“You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.” – Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder
Customer service is tough in any industry. Companies must continuously strive to be better at understanding and anticipate what their customers will value. Moreover, they must keep up with delivering it.
If your company manages to go two steps ahead and guess what the customers may want before it is offered elsewhere, you can be sure you’re onto something big. Customer service undoubtedly holds amazing opportunities, and companies which produce incredible service to every customer have a clear competitive advantage.
There are two basic aspects to customer value: desired value and perceived value.
Desired value refers to what customers are looking for in a product or service.
Perceived value is the benefit a customer believes they received from a product after it was purchased.
In order for your customer to be willing to pay, they must derive value from a market offer. Motivated customers perceive preference toward your product, based on the estimation that your product may help them achieve their goals.
So how do you sparkle the motivation? As with most things in life, motivation is all about pushing the right button at the right moment. Customers wonder: Is what I am going to receive worth what I have to give up to get it?
Successful companies work in favor of their customers.
If you take a look at the most successful people in any industry, you’ll notice that at the core of their business attitude, there is a sort of ardent decisiveness about what they offer and how they address the customer. “The customer is why we are here”, most of them say. And we can be sure they mean every word of it. “If we take good care of the customers, they will have a good reason to come back.“
Not only that a happy customer comes back, but he also brings more customers.
“One customer well taken care of could be more valuable than $10,000 worth of advertising”. The word of mouth is still trusted more than any ad. That is why successful companies are very serious about customer service not being a department – it is everyone’s job. The math is rather simple – if you don’t take your customers genuinely, chances are that they won’t buy.
Jerry Gregoire, CIO at Dell Computers, points in the direction in which customer-orientated companies are heading. It is not only about proper and timely service delivery anymore – is about enhancing the experience of being served. You don’t simply want to offer the best customer service. You want it to be legendary.
“The customer experience is the next competitive battleground”, he says.
Companywide commitment, genuine friendliness and understanding the customer experience are what matters. “That shows the difference between offering a great experience and selling a commodity, and that difference turns into real dollars”, Gregoire concludes.
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