Great Customer Service Is Your New Competitive
In the security guard industry, where low price bidders continue to drive down billing rates, companies are increasingly looking for ways to develop a competitive advantage. In this industry, there are six main ways to build a competitive advantage:
Of these six, superior customer service is the most immediately attainable and impactful.
It is a common misperception that pricing is the most critical factor in determining whether your customers stay or leave. But research continues to show that customer service is generally the most pivotal component of a customer’s decision to leave. So let’s look at what it takes to wow your customers with customer service.
In order to make customer service a competitive advantage, we first need to understand what it is. Even though the term customer service has no universal definition, customer service is usually implemented according to one of three models. These models are generally determined by the level of involvement and commitment to the customer service plan.
Customer service as a task. This particular model of customer service treats the customer service function as a set of specific tasks that need to be performed to appease customers. At this level of involvement, departments are assigned to handle customer issues and complaints.
Customer service as a metric. This customer service model focuses on evaluating customer service based on metrics. These metrics may include measurements such as the percentage of positive surveys or client retention rate. While this model is better than treating customer service as a task, in order to make it a competitive advantage your company needs to see past the metrics. It is critical that you ensure that the metrics are leveraged into creating satisfied customers. Satisfied customers are the only way to truly achieve overall success.
Customer service as a mantra. When you adopt great customer service as a mantra, it elevates the customer service responsibility across your entire company. It also helps ensures that everyone is focused on achieving the highest levels of customer satisfaction. When customer service becomes a mantra, your whole organization becomes committed to the idea of providing great customer service as a part of every process. Every department will begin to focus on developing ways to ensure a great customer experience when dealing with clients.
If you commit to making customer service your competitive advantage, here are a few tips that are applicable to every department within your organization:
If your organization is truly committed to making customer service your competitive advantage, ensure that every interaction with your customers adds benefit to the relationship and maximizes its value.
It would be nice if customer service were always about your company being the good guy who helps your customer by demonstrating your value and being a partner in problem solving. However, there will be times when an officer makes a mistake. When this happens, you need to be prepared to respond in a way that demonstrates to your customer your commitment to providing excellent service and value.
