Free PR – it doesn't get any better

By Angelina Mammone – February 2007

Complement your marketing by getting your most valuable assets working for you – your Customers

PR, marketing, corporate image, brand awareness – call it what you will – is vital to all organisations, even yours.

Large companies with large budgets spend large amounts engaging professional marketers to help raise their profile, improve their image or just take their name to the public at large. PR and marketing agencies can only communicate a message but true advocacy comes from your fans – your customers.

Today consumers are more astute and have access to product information, reviews and especially customer feedback. If you have a bad product or provide poor service, there is a good chance everyone will hear of it at some point.

The restaurant industry is acutely aware of the power of referrals – they rely on it in that competitive market. Consider what you know – where would you go for the "best" Chinese food? Who serves the "best" steak? Who wouldn't you recommend? Already without realising it, you are endorsing your favourite restaurants and getting nothing in return. You are in effect providing free PR.

But you don't run a restaurant. It's not the same thing. However when you boil it down, it is the same thing. You have customers and you provide them with what they need. But how do you transform them from mere customers into advocates? To do so you must first understand what makes them happy. You think it's your fantastic product or service? Sure, a fantastic product is great but service always wins over.

Yes, customers come to you for what you're selling but shoddy service will rarely see them return.

Customers like to be treated well so they expect respect. Respect can take many forms – courtesy, recognition, empathy, just to name a few. "The customer is always right" – well maybe not always, but they are your customers and deserve to be treated well. Have you ever left from dealing with a supplier feeling disappointed you didn't get what you wanted but satisfied with the experience? Courteous and sympathetic service goes a very long way to soothing the most disgruntled of customers.

Everyone talks about good and bad experiences but don't be fooled to think it's as simple as that. In order to get a reaction, people need to experience the extremes.

If they're going to talk about you, they may as well say something nice. Very good service or very bad service; anything else is hit-and-miss. Most people will put up with mediocre or bad service and then take their business elsewhere. Similarly, customers expect good service so unless your organisation delivers exceptional service, no one is going to talk about you.

Why not strive and attain the status of Excellent Service? Become the benchmark to which your peers are measured and as word gets around, so will their customers!

It is not as difficult as you think. You have access to the best expertise within your organisation – you. You are a customer too – you buy things, deal with partners, suppliers, customers and competitors. You know how you would like to be treated so it follows that you know how to treat your customers.

That was the easy bit. The difficult part comes when you implement this "Good service". It has got to be natural and instinctive. Any practiced "A have a nice day" said without enthusiasm is quickly spotted.

So where does technology come in? Like most things in life, technology is there to assist and take the pain out of repetitive tasks. Take for example calling customers who had registered for an event. Imagine ringing 150 people to remind them to attend. Unavailable or engaged and having to ring again is obviously time consuming and costly, but consider how you could better utilise your staff. Wouldn't it be better ringing prospective customers? A system with an automated SMS Reminder feature would free your staff for more valuable tasks.

So you want to provide Excellent Service. Here are some things to consider:

  • Do you have a customer database?
  • Do you know your most valuable customers?
  • Can you tell when you last communicated with them?
  • Can you tell when they last contacted you?
  • Do you have a single view of your customers?
  • Can everyone in your organisation share this information?
  • Do you encourage feedback from you customers?

Can you capture and analyse this feedback?

Consider the situation when a customer calls. It would be infinitely better if your staff had this customer's history before them. Any products they purchased, anything they returned, any feedback, the last time you contacted them. By acknowledging and "recognising" this customer, you immediately set the tone for the interaction and guarantee this customer will leave happy (if not completely satisfied).

This is where technology steps in to assist. Managing your customer information, history of your interactions and giving your entire organisation access to the same information means you are a step closer to improving your customer relationship.

But this technical solution, CRM system, should address your needs beyond just managing customer data. Consider how your organisation works. What procedures do you have in place? What works and what doesn't? Will it give you new ways of communicating and working? Can it be deployed with minimum disruption?

Each industry and organisation is different. Your business is unique too but that does not mean implementing a CRM system has to be onerous. To get you started here are some things to consider when choosing a solution:

  • Easy to use – intuitive rather than prescriptive
  • Cost savings – make sure you identify and measure
  • Increase revenue – as above
  • Can grow with your company – make sure it's scalable
  • Uses current technology – you have heard of that company still using a DOS system?
  • Reduces not increases workload

If you already have a system to help with your customer relationships and communications, then you are well on your way to providing Excellent Service.

Some final thoughts on getting the Excellent Service message through:

  • Make sure everyone signs up – it's a team thing
  • Actually mean it – customers can spot a fake a mile away
  • Make it fun
  • No bad moods – it even comes across over the telephone
  • Be different – go beyond "Have a nice day"
  • Go the extra mile – how else to differentiate yourself from your competitors

Go the extra smile – as they say, it costs nothing.