives.
The most successful businesses do a number of things and do them well. Attention to delivering premium customer service is key and its importance can not be over-emphasised. Marketing successfully with a commitment to promoting a reputation is also vital. These two things go hand in hand. If a business delivers great work or provides fantastic products – well that’s not enough. Consumers are looking for more – and they are not all focused on price.
A survey by Get Five Stars in 2016 asked ‘what are the things that cause consumers to complain’, and the results are very telling. The overriding cause for dissatisfaction was poor customer service and in most instances this was enough for a customer to stop going back to that business.
Customer service and employee behaviour causes the most complaints – 57%
“Customer service (or a lack there of) and employees behaviours dominated their thoughts and clearly outpaced the other annoyances. This isn’t a surprise and these two are tightly if not completely intertwined.”
Knowing how to introduce first-rate customer service throughout every facet of a business is thus a hugely important and beneficial factor in the overall health of a business – as is knowing how to address customer complaints, if and when they arise. For some helpful tips on doing this – go here
It’s important to remember that every transaction in business is between human beings and as such – care, respect, and attention go a long way. To put that into focus think of what the opposite does. Rudeness, indifference, avoidance and disrespect are definite turn-offs and result in lost customers and a bad reputation.
Price is not the factor we all imagine it to be
Most people are not motivated by price – and are happy to pay for top quality work with great service. Everyone has experienced what the cheapest offers – and most often than not it is substandard and lacking. Consumers do not want to go though a protracted, unpleasant job where their expectations are not met and the work requires further attention after it is completed.
“[The point] that most businesses should take heed of is that pricing is way down the lists of complaints, accounting for a mere 5% of the respondents. In the end, despite the fact that we fear we need to keep lowering our prices to keep our customers happy there are other fish to fry that are of much more importance to consumers.”
Connecting with customers is all about knowing and understanding what they want. Establishing fantastic customer service is an investment – in time and effort – that creates a wonderful reputation – that if marketed – will ensure a robust future.
NoCowboys are New Zealand’s foremost experts on online reviews and online marketing. Talk with them about how they can make your business thrive. They give free online marketing advice.
Contact NoCowboys to schedule a free consultation
