Do The Unexpected by Cindy Stradling CSL, CPC
Setting your business apart from the competition begins with providing additional personal care for each customer. Today, consumers are often greeted with automatic responses and self-serve processes to address any type of question or concern with a product or service.
One of the benefits of being a customer-focused company is the attention to the individual customer. Sometimes called H2H or human to human, the goal of this type of customer service is to continually build relationships between the business and the customer, even when there are difficulties, challenges, or concerns.
Smaller businesses are often more aligned with an H2H approach and going the extra mile than a large national or international company. However, there are many examples of enterprise companies that provide their sales professionals and customer service teams with the ability to resolve problems creatively and to help address any problems the customer reports.
Even in situations where there isn’t a problem, following up with the customer, providing updates on delivery, or providing additional value makes your company stand out from others in the same industry and market.
Go Above and Beyond
Taking the extra step from doing the bare minimum to resolve the problem and help the customer is another advancement over a basic H2H approach. While not always practical for every situation, this above and beyond approach may be the ideal way to retain loyal customers or to help address concerns by cornerstone customers to the business.
Going above and beyond can look very different for specific situations. It may include the sales representative offering a significant discount or arranging for priority delivery to address the customer’s specific concerns. It could consist of a representative from the company personally delivering the product to ensure it arrives on time.
Setting Your Business Apart
Going the extra mile for the customer is not a common experience in today’s marketplace. It is something that customers remember, particularly when the gesture comes from a place of trying to correct the problem or to exceed the expectations by personally following the order or calling the customer with updates on a process or a delivery.
Regardless of the steps the company representative takes, it needs to be an authentic gesture to exceed the expectations of the customer. In essence, it focuses on the relationship between customer and company and reduces the transactional nature of doing business, which always makes a winning combination.