Customer Satisfaction: Seven action items to make you stand out

Oh, the joy of humming along with those great songs, the hits, wonderfully re-mastered instrumental versions, especially the electronic tonal beats that play over and over through the filtered telephone interface as we wait for the service attendant to finally click on and tell us the conversation will be recorded for training purposes. That begs the question, "What customer satisfaction training are you guys doing?"

This sequence is really aggravated when our friend from Bangladesh informs us that the question we called about an hour earlier can be answered on the FAQ page of the company website. But then, you've read the FAQ and the thing still doesn't work, which was the motivation to call in the first place.

Customer service hell seems to win the day. However, did we as consumers get what we asked for? How many times has the comb-over salesperson at the department store greeted you with, "Can I hep' ya?"

Then we, in our monotone comeback, said it too many times, "No thanks. Just looking."

After this dialogue became the plague of big business, some business school grad came up with the earth shaking term, "Self serve."

Long gone are the days when service stations actually dealt any service and instead chose to be the distribution system of Gummy Bears and Moon Pies, and oh yes, some gas for you car to go along with that giant gulp of sugar laden syrup we call soft drinks.

Is there a business model for true customer satisfaction? We need to think in those terms because if you study the facts, customer service can be a defining moment in boosting the bottom line. Check these stats from The White House Office of Consumer Affairs.

•91% of unhappy customers will never purchase services from you again.

•For every customer who bothers to complain, there are 26 others who remain silent.

•Each one of your customers has a circle of influence of 250 people or potential customers who hear bad things about you.

•It costs about five times as much to attract a new customer as it costs to keep an old one.

These statistics demonstrate how important customer retention is, especially considering the high cost of new customer acquisition.

What can we do better? Service really is simple as a few things your mom may have told you. The word, "Service" spells out seven action steps that will make you stand out.

Say 'Thank You.' Be sure to include 'You'

Engage your customers and prospects with an honest display of care for them.

Respond quickly with a sense of urgency to fix any problem.

Value your customers and prove that you care about them with a gift, a new service, and something of value.

Invest in their 'word of mouth' by offering an incentive to tell a friend.

Call your customers before they call you. The power of a courtesy call, in the true sense of real courtesy and not telemarketing, can go a long way.

Extra mile power. As Napoleon Hill taught, go the extra mile. This was one of his 17 principles that proves value to customers and prospects that you want to earn their business. Giving more than promised, even before the sale, is magic.

Imagine your success when you develop a plan to super serve your customers. If you were a customer of your business, right now, what would you feel about the service you get.