BENEFITS OF EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE

So much has been said about the impact of quality customer service on organisational performance. Customer satisfaction is generally accepted as one of the main strategies that help companies gain competitive advantage over their rivals.

Customers are attracted to organisations that render exceptional customer service the way bees are attracted to flowers. Everybody loves to be treated well - with respect and courtesy. Everybody loves to feel welcome particularly in a strange and new environment. Everybody loves a warm and friendly atmosphere to conduct business. As the ancient Egyptian proverb goes: “Better a warm welcome than being invited to lunch”.

The following benefits accrue to customer focused companies:

Customer satisfaction

Exceptional customer service leads to customer satisfaction. Behavioural psychology states that just like dissatisfied customers share their bad experiences with anyone who cares to listen, satisfied customers inadvertently become unpaid advert agents for their bank. They listen to the frustrations of friends and family and then prescribe their own bank as a trusted solution provider to these people. And when a company remains firmly true to its exceptional customer service philosophy, these referrals find that what they had heard is indeed accurate and they get hooked right from their first experience.

Increased customer patronage

Satisfied customers help the bank attract more customers. Once a bank gains the reputation of being a warm, friendly and organised provider of financial services, the bank’s next challenge will be how to manage the increased customer traffic.

Increased business volume and revenue

Customers do not just bring deposits to banks. They also bring business ideas worth a fortune! They have business ideas that may require additional finance or in some cases financial expertise on the part of the bank, which translates into increased revenues and growth for the bank.

Poor customer service on the other hand scares customers away. Dissatisfied customers do not just walk away; business and revenue opportunities walk away with them. A survey showed that 61% of customers that leave take their business to competitors. The same the survey also showed that 71% of customers, who end their relationship with existing organisations, do so because of poor customer service.

By Olawale Hamed