Differentiated customer service
The third generic strategy is to offer outstanding customer service. If the level of service offered by the firm is truly valued by customers, the firm won’t have to resort to low prices to sell its products.
One of the questions we always ask business owners is “What makes your company special?” The answer that we hear, without fail, is “our people.” This reminds us of the radio show, Prairie Home Companion, where “all the children are above average.”
There are numerous firms that say that they are customer friendly, customer intimate, or customer oriented. Regardless of the term, they want to believe it—just as much as they want to believe that their people are special.
It requires real dedication and focus, however, to truly stand out in this regard. In today’s marketplaces, the level of customer service is constantly being raised. So, it is ever more difficult to distinguish a firm in this regard.
For those who can do so, however, it provides a truly distinctive and long-lasting means for creating customer loyalty. And for many of us, the price we pay for distinctive service is well worth it.
Bear in mind that the shop mentioned didn’t have anything that was truly unique. The same shirts and ties could be purchased elsewhere. It was simply the level of service—in this case the truly personal touch—that compelled customers to shop there.
At firms such as this, customers buy because of the relationships forged by the people in these firms. These companies actually do have people that are special—people who love to delight their customers by meeting and anticipating their needs and wants.
There are many ways to delight customers, but we find at least two major ways that firms can distinguish themselves in this regard, regardless of industry: to save the customer time or to help the customer avoid stress.
Our culture places a high value on time: Any way that we can save time for a customer is a potential opportunity to provide highly valued service. The importance of this concept became obvious to us years ago when we read the results of a consumer survey. The survey reminded folks that they should drink eight glasses of water each day for their health. It then asked people why they didn’t do so. The single most prominent reason given for not drinking eight glasses of water each day was “Not enough time”!
It was clear to us from this survey that consumers’ perceptions about time were powerful enough to override logic. Surely, we all have enough time to drink water, but we have somehow convinced ourselves that we don’t.
The tailor shop we described helped customers save time. They didn’t have to shop around (takes too much time), or come back on numerous occasions to find the right shirt (takes too much time), or repeatedly try to match ties with shirts (takes way too much time).
Helping customers avoid stress is a second major way to distinguish ourselves in customer service, regardless of industry. Once again, when the customer realizes that we’ve helped relieve their stress, we have opened an opportunity for a distinctive relationship.
The firms that successfully differentiate themselves through exceptional customer service have distinctive characteristics in common. Here are a few:
- They focus on how to improve customers lives.
- Their knowledge and expertise is their strength (not products).
- They are happy to have a select group of customers.
- Customers want the best solution for them—not necessarily “the best.”
- Customers are willing to pay a premium for such services.
- The culture is driven by the client.
- Employees are empowered to delight the customer.
- Employees build relationships with customers for the long term.