Are your people sometimes a little complacent about the customer service they offer? How to know? Answer these quick questions . . .
1. Does the team assume the minor customer frustration points of the current customer experience are just “the way it is”?
2. Is time allocated at meetings to consider lots of little 1% improvement suggestions?
3. Is a continuous improvement kaizen mindset part of the ethos?
If you answered, yes, no, and no, then read on . . . The truth is, customer expectations constantly evolve. What was acceptable yesterday may not be, today.
To check your people are up to speed with world-class, best-practice service, have a look at your copy of the International Customer Service Standard: 2020-2025; (email us at [email protected] for a PDF of the current edition). The Standard is a checklist to help your organization identify mindset or behavior gaps.
A question we ask participants in our one-day or half-day Customer Service training workshop is, “How much can a single customer spend with your business over time?” It’s called the lifetime value of a customer; an important metric for your team to be aware of.
For example, if a customer spends $100 a week, that’s $5,200 per year. When they remain loyal to your business for five years, their lifetime value is $26,000. That’s significant revenue that can be lost if your customers don’t “feel the love”.
Lifetime value of a customer = average spend each year, multiplied by, the number of years they stay
CASE STUDY
Imagine a grandmother shopping at a toy store for gifts for her five grandchildren. If the sales assistant asks how often she’ll be buying presents for her grandchildren, she might respond with “Forever!”
Buying gifts for each grandchild twice a year (birthdays and Christmas) and spending an average of $50 per gift, that’s $500 per year. And if she continues to do this for the next 20 years, the lifetime value to the store is around $10,000.
It’s clear . . . each single customer transaction is important. The lifetime value should be considered when making decisions about how to interact with them. By showing appreciation and providing superior service, we can build long-term loyalty.
Happy customers are more likely to become repeat customers, recommend the business to others, and leave positive reviews. On the other hand, a poor customer experience can lead to lost sales, negative reviews, and damage to the business’s reputation.
When was the last time you put your customer-facing team through a Customer Service Essentials training?
And Brainpower’s program is not telling them to suck eggs! Instead it includes activities to generate lots of little 1% improvements, straight from your team, based on frontline behaviours listed in the International Customer Service Standard.
Engage the team to apply all their own do-able 1% improvements, day by day, so you can write up your own “From What, To What” case study, including examples of glowing customer compliments that suddenly start appearing.
FACE-TO-FACE OPTIONS IN YOUR WORKPLACE
Brainpower Training can come to your workplace Australia-wide to deliver an Customer Service training workshop, half-day or one-day. With expert facilitators in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Perth, we can lead a tailored face-to-face workshop in your workplace Australia-wide (or live online workshop from our video studio). Visit our web page.
