Creating Effective Word of Mouth (WOM) About Your Customer Service Edge 32/101

Customer Service Help Word of Mouth

Forget About SEO if You Have Lousy Customer Service.  Word of Mouth Still Rules

 

How Do You Project Customer Service?

 

Ask yourself this very simple question:  How would your best customer describe your customer service to a friend?  Would they say something vague like they have great customer service or would there be something concrete they could point to?


    ✓    WalMart had their greeter and still have their always-in-stock reputation
    ✓    In 'N Out Burgers has employee smiles and super clean facilities
    ✓    Constant Contact has amazing warm and helpful humans on the phone
    ✓    And then there are the Apple stores and the genius bar
    ✓    Costco gets you through the check out line like no other store

No matter how small your company is, you can do the same thing.  Evaluate the thing or things you believe your clients would appreciate in the realm of customer service.  Can you train your troops to deliver that level of service on a consistent basis?  Or you could come at the issue from the opposite direction.  What aspect of customer care can you be 100% positive that you can deliver on each and every day?

Where can you start looking for possibilities.  How about the list above.  Could you have a staff where everyone is optimistic, smiling, and pleasant every single day no matter what they are faced with?  Could you have a policy of warmly greeting people within 30 seconds of entering the door?  Could those who answer the phone be trained to be engaging, happy to help, well trained to get answers quickly and courteously?  Could you offer faster results than others … every time?

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Don't Wait for Your Customers to Tell Others About Your Customer Service Edge.  Project It

Once you have a customer service edge in place, don't count on your customer to create their own headline about it.  Help them with a memorable name for your "difference."  Publicize it everywhere, even on your business cards.  Obviously you need to train it and retrain it.  Everyone needs to be on board with the idea.  Use motivational tools to reward those who most exemplify the new idea. 

Now generate testimonials that use your key phrase.  These reviews could show up on Yelp and Google Places, but also on your own website, blog, and on signage in the store.  Make the difference and the testimonials part of mailers, print ads, and even include them in your YouTube videos. 

Great customer service should be an end in itself, and it will generate good WOM if you are consistent, but you can multiply the effect by calling attention to your customer service difference so that your extended sales force has your pitch on the tip of their tongue.

Go back and review  Customer Service fundamentals

If you need a part-time VP of marketing that can help you with everything you see on this blog and more, give me a call.  Our customer service edge:  I answer the phone 310-910-1848