Specialty Fabrics Review November 2019 - 58

FOCUS

BUSINESS

A primary differentiator
Strategic service makes your company memorable.
BY RANDY WESTLUND

Online reviews rule
Surveys show that 90 percent of consumers read online reviews before
visiting a business, and 88 percent trust
online reviews as much as personal
recommendations. These stats show
why user reviews are critical to business success:
* Customers are likely to spend
31 percent more on a business
with "excellent" reviews.
* 92 percent of users will use a
local business if it has at least
a 4-star rating.
* 72 percent of consumers will
take action only after reading
a positive review.
www.invespcro.com/blog/theimportance-of-online-customerreviews-infographic

58 REVIEW NOVEMBER 2019

e live in a constantly connected culture of instant gratification. We want what
we want and we want it right now-with no delays. Between instant messaging,
next-day delivery and online services available 24/7, the marketplace is catering
to these demands.
Some revealing statistics show how much people have changed. If it takes a website five
seconds to load instead of just one second, there's a 90 percent increase in the bounce rate (the
probability that the person will give up and abandon the website). Forty percent of people
abandon websites that take more than three seconds to load. Think about these people in
the context of your business: These are the same people calling you about a possible job and
being put on hold. Are these really people you want to put on hold?
Another example: Think of how many companies have no-questions-asked return policies
today. It would be faster to list the few that don't. This was not the case a decade or two ago.
This kind of white-glove customer service is no longer optional-it's the baseline expectation
in the market. When your customers give you a call or walk in the door, that's the level of
service they expect from you.
How do you stack up? If you're like most of us in this industry, the answer could be: "not
great." You probably have 40 feet of filing cabinets with paper records of every job from the
past 25 years. Many are probably misfiled, never to be found again. When a customer calls
to ask if you're the company who did that job for him several years ago, you have no idea
without spending at least 30 minutes searching for the old paperwork. And when another
customer calls to ask about the status of her job, the best you can do is promise to call her back
later that day, after you've checked in with half a dozen employees.
There's definite room for improvement. What can you do to provide better customer
service? There are a number of vital strategies.
ON THE PHONE
Phone calls are critical to business-acquiring customers, keeping them updated and
following up on job performance. Whoever answers the phone should be equipped for
each job. Keep digital records of your customer history so you can pull up or create the
customer's account while you're on the phone. You should always know whether you've
talked to this person before, the status of any current jobs, and which jobs you've done for
this customer in the past.
As mentioned earlier, people are impatient. Never put customers on hold for more than
90 seconds. If it'll be longer than that, call them back (or at least give them the option). This
shows that you respect other people's time. But this shouldn't happen often, because you
should be able to answer almost any question right away.
Don't hang up without having a clear next step. If you need to schedule an appointment
for the customer to talk with one of your sales reps, schedule it before you get off the phone.
If you leave someone wondering if and when the rep will call back to schedule it, you might
lose that customer to the next company that Google™ finds.
Consider taking messages by hand rather than sending people to voicemail. Talking to a
human is a much nicer experience and shows customers that you still have time for them,
even if the person they need is not available. It also gives you the opportunity to make sure
the message is complete, with all the information you need.
Be extra polite. Smile while you're on the phone. The person on the other end will hear
it in your voice. People are very sensitive to aggravation, and if you let that creep into your
voice, that's the message the customer will receive.

http://www.invespcro.com/blog/the

Specialty Fabrics Review November 2019

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