CPN Monthly: Embrace the Concept of Service Leadership for Custom Kitchen Cabinetry Part 1.
Are ALL of your customers 100% referenceable?
A focus on customer experience is critical to the success of any business. Amidst today’s many challenges, it has never been more important for providers of custom kitchen cabinetry or other service oriented professions, to understand your customers and to be able to build a foundation of intimacy and trust with them which is vital to their long-term satisfaction. In short, satisfied customers generate more revenues than dissatisfied ones!
“The three most important things you need to measure in business are customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and cash flow.” Jack Welch – Lessons for Success, 1993.
The comment sums up Welch’s no-nonsense, clear-eyed view of the shift in power from supplier to the customer that underpinned his 20-year reign at the head of industrial giant GE. By pairing customer satisfaction with employee satisfaction and cash flow, Jack Welch demonstrates his acute awareness that sustainable customer satisfaction must be achieved in a reality where you cannot dedicate unlimited amounts of money and time to it. He also realizes that having loyal, referenceable customers will not be realized by just satisfying the customers, but also the employees and partners that interact with them.
Customer satisfaction and retention drive profits and most surveys across industries show that keeping one existing customer is five to seven times more profitable than attracting one new one. A study published in the Harvard Business Review found that “companies could improve profits by at least 25% just by reducing customer defections by 5%.” (Zero Defections: Quality Comes to Service Harvard Business Review 9/1/1990 by Frederick F. Reichheld). At the same time, according to Frederick Reichheld’s 1996 book The Loyalty Effect, the average U.S. Company loses half of its customer base every five years.
--So what are some things that will make a difference?
Great People Make the Difference
With this type of data, more companies are recognizing just how important a deliberate and intentional customer-focused culture is, particularly is you are selling custom cabinetry on the web; but few companies actually do it well. The truth about extraordinary customer experiences is that they are not delivered by high tech gadgetry, but by talented, caring people who connect with customers one-on-one. Therefore, extraordinary customer service focuses on the critical role of employee engagement and exceptional customer service as a competitive advantage in the business landscape.
Knowing Your Customers Make the Difference
In addition, great customer experiences cannot be delivered without an in depth knowledge of your customers wants and needs. The most effective way to establish service leadership is to have an obsessive focus on all information surrounding the customer at all contact points. At each contact point, whether offline of online, minimizing customer confusion, frustration and disengagement through optimal content delivery is more important than ever.
Giving Good Reasons to Stay Make the Difference
Studies show that customers are usually lost for three primary reasons: bad service, bad products, and competition. The bottom line is that if you don't give your customers some good reasons to stay, your competitors will give them a reason to leave. Intuit founder Scott Cook once said “if you can’t please your current customers, you don’t deserve any new ones.”
Going the Extra Mile Will Make the Difference
If you are a home improvement professional, always be prepared to go one step further in making the customer experience better as it is more important than ever to keep the customer not just happy, but excited about the quality of their experience because that translates into loyalty. The bottom line is that excellent customer service will not be realized without everyone in the company working within a strong consumer-centric culture that begins its focus at the beginning of the buying process and continues for life.
This commitment will always seek to view business processes from the customers’ eyes and treats each customer as a valuable and familiar client with whom a long-term relationship has been built.
What Other Ideas Do You Have That Will Make a Difference in Making Customers 100% Referenceable?
Crossroads Custom Cabinetry redefines the U.S. cabinet industry by making premium quality, custom cabinetry widely available at greatly reduced prices. Webinetry.com is a completely new portal for the way today's American consumer can research, preview, budget, and finalize their cabinet purchasing decisions. With our professional network, home improvement professionals enjoy a flow of free qualified sales leads, member pricing and innovative sales support tools that are designed to achieve an optimal selection process with the homeowner.