Customer Service Training:
Customer Service Training - How Do You Define a Customer?
Do you consider customers simply as people who just buy your products or services? Are there different types of customers? If you cannot answer these questions in customer service training, then how in the world can you develop customer loyalty?
Over the years of customer service training, I have come to define customers as:
"Individuals engaged in transactions for mutual benefit or gain."
In this way, the definition extends beyond paying customers, to people who conduct transactions that result in some benefit or gain.
Much is written in customer service training circles about both external customers (clients) and internal customers (employees), especially with the 21st century business focus on customer loyalty through improved customer service training. Research continues to reveal that companies with high levels of loyal customers experience far greater growth both in sales and profits.
Over the years from my corporate customer service training to my consulting experiences, I have come to identify customers, whether internal or external, as one of these 3 types:
Explorers - These individuals, as clients, buy what you sell, explore to buy more, and are the sources for customer service training innovation. Employees who are explorers do their job with focus and then explore to see how they can help others.
Explorers are loyal and will rave about your business to everyone they meet if they're happy with you.
Vacationers - As clients, they patronize your business, but will travel next door if the price is better. Vacationers as employees will do their work, but can be easily distracted. They will hardly ever go beyond doing what they are supposed to do in customer service training. Whether the vacationers are clients or employees, their loyalty can be quickly switched to your competition.
Prisoners - Now, these folks truly do not want to be involved with your business. Possibly, your business is geographically close to them, or you are the only distributor for a specific product or service in the area. Given a choice, they would not purchase from you even if you gave it to them for free. And when they do purchase from you, they make incredible demands. If they are employees, prisoners barely do their work and are constantly complaining about customer service training. Prisoners have no loyalty and will quickly share their displeasure with 6 to 10 other individuals if they're dissatisfied.
Customer Service Training Tip: Take action by looking at your customers, both external and internal. Identify any prisoners and determine how you can fire them, even if they are paying customers. Then set goals within your
customer service training loyalty growth action plan to begin to convert a percentage of your vacationers into explorers. Track the results from that customer service training action plan. You should realize both an increase in profitability and a decrease in operating costs.
Source: Leanne Hoagland-Smith:
http://www.customerservicemanager.com/how-do-you-define-a-customer.htm
Article Content: Customer Service Training
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Customer Service Training:
Customer Service Training - How Do You Define a Customer?
