Customer service - Satisfaction vs. Loyalty

Best selling author Jeffrey Gitomer says "Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless." What does he mean? I think that satisfaction is the minimum standard you should accept. You should be attempting to get customer loyalty. Gitomer defines a satisfied customer as "One that felt OK about dealing with you. Their needs were met. The product was OK. The service was OK. The experience was OK. They are satisfied (happy) with their purchase. They may not talk about the experience. They may or may not refer someone to you. Their overall feeling about you is between neutral and positive, and their experiences with you have not been negative. Not bad --but not great.

He defines a loyal customer as "One who feels GREAT about dealing with you. Their needs were met and/or exceeded. Your delivery was GREAT. The service was GREAT. The experience was GREAT. They are ecstatic with their purchase. They will proactively talk about the experience. They will proactively refer someone to you. Their overall feeling about you is wonderful and their experiences with you have been memorable. WOW!

I don't know about you, but I would much rather have loyal customers out on the streets working as a marketing and sales department for me. What is the absolute best form of advertising? Customer referrals and word of mouth advertising initiated by your loyal customers.

Here are some statistics about customer service:

• A typical dissatisfied customer will tell 6-10 people about the problem.
• A typical satisfied customer will tell 1-2 people.
• It costs 6 times more to attract a new customer than it does to keep an old one.
• Of those customers who quit, 68% do so because of an attitude of indifference by the company or a specific individual.
• About 7 of 10 complaining customers will do business with you again if you resolve the complaint in their favor.
• If you resolve a complaint on the spot, 95% of customers will do business with you again.

Source of Statistics: The NACD Leadership Series

Looking for Leads...

When you are out looking for leads, don't forget the most obvious places to look. Do you have to get references from your customers in order for them to get a loan or take advantage of your product or service? Take a look at where you shop on a regular basis, look around the next time you are at your son or daughter's sporting event or school play etc. What about extended family or neighbors. How about at the gym or when you go to a convenience store, have you noticed some of them have cork boards (Leads). How about fellow employees that work in other departments of your company, they might not be sales minded or too shy to ask a friend or relative. Don't forget some of the most obvious places such as the newspaper or local websites. How important would you make someone feel if you called them up and asked them about the newspaper article you read about them etc. Leads are basically anywhere that you look. The challenge is to change those cold leads into slightly warmer leads. You do that by creating some common ground in order to build rapport. Building good rapport and taking excellent care of your customers is the key to receiving referrals from your newly acquired customers. Which brings me to one of the best places to look for leads, your current client base. Ask for their business for another line or service that you offer, if they are not interested ask for a referral. Happy Selling!!