Everyone knows that customer service is a cornerstone of a business’s success or failure.  Statistics show that 82% of consumers in the U.S. said they stopped doing business with a company due to poor customer experience and 92% of consumers say they would go back to a company after a negative experience, if they received an apology and/or a discount and/or offered proof of enhanced customer service.

So what are you doing to provide “knock-their-socks-off” customer service?

One mistake that businesses do is to leave the customer service only to the customer service department.  Having a holistic approach to service ensures all customer touch points are covered seamlessly and with a consistent message.  We’ve all heard the phrase “the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing” — well that’s not a phrase you want to hear your customers say about you.

Tips for Creating Holistic Customer Service

• Identify all your customer touch points.  Make certain you know when and how your customer interacts with you.  Whether by phone, direct mail, web site, social media, email, snail mail, your community advertising, or your community involvement, make certain to understand how/what the customer may be needing, wanting, or asking.
• Ensure your employees are well armed with knowledge and empowerment to WOW your customer. Training is so key in this.  Each business has a brand/identity; each contact with a customer should align with that.  Your employees not only need to know your products/services inside and out, they need to understand your company’s philosophy, culture, and values.  The communications should be consistent in tone and voice.
• Anticipate what the customer may need.  Did you know that at Disney, employees actually have eye glass repair kits to ensure a guest doesn’t miss seeing any of the fun?  They anticipate that broken glasses could equal grumpy people.  How well do you anticipate what could possibly happen to interrupt a positive experience for your customers with your business and how will you be prepared to address it?
• Monitor and measure your employees’ customer contacts on a consistent basis and hold them accountable for their performance.

My wife, Cathy, and I had our first experience with Disney’s exceptional customer service when we visited Disney World for our honeymoon 30 years ago,  We’ve been back about 20 times since then with our daughters, and every visit provides a refresher of how to “do it right’.  I highly recommend reading one of Disney Institute’s books, Be Our Guest, to learn how you can work some of their ‘magic’ into your customer service program.