I made a thread today right after an awful experience I had with popular tech company. It was a heat of the moment 'thread' but alas, I think I can flip this into a fantastic lesson for anyone looking at how to win in business in 2024...
So a quick backstory, I was in business for myself for well over 2 decades. Plenty of wins during those years but even more losses. One of the things I always made sure was a priority was customer service. When others ignored it, I made it a priority. When people did the bare minimum, I made sure our company went above and beyond.
And anytime I put customer service on the back burner, results fell sharply. I learned my lesson over the years, so overall throughout those two decades plus...Making sure my customers where treated with the upmost respect was my mission. I wanted them to feel valued above anything else they had experienced online.
So back to the experience I had today....It was awful. I had to jump through hoops, the website kept crashing when i tried to log in, and the product they promised to ship me, never showed up after months of them saying they shipped it.
Now this wasn't some Mom & Pop shop, this was a multi-national corporation that put customer service on the bottom of their priority list. And it was obvious that they did....
So wanna know the secret to winning in business in 2024?
Wanna know how to separate yourself from basically everyone out there....
Treat your customer good.
Seems so simple but my goodness, you would be blown away at how many companies treat customers like commodities, instead of valuable assets they need to treasure. Mind blowing in fact.
And this doesn't require huge capital, unless you are of course...A multi national company lol
Here's some tips I used over the years:
If possible, put a phone number on your website. Now this may not be an option for everyone but wow, I can't begin to describe what a difference this made. And here's the best thing, I put my personal phone number on my websites for years and the amount of sales this translated into was insane. The reason why? No one else in my industry seemed to put their number on their sites.
If you have a support desk / ticket system in place, respond ASAP! That doesn't mean 'we will get back to you in 24-48 hours' that means...Right away. Make answering support tickets a priority!
When people are reaching out to support they are usually (not always) upset or missing something they thought they would receive. Know this going into any customer service experience and remain calm. Work with the customer to make them a raving fan!
Highlight your best customers! Remember, they are your lifeblood. So show them tokens of appreciation at every turn.
Do things that they don't expect! I used to send physical post cards to my customers, I'd send them books, tech products heck, I even set up a frequent flyer program LOL Honestly, we did!!! We just wanted our customers experience to be incredible!
The general idea of this post is simple...Make your customers a priority and you will absolutely blown away the competition.
Remember, the reason this will work is because most companies treat customers as commodities. Don't do that and you'll win!!