How Do You Make Customers Feel Valued?
“People will forget what you say but never the way you make them feel.” says Robin Seiger, the author of “Natural Born Winners”. I recently experienced this first-hand with Charles Tyrwhitt – a men’s and women’s outfitters with stores in the UK, USA and France.
I had ordered some shirts which arrived with minimal delay
and have enjoyed wearing them since.
What I didn’t expect was that one week later a letter would arrive in my
letterbox. This was signed by the head
of Charles Tyrwhitt and started by thanking me for buying. It then went on to tell me about the
company’s ethos and asked if I had any comments that I would like to share
(giving an email address for the head of the company).
Enclosed with the letter was also a voucher offering me
£10 off my next purchase.
I sent some comments off to the email address and thought
that I would hear no more. How wrong I
was. Within the same day, a charming
reply came back thanking me for my comments and answering the points that I had made.
In short, Charles Tyrwhitt took the time to make me feel valued.
There are very few companies that actually manage this critical part of
customer relations. Of course, some have
thousands of transactions a day, so could not possibly be expected to write to
each and every buyer (or could they, given modern technology?).
What did Charles Tyrwhitt do? They:
·
Delivered high quality goods quickly;
·
Thanked me for my business;
·
Asked what I thought of them;
·
Replied instantly after I had sent my comments;
·
Made me feel valued.
It made me wonder how often I make my clients (actual and
prospective) feel valued when they deal with me. Do they feel valued, or like “just another
number”. I want to ensure that it’s the
former. I’ve also listed what I must do
to make sure that they always feel this way:
·
Always take the time to listen (you never know if
they’ll be the ones to recommend you to others);
·
Always take the time to thank them for their
enquiry or business;
·
Do it quickly;
·
Do something extra to show my gratitude (not
sure I can afford £10 every time);
·
Thank them for feedback (both positive and
negative) promptly and act on it.
Just because a company doesn’t write to thank me every time
I buy from them doesn’t mean I won’t continue using them, but the ones that go
that extra mile will be the ones that I remember and recommend to others. What better (and free) PR could you have than
a loyal customer shouting your name from the rooftops?
I have spent more than half my life working in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in the world financial services industry running different service, operations and lending businesses, I started my own Performance Management Consultancy and work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email . My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.
Labels: Customer Care, Selling, Strategy, Teamwork
posted by William Martin @ 16:06
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