Giving “Wow” Service = More Sales

Written on July 6, 2010 by Ali Davies in Business Success Blog
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Wow Service = More SalesExcellent Client and Customer Service is something I feel really passionate about. In fact, I would go one step further and say it isn’t about “Service” it is about “Caring”.

Caring about what experience people have when dealing with you; caring about them getting what they want out of your product or service; genuinely caring about them without the “what’s in it for me” goggles on.

There is so much mediocre and poor service out there. Do these people not realise how this is damaging there business, brand and reputation?

So, if poor service is damaging to your business and reputation. What impact does “wow” service and caring have?

Let me share a couple of personal examples with you.

Example 1 – a few years back, I was looking for a good painter and decorator to help me do up my house. Having experienced poor tradesmen in the past I asked a neighbour if they could recommend anyone good. My neighbour waxed lyrical about the wonderful guy who had done her house. Impressed by how she raved about him, I hired him.

He was brilliant. Did an excellent job. Turned up on time every day. Kept checking I was happy with progress.

Example 2 – Last week I ordered a bracelet online from one of my twitter contacts. Once ordered I received update emails and tweets advising each stage my order was at. The bracelet arrived two working days after the order day (pretty impressive from the UK to Ireland!). It was packaged beautifully and included a handwritten, personalised note thanking me for ordering and hoping I liked the bracelet.

In a world of mediocre service, both these experiences stood out as “wow”.

The painter and decorator was always fully booked for months on end with work and had a long waiting list. He never advertises. His business thrives because his customers rave about him.

The lady who runs the online jewellery store I ordered from last week impressed me so much with her fantastic service and personal touches that I will definitely buy from her again. I will recommend her business to friends. I am a fan because of her “wow” service (her website is www.caradiaz.com )

So, take a minute to think really hard about how you impact your clients.

  • Do you “wow” them?
  • Are they raving fans?
  • Do you really care about them?
  • Are they out their “selling” you to their family, friends and contacts.

If not, it’s time for a rethink.

Note: the key lies in how much you care. How much you care about the quality of your product/service, the experience your customers have with you and how they FEEL about you.

What can you do to upgrade the service your offer to create raving fans that wax lyrical about you that leads to sales come knocking at your door?

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  • Lovely post Ali,
    I think emotion (how they FEEL about you) is they key - if your business style sparks the right emotion, you are already a winning a customer :)

    A similar post worth reading here by Emma on Bloggertone - http://bloggertone.com/marketing/2010/07/07/do-your-staff-truly-represent-your-brand/
  • Thanks Elaine. I think that is an important point to remember - it is how people FEEL about us that will influence their decision to buy and whether they will recommend us to others.
  • John Finn
    This is an example of excellent service from Florida Power & Light: several years ago there was a power outage in central Florida during mid-morning. A woman living in a trailer park rang to enquire about how long she was going to be without supply. She was told by the call centre agent that it would, unfortunately, take about 3 hours as it was a major fault. He apologised for the inconvenience. She happened to mention in passing that she was going to miss the latest episode of her favourite soap - which she named - as a result. Again, the call centre agent regretted the disruption but assured her that everything was being done to restore the electricity as soon as possible.

    When the customer hung up the agent rang his girlfriend at home and asked her to tape the episode of the soap that the customer mentioned. The following day he put the VHS cassette into a jiffy bag and posted it to the customer with the compliments of Florida Power & Light. That is what going the extra mile is all about.
  • John, thank you so much for sharing this example. What a great example of actually caring enough to go the extra mile. Thanks for dropping by and sharing this.
  • I found your blogpost as a result of our contact on Twitter. It's lovely to read and especially good to read the comments.

    We share a passion for excellent customer service. You are kinder than me about it: I'm cross, very cross about how poor most companies are at customer service. I think your positive approach and tone acts as a fine reminder to me that there's more than one way to skin a cat.

    I think I'll put a link to your blogpost on to my recent angry blogpost about customer service. I hope you won't mind.
  • Paul, thanks for your comment. Am more than happy for you to link my blogpost on yours about customer service. I share the positive slant here because people who genuinely want to up their game can hopefully take some "nuggets" from the points made, use them for food for thought and then look to their own business to see where they can upgrade.
  • Hi Ali,

    Just a quick line to thank you very much for your kind comments. We are delighted to know that your overall shopping experience with us was such a happy one.

    I totally agree with you, good Customer Service can be hard to find these days. That’s why we put every effort in offering an efficient and personalised service to our customers. Word of mouth is an incredibly powerful marketing tool, so if you do things right and people like you, you won’t be short of customers.

  • You are welcome. As service is one of my big passions I am always delighted to have examples of "wow" service to share with others. I agree, word of mouth is extremely powerful. To me it is a total non-brainer - not focussing on how we can continuely improve how we serve our customers and clients is fatal.
  • Sharon
    Hi Ali I love this post as I am so passionate about the importance of the customer and prospect customer in business. There are a few things I think happen in business - it is a job for the business owner to engage the staff to deliver this (if more than a soletrader), they get so caught up in the rest of the 'day to day stresses and strains' that they (not meaning to) don't put the customer first in their thought of the day so to speak. But being remarkable in what you are delivering to the public is the greatest 'unfair advantage' you can give your business these days and sets the business miles apart from the competition. The biggest challenge to business is 'consistency', from what I can see in my day to day practice.
  • Sharon,

    The point you make about it being the business owner's job to "engage the staff to deliver" remarkable service - that's powerful. The staff work within a set of expectations set by the owner's leadership eh?

    The frontline staff are selected by the owner, inducted by the owner, guided & trained by the owner. If the owner neglects the job of communicating customer service standards and passion to the staff, it's unfair & incompetence?

    I wonder about 'consistency' - consistently seeking to give the customer more than the customer expects perhaps?
  • Sharon, I love the phrase "being remarkable" that you use in your comment. It really hits the nail on the head. I think many buisness owners could transform their business very quickly by increasing their focus on this area.
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