How to Create Killer Customer Service and Explode Your Profits

Did you know the #1 killer of any business is...

POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE!

Killer customer service kills customer killers!

Say that five times fast.

In other words, when you create a well-trained, customer service oriented offensive team, you will destroy the very fungus that kills your business.

Beyond a quality product or service, customer service is the #1 killer of great companies.

You will see it from the small mom-and-pop shop to the largest multi-billion-dollar corporations around the world!

Overhead, high manufacturing costs, taxes, and demand all impact the bottom line and the profit margin. But, in reality, satisfied customers will offset all the costs of doing business when you treat them with dignity, build trust, and maintain your relationship with integrity.

What Customer Service IS NOT…

• Customer service is NOT a department!

• Customer service is NOT a role or job title!

• Customer service is NOT a belief that the customer is ALWAYS right!

Customer Service IS…

• Customer service IS THE most important focus!

• Customer service IS forming a relationship between EVERY customer and EVERY employee!

• Customer service IS building loyal customers and creating sustainability!

• Customer service IS your path to success!

Customers are your employers. Without them, your business would never exist or cease to exist. Although customers are NOT always right and demanding customers with unreasonable requests can greatly impact your business, the priority in every business is to create loyal customers, who in turn will solidify your place in the market.

Excellent customer service involves more than a happy personality.

Formula: People Skills + Expertise + Quality = Excellent Customer Service

Price is NOT the highest factor in customer satisfaction. People will pay a higher price for good quality AND excellent service.

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Case in point: Chick-Fil-A vs. McDonalds (or other comparable fast food restaurant)

Chick-Fil-A McDonalds

Price: $$ Price: $ Quality of Product: A Quality of Product: C Menu: Limited Menu: Vast Customer Service: A+ Customer Service: D- Management: A Management: D Knowledge of Product: A Knowledge of Product: B Cleanliness: A Cleanliness: D Speed of Delivery: B+ Speed of Delivery: C Accuracy of Order: A Accuracy of Order: D

**Note - this is not a scientific research study or poll. It is strictly based on my own personal experiences and grading system.

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Summary:

Although Chick-Fil-A has a basic, limited menu of products compared to McDonalds’ much more diverse menu, the quality of Chick-Fil-A’s product, service, speed and accuracy far surpass that of McDonalds. The employees at Chick-Fil-A from manager to front counter staff all seem very attentive, hard-working, positive, and end each request with “my pleasure,” leaving the customer feeling cared for.

McDonalds, on the other hand, often leaves the customer feeling frustrated because of unprofessional shenanigans taking place behind the counter by employees who seem to care less about their appearance, the customer, and the service provided. Not only does it take forever to get your “fast” food order, more often than not, I have found the order to be inaccurate and not what I ordered.

Add to that the cleanliness of the facilities, and you’ll discover Chick-Fil-A’s commitment to provide almost hospital-like cleanliness versus McDonald’s slum-like venue where customers should bring their own bottle of hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes if you plan on eating in.

Chick-Fil-A’s prices are slightly higher than their competitors, and they are closed on Sundays, which normally serves as the biggest money-making day of the week for restaurants. Yet, even with Chick-Fil-A’s insistence on closing Sundays to give their employees time off to worship, Chick-Fil-A’s profits and popularity sky-rocket over their competitors, who are all open on Sundays and have lower priced menus.

Why is this? It’s a very simple solution. Chick-Fil-A honors their employees, offers impeccable training, and makes customer service their number one priority. Customers overlook the higher priced menu, slightly slower wait times to get fresher food, and even the Sunday closures because they know they can always count on Chick-Fil-A to provide the best service.

There is much to be learned by modeling Chick-Fil-A, yet nearly none of the other fast food chains have bothered to evaluate why Truett Cathy’s empire continues to grow and customers flood this ever-popular option for fast food.

Aside from poorly trained employees with carefree attitudes manning the front lines of customer service, they are a clear reflection of out-of-touch managers and senior officials in a number of industries.

So often you hear about even the largest companies laying off employees and closing branch offices or stores because the “demand” for their product or service is no longer there, or some other excuse.

In reality, I have discovered most managers and leadership teams are poor customer servants. They lack excellent customer service and people skills themselves, and train their subordinates in the same manner.

Furthermore, they THINK they know what is important to customers without fully getting in the trenches and seeing it from the customer’s perspective.

Despite all the trash on television, one TV show, “Undercover Boss,” on ABC-TV, owned by none other than customer service gurus, Disney, is a great undercover expose for CEOs and leaders of companies who are often very disconnected report readers than hands-on analyzers with the actual know-how to operate their very basic processes. This TV show uncovers a lot of issues not only at the first line of defense, but all the way up to C-level management.

Frankly, I think every C-level manager should go undercover at least once per year to discover the areas their companies are lacking and need improvements, even without TV cameras.

And, I guarantee the area they need to focus most on is customer service.

For more information on Creating Killer Customer Service, CLICK HERE.