Pro-active Strategies

Actively look at implementing some of these proactive strategies:
1. Supplying better quality goods or over-servicing
2. Ensuring speedy delivery. If a customer orders today by direct mail, they are always impressed if the goods are there the next day. This sets the tone for the entire organization.
3. Offering after sales discounts
4. Realigning product development to customer needs. This could take the form of a pro-active questionnaire that asks the customer what they liked and did not like. And then setting a product development plan from this feedback.
5. Access to additional services or goods as a reward for being a good customer.
6. Follow up with a simple customer service call - "we care about our customer".
7. Supply a bonus gift with the sale

People Strategies

A set of guidelines should be developed for anyone that comes in contact with a customer. These guidelines should be backed by detailed training. The types of people that typically come in contact with a customer include:

1. Receptionist: Develop training and guidelines.
2. Sales people: Develop training and guidelines.
3. Technical people: Develop training and guidelines.
4. Delivery and warehouse people: Develop training and guidelines.
5. Secretary: Develop training and guidelines.
6. Telemarketers: Develop training and guidelines.
7. Accounts: Develop training and guidelines.

Review what type of customers that you have, the types of issues that these people deal with and look to develop a series of quality guidelines.

Systems - Implement and monitor the following systems

1. Customer service systems
2. Customer feedback systems
3. Regular training of staff
4. Automated survey
5. Mystery shopper
6. Employee incentive to reward high customer service
7. Automated CRM and access by all staff

Areas of Performance you should review

1. Product quality
2. Delivery
3. Courtesy
4. Professionalism
5. Product knowledge
6. Complaint resolution
7. Ease of doing business
8. Invoicing/Accounts accuracy
9. Responsiveness to enquiries
10. Stock availability
11. After sales service
12. Service versus expected service

Indicators (lagged)

1. Lost customers (churn rate)
2. Average value sale
3. Referrals
4. Average life time value
5. Product returns
6. Complaints
7. Customer re-order frequency

To view a diagram of a customer satisfaction map please click on the link below

©Peter Hickey Corprat ® Coaching - All rights reserved

Winner of the Ernst & Young NSW "Entrepreneur of the Year" award in 1999
Bestselling author and designer of a number of multi award winning business tools that are now being used by more than 60,000 companies around the world.
Founder of a software company that was listed as one of BRW's fastest growing 100 private companies in 2000. Peter successfully built the company from a one man business to a multi-million dollar concern. The company was acquired 10 years after its inception by a multi billion dollar publisher.
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