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Not Sucks, But “SUCS!”
Why sugarcoat it. Customer service in the modern age, sucks. We have become so inundated with poor customer experiences from the businesses in our life, we now accept crappy customer service as a standard of expectation.
Have you ever called Microsoft support? Or tried to get a problem resolved on EBay? Or called your health insurance provider? Sucks. Sucks. And sucks.
Customer service today has become a lost art – our expectation level when we deal with businesses has become so pathetic and tumultuous that we’ve become numbed to expect nothing but disinterest.
While this is frustrating, it presents the entrepreneur a great opportunity to leverage this fact.
There is one way we can leverage customer service that SUCKS into a profitable strategy that will explode your business growth.
Understand that most consumers expect a certain level of suckiness. This can work to your advantage and become an Fastlane accelerant in your business.
For example:
If I open my Bank of America statement and discover a $10,000 fraudulent withdrawal, my first instinct is to freak out. After that, my second instinct is to call Bank of America to resolve the problem.
At this point, what happens immediately in my brain is I create a vision of expectations — my expectations for the call to Bank of America. Here is what I expect, or my “expectation profile”.
- I expect to hear a recorded message, an automated attendant.
- I expect to press a never ending menu of buttons … press 1 for this, press 2 for that, press 3.
- I expect to be shuttled from 1 person to the next.
- I expect to speak with someone not fluent in English, named Justin, but sounds more like a Pradeep or Sanjay.
These are my expectations. No doubt, my customer service expectation isn’t that favorable. Bank of America, and 100’s of other banks like it, get away with crap service because it is now, our expectation. Anyone that has called their bank or mortgage company will know exactly what I’m talking about.
However, lets flip the scenario on its butt: What if I pick up the phone and called Bank of America and instead of the voice mail rat-maze, my call is immediately answered by an English speaking person … no voice mail, no press 1, press 2, no automated attendant. Nope, I get a REAL PERSON answering the phone, like you answer your phone. After 5 minutes of speaking to the customer service rep, my problem is addressed and resolved — and heck, I wasn’t even transferred to another agent. I’d be like “Holy Mother of God! Wow!!”
This would be a Superior Unexpected Customer Service event. Or, a transformation for Customer Service that SUCKS to SUCS.
FASTLANE ACCELERANT
Violate your client’s customer service expectation profile for and turn your customers into repeat buyers and ultimately, disciples of your business.
S-U-C-S.
Superior Unexpected Customer Service. SUCS!
Customer service that SUCS, or service that violates your customer’s expectation profile turns customers into lifelong clients, and disciples of your business — they provide a never-ending stream of free advertising. Word of mouth is a powerful advertising tool because it is FREE and reaps infinite ROI.
How you provide service to your customers will influence how fast your company can grow.
When I owned my company, one of the frequent questions I always was asked was “How did you find your clients?” . At the start, I had to do it the old fashion way: Prospecting, marketing and advertising to the demographic, and cold-calling. But after awhile, I didn’t have to pay money to attract clients to my business because they did it for me. They became evangelists to my business.
A few examples on how I violated customer service in my web service? I answered my customer emails within minutes … yup, you got that right … minutes, not hours, days, or weeks. I remember people would send emails just to test our response rate. I was in business to violate my customer’s expectation profile and it reaped dividends … when you email a web business, you expect to get some canned autoresponse and maybe a personal response days later. Also, on my support lines, I had a live person answer the phone — there was no press 1, no press 2.
FASTLANE SIDEBAR
There is a delicate balance between providing superior customer service and not allowing customers to take advantage of you. That balance lies in the margins personal to your business.
Another example? My hosting provider is Liquid Web. The first time I contacted Liquid Web for technical support, I had to submit a ticket into their support system. I was struggling with a server issue and exhausted my futile fix-it attempts. I submitted the ticket and formulated my expectation profile … I speculated it would be a day or two before I heard back. I was wrong. Within 10 minutes, Liquid Web Support responded and solved my question — they provided customer service that S-U-C-S and violated my expectations. This great unexpected support continued thereafter with subsequent support tickets.
The result? I’m a disciple of Liquid Web. When someone asks me personally or publicly, “What hosting do you recommend?” – I confidently respond with “Liquid Web”. I am a customer who is now evangelic. I pay Liquid Web in 2 forms of currency: 1) My money and 2) My frequent recommendation of their service. The true value of this latter currency is priceless.
So how can you ensure you provide great customer service in your business, and explode your client base? It’s easy to determine.
First, determine your customer’s expectation profile.
- What are their expectations when they deal with your business?
- How do they relate to similar businesses in your industry?
- How do they relate to your competitors?
Make a subjective call on how your customers expect service … then VIOLATE IT.
Anytime you violate your customer’s expectations to the positive, you get a dual benefit: One, they will use you again which translates into money for you — if you like money, having your mortgage paid, doodads, you have to keep your customer’s happy. Second, customers who are shocked at good service will tell other potential customers. They become liaisons to your business, literally free walking advertisements, and they don’t need to be paid.
CUSTOMER SERVICE THAT SUCS — Superior Unexpected Customer Service.
So lets review.
To provide customer service that SUCS; Superior Unexpected Customer Service; violate your customer’s expectations. Determine your average customer’s expectation profile, and then institute a policy to violate that profile. The dividends of this strategy result in an ever growing client base without having to pay for it.
I’m MJ DeMarco, and you can die the Slowlane, or live the Fastlane …. beware of cheap imitations.
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When I was in my 20's, they laughed and said I was nuts. "MJ! You're dreaming!" Then, I got the last laugh. I retired in my 30's and now live a dream. Those same people now whore their life away for a paycheck only to reclaim their salvation on the weekend. With a correctly executed Fastlane plan, everyday of your life can be your weekend.
BAAM! I like the closer son!
Hey you! Yeah, YOU, reading this!
Post your thoughts..gimme some interaction bebe!
Good article eh? Powerful business premise…
Thank for the article. It really is about how you treat your clients and customers. It’s about emotions and memory you give to your clients. If they feel pleased they get the emotional feeling that is being hard-wired into their memory. And if customer is not envious, they will share their experiences.
Great article! It’s gotten to the point nowadays that getting someone on the phone that actually provides good customer service results in heart palpitations from the surprise. “wow, the guy on the other end of this line is putting in effort to HELP me, and addresses me in a cordial tone of voice…please, someone pinch me!”
I like to call them “Apostles”. The ones that will support your business without a second thought.
I like the clear cut process of creating them. Thanks MJ.
This article reads like a future business seminar topic. Thank you.
I recently had a ‘typical’ customer service experience that involved multiple hours of being on hold. Arghh. If only more companies offered service that SUCS.