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How to Increase Customer Loyalty and Increase Profitabilty
Discover the benefits of customer focus and the link with customer loyalty and profitability.. Has this ever happened to you? You are in a restaurant (or a store or a winery) All you want is to be provided the service that such a business is there to provide. The person serving you is preoccupied with something other than serving you. Then when you are served, you might get an insincere apology for the delay - or perhaps not even that. I was recently in a Sonoma establishment, and although all three people in my party had empty wine glasses for quite awhile, the young woman behind the bar was too busy chatting up another customer to bother with our group. And we were the only other customers in the place at the time! I might add that none of us has been back, nor will we be back in the near future. An unfortunate reality for that business owner. And guess what? He or she doesn't even know that they've lost our business. Most people will probably tell you that good service is just common sense. They would also invariably say "For something so common, it sure is hard to find!" Research from a litany of reliable sources tells us that the primary reason that customers switch their loyalty from one establishment to another, in the range of 40% to 68%, is because of a perceived attitude of indifference on the part of the service provider. Sure, some leave because of price, or product quality, or other personal reasons; but the vast majority leave because of Poor Service. Customers tend to look at value from four perspectives: * Price The quality of products/items and services continues to improve universally. Competitors have developed the ability to duplicate even the most complex of products, menu items or concepts. Innovation attracts younger consumers but no sooner do we see one innovation, than someone else comes along, clones it and makes it better. Or comes along with an even more cutting edge concept. Developing a competitive advantage based solely on product quality and/or innovation is very difficult. And sustaining it is very expensive. You will also find that there is more price parity today than ever before. Very few places can compete for long using price as a differentiating factor. By shifting your emphasis to service quality, you will find the greatest room for differentiation. For most companies, customer loyalty is the key to future profitability and growth. Corporate newsletters, national periodicals, and most executive speeches are peppered with a litany of examples demonstrating the relationship between customer loyalty and profitability. If you accept that this symbiotic relationship exists between customer loyalty & profitability, what are you doing to control it? You need to know how your customers perceive you. This is so easily acheived; Ask Them To Tell You. I would tell the business owner in the story up above if they had asked me - giving them a chance not only to ask for my business again, showing me that they care, but also to train their staff so that it doesn't happen again. But they haven't asked. And they will no doubt lose others - over and over again, in the same manner. And never even know. Clearly, customers value service and whether they get good service or not, they expect it. If they don't receive service at a level that meets their expectations, they will go elsewhere until they find it. Whether the economy is on the down swing or the upswing, no one can afford to lose customers. Customer satisfaction guarantees are not only achievable, they are essential to the success of your business. Contact us today for your free quote on a customized Guest Satisfaction Survey. Provide your customers the opportunity to tell you how to best serve them, and to retain their loyalty. Call 707.933.0687 Secret Shopper Program for Wine Clubs Would you like to know how well the staff in your tasting rooms and call centers are doing in following your standards for guest service, product knowledge, selling, and service recovery? Outside the Lines, Inc. has a program for conducting secret shopper calls for wine clubs and call centers for the wine industry. For more information, contact Margie Tosch at 707.933.0687.
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