Sometimes, it’s hard to beat the classics. Monica Brubaker, of Eloquent Media Solutions, explains why some of the most old-fashioned notions of customer service are still essential to crafting your image.
It’s important to keep your business in the forefront of a potential customer’s mind. To do so, sometimes you need to resort to some good, old-fashioned tricks that have never truly gone out of style. I think you’ll find the staples of excellent customer service can procure new customers/clients while keeping your current customer base happy.
Yes, it’s 2021 but that does not mean that old, solid marketing and advertising platforms should be forgotten. This year, dust off that old advertising and marketing plan and recall what made your business successful in years past. If you are a newer business, maybe these more-mature marketing and advertising techniques are just what your business model needs to help support a more solid customer base this year.
Real people, real results: Have a real, live, and pleasant person answer phones, greet prospective customers/clients, and funnel requests, concerns and professional transactions to whomever can make it happen. We call that the security blanket. Customers still understand that a real person is their lifeline to getting the results they desire.
Instill customer confidence: If your company is using a voicemail system, make sure it is user-friendly. Forget the long, drawn-out, infinite menu of pressing 1 through forever and then disconnecting the confused caller with that famous “goodbye.”
This approach conveys to your customer that you’re not really interested in resolving their concern. Instead, it says, “Yes, if you do business with us you can expect a lot of technology that wastes hours of your time.”
How about this, instead: Start your voicemail message with a short, pleasant greeting. If you’re telling someone their call is important, make sure you really mean it. Offer no more than five choices in the automated system, and make sure each one will offer a path to resolution. If not, change your business model and hire a real, live person who can facilitate calls.
Highly recommended referrals are golden: The best kinds of customer reviews are those that haven’t been doctored or bought on the internet. This means you need real people who have used your product or service. Real references who will not mind a prospective new client or customer reaching out to them for an analysis on your product or service.
Appreciation makes an impression: Reward current customers/clients with incentives in the same way you offer promotions and discounts for new customers. Your current clients and past clients are the foundation of your business. Make sure they know it! There is no better marketing or advertising program than happy, loyal customers.
Commit to excellence and reap the benefits: Educate your current customer/client base and demonstrate how you will exceed their expectations beyond your competition. Internal marketing and advertising are every bit as important as a good promotional mix marketing and advertising program. Your external marketing and advertising program may include print, outdoor, cable, radio and social media.
You may want to consider an inside marketing and advertising program. A marketing and advertising teambuilding coach for your business and staff can make a huge difference in the way new customers/clients and your current customer/client base view your product or service.
Remember that, as simplistic as it may seem, excellent customer service is the cornerstone to building and maintaining a brand that is second to none!
Monica Brubaker is the principal of Eloquent Media Communications, an advertising and marketing firm. Monica previously was President of New Life Printing & SERVICES.
She spent more than two decades in the printing, advertising, marketing and publishing business. Monica headed up the Business Connector Radio Talk Show, authored thousands of articles for several magazines and for a decade hosted The Business Connector Magazine business symposium and networking events.
A former critical care nurse with vast experience in health care marketing, she has assisted clients in many industries in connecting with their target markets and increasing their bottom line. Contact Monica at [email protected].