Are You Snubbing Your Customers?
February 24th, 2009
Not a brag, but in the last 3 weeks, I’ve partnered with 4 new clients, each of which had an eerily similar bad service issue with their previous vendor. What was it? Lack of communication. These are the things I heard:
“We’d send an email and not hear a word for a week or more.”
“I left a couple of messages, but didn’t get any calls back. I’m not sure if they’re even around any more.”
“Last time I talked with her, she was supposed to send me a proposal. I never heard back and she never sent me anything. That was over a month ago.”
“When I call, I always get voicemail, never a person and it takes forever for them to call me back.”
I’ll make this short and sweet: your clients and customers expect that you will call them back, answer emails, and do so in a timely fashion. Part of your service to the customer is communication. If this is an area that comes up short for you, consider doing any or all of the following:
- Refine your communications policy and set benchmarks for response time – and honor it
- Consider a point person for emails and phone calls who can respond to your clients for you – update that point person so they can likewise update your client
- Find out in the beginning how your clients prefer their communications. Some don’t like the phone, some don’t like email, figure out which suits them best and use it
- Even if your update is short, provide one. Clients appreciate the reassurance that you’re keeping them in the loop
- If you can’t communicate adequately or timely, hire someone to help, even if it’s part time
- If deliverables are behind schedule, still update the client; they will respect the communication, even if they’re unhappy about a delay
Communication with your client lets them know you care, plus shows them you’re working toward their goal. This isn’t “above and beyond” type service – it’s customary, get used to it. Make it part of your regular way of doing business, otherwise someone like me will be calling on your customer to become their next vendor.
(photo credit tomsaint11)
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Share your thoughts on this. Do you have trouble communicating with your clients? Hate talking on the phone or jotting an email? Let me know, I can share some tips for better communication with your client base so you keep them happy! @bizcoachdeb
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