Consistency Lends Comfort to Customers

Consistency Lends Comfort to Customers

Customers like to know what they are getting – and they like to know that they are getting something good when they interact with your company.

I was talking to one of my team mates yesterday about a report he was working on. In the spirit of practicing what we preach and of continuous improvement, we were discussing some positive changes we could make to the monthly Service Quality Assessment report for our client. When you report data on a regular basis, it’s easy for the data, the charts, the graphs, and the issues to feel stale after a while. We were discussing ways to bring a fresh approach to the report for the client. At the same time, I don’t want to make a complete visual overhaul, either.

One of the reasons for having a quality program, for monitoring your customer’s experience, for coaching your employees towards a common service delivery is that you create a customer experience that the customer can count on. The customer feels safe interacting with your company. They know what they’re going to get.

Nothing destroys customer loyalty like an inconsistent experience. If I call your company today and get your best CSR on the phone, I’m going to walk away feeling GREAT. I might even give you some positive world-of-mouth to my friends, family and colleagues. But now the bar has been set. I have an EXPECTATION of the service I’m going to receive when I call again.

Now I call your company back and get one of your worst CSRs on the phone. Not only have I had a poor experience, but you have DISAPPOINTED me by falling far below my expectations. That’s a double-ding to my customer satisfaction.

Raising your service delivery to a consistent, World-class level requires:

• an understanding of your customer’s expectations
• defining the service experience you want to deliver every time
• monitoring actual customer experiences on a regular basis to know where you stand
• constantly coaching your people toward the goal