Here at Totem Marketing we include customer satisfaction as a part of your overall marketing strategy. It might sound obvious, but being aware of what customer service standards reflect your brand is important. These standards are also something every staff member should be aware of, be aligned with and actively support through their work practice.
We look at different considerations across your business – where to find your customer feedback, how to manage the entire process, how to plan for strong loyalty and engagement and how to bring your team into the journey. Recently, I was a part of a brilliant example of this, which I want to share with you.
It started off horribly, even by bad customer service standards. A delivery driver was aggressive, both verbally and physically, to a work colleague of mine. He arrived in a rage, caused a huge racket and started physically intimidating my colleague to the point where we stood in a nearby room together until he left. It was pretty scary stuff.
We then discovered the delivery driver had dropped the parcels off only to take them back once we had left the room. He drove an unmarked van and we had no way of identifying him or who he worked for. We rang the supplier of the goods – an online wine store.
Thanks to some investigating on their end we were able to find out where our wine parcels had been taken and collect them. It was a rather nasty experience made better by some friendly, helpful and fast service by the wine supplier.
Usually, that would be it.
As customers this was all we were expecting.
The delivery company was a third party and this individual driver was no way reflective of either business – the wine company nor the delivery company. However, a few hours later, a massive bunch of flowers arrived. The wine company had sent my colleague a little thank you – for her custom, for bringing the issue to their attention and for the opportunity to do something about it.
For this to happen, an internal process is in place.
The person on the help desk taking our initial query about the stolen parcels was able to not only solve our case, but then start a new process of redemption.
They were empowered to make decisions to take this situation to a better place. Whether they ordered the flowers or someone else in their team did is irrelevant – they knew there was an option to not just fix the problem but leave us in a better place from when the phone call was first made.
To say we were impressed was an understatement.
Good customer service is delivering on what your customers expect.
Outstanding customer service is taking it that next step further and surprising them with how much you, as a business, actually care and value them in return.