by Philip Lop

Created on: July 20, 2011   Last Updated: July 21, 2011

Great customer service is disappointingly rare. For businesses, the constant competing demands of budget, processes and people can relegate customer service to an all-but forgotten place in the company strategy. Despite the fact that nearly everybody recognizes what ‘great’ customer service looks and feels like, in the real world it is still far harder to find than it should be. 

Great customer service gives business a competitive edge. It can break down price barriers. Very often, customers are willing to pay more for a product if it comes with great service. When new products are launched, customers will be drawn to the providers that gave them great service before. For any business, those are compelling arguments to maximize every service opportunity available. So how do you go about delivering great customer service?

Design your business around your customers

Put your customers at the heart of everything you do. When designing new products or processes, tirelessly consider how it feels to be a customer. Make planning decisions based on the customer impact. If the work isn’t going to benefit your customers, why bother? Fully embed these values in every part of your business, from the front end to the back end, from the top to the bottom. You can only deliver great customer service if it is fundamental to everything that everybody does.

Become thirsty for feedback and act upon it

Your customers are your greatest source of business intelligence. They can tell you what works and what needs improving. They will provide you with information that can help you refine your product design to be its absolute best. They can anticipate unforeseen needs and demands. They are the barometer of your market performance. You must, therefore, listen to them at all times in every way possible. Harness the interactive capabilities of social media, run customer focus groups, send out surveys and work tirelessly to gather data about what your customers are thinking. This is not a one-off process. This is an entire way of working and should form part of your culture.

Understand your customers

You cannot deliver great customer service if you do not understand your customers. Collecting and reviewing feedback is one way to do this, but you must also track what it is that your customers are doing on an ongoing basis. Develop a strong analytical capability that gives you access to the right customer data. Monitor their actions and their responses to key business

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