How Do You Treat Your Customers?

Posted by Arshad Merali on October 8, 2007

3 comments | 3723 reads

Some companies really value their customers while others see them as a necessary evil… where does your organization sit?

If you’re like me, you know the value of your customers, and you maintain a focus on them.

One of the things I learned early in my career is the power of a handwritten card. Usually I receive bills in the mail and most of my life is handled through email, so when I receive a handwritten card in the mail… it gets my attention. And knowing that, I try my hardest to send out handwritten cards every month.

The results are amazing! I usually get a call or email form the recipient… they go out of their way to contact me, just to say thanks. Now that’s powerful customer relationship management! Not only does it put me front and center in their mind, it helps bring us closer together, and makes us both feel better about knowing each other… knowing each other as people not business associates!

So if you want to take your customer relationships to a whole new level, I suggest you try this out… let me know how it goes.

Arshad Merali

Arshad Merali, former COO of WebHosting.com and CEO of Aracnet Internet Systems, is a world-class business executive and serial entrepreneur with a passion for sharing his lessons and experiences with other business owners around the globe. Look for his book, Wow Squared: How To Really Wow Your Customers.

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Ginny

October 10, 2007

Agree...

I completely agree and have seen firsthand the power of a handwritten note. Knowing that someone took the time to sit down and craft a handwritten note warms the heart of the recipient and is a way of affirming their value. Long live the handwritten note!

Gwynne Young

October 10, 2007

Get the basics right first, though

After a pleasant visit at a store where we made quite a few purchases, we received a handwritten note from a salesman. He thanked us for our business, commented on our favorite football team and invited us to come back. And you're right, we were left with really good feelings. Unfortunately, the service we received from the company as a whole was, at best, uneven and, at worst, a nightmare.

Things we ordered never arrived. We'd get a phone call telling us that a part had arrived, but when we'd show up to buy it, no one would be able to find it. We'd be told to come back when the employee who had placed the order was in. People would be curt and downright rude.

In the end, I would gladly have foregone the note and just had consistent good service. A handwritten note is great if you've done everything else right. But the thing I harp on over and over again is that I see few companies I do business with doing all the basics right. I don't need to be wowed. I just need to be satisfied.

Gwynne Young, Managing Editor, CustomerThink

Graham Hill

October 10, 2007

Back to Basics

Gwynne

This is a commoner problem than you may think.

As Patrick Barwise in his excellent book Simply Better points out, businesses need to get the business basics running reliably - the things that satisfy customers - before moving on to the niceties that can deliver customer delight.

Far too much management time is wasted by this ludicrous pusuit of transient customer delight, without fixing the broken processes, inequitable outcomes and sometimes downright rude staff that fail to deliver even basic satisfaction.

It's time to get back to business basics.

Graham Hill
Independent CRM Consultant
Interim CRM Manager

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