How To Turn Your Clients In To Raving Fans

By Jim Klein

Treat everyone like they are the most important person in the world.

"Customer service is the never-ending pursuit of excellence to keep customers so satisfied they tell others of the way they were treated in your place of business."

A big problem in the sales world today is that many salespeople and companies spend more time and money to get a new client than to keep their current clients satisfied.

One of the keys to turning your clients in to raving is go the extra mile. Give the client more than they paid for. Treat everyone like they are the most important person in the world and they will become "raving fans".

In 1991 my bride to be and I were flying from Rochester, New York to Reno, Nevada to meet her sister and brother-in-law and get married. We were flying through O'Hare and for those of you who fly often; planes are usually late in Chicago. Ours was that day and we missed our connecting flight. When we got to the customer service desk we were told it would be two hours before we could get another flight, I was upset. We had plans that evening and by making two more connections, those plans were lost. My fiancé told me to let it go. She said "they don't care about us".

When we finally boarded our next flight and were seated on the plane the flight attendant came on the speaker for passenger Jim Klein to press the attendant button. I did wondering what was going on. Down the aisle came the customer service agent from the airline with a bag which he handed to me. Inside the bag was a bottle of champagne with a card that said, "Congratulations! Someone at American Airlines does care".

That small gesture turned an upset customer, me, into a fan. Even though our plans were spoiled I felt much better knowing that someone cared about my situation even though it was out of their control. I told everyone about that little gesture.

Find ways to go the extra mile for your clients and they will reward you with more business than you can handle.

A satisfied customer tells three people. A dissatisfied customer tells everyone.

Have you ever had lunch or dinner at a restaurant and the food, service, everything was excellent? How many people did you recommend dine at that particular restaurant, three or four, probably? Now, the second half of this customer service tip. Have you ever eaten at a restaurant where you had to wait for a table, wait a long time for service, the food was bad, everything about the experience was awful. How many people did you recommend eat at that restaurant? None, right? Actually, you told everyone about this awful experience. Everyone you came in contact with for the next day, or two, or more got an earful about your terrible experience and you advised them never to eat there.

To quote a successful speaker Zig Ziglar, "You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want". Excellent customer service is definitely a win - win situation. The client wins by getting more in value than they paid for and you win by creating "raving fans" out of your clients.

Which group do your clients fit into? Are they truly satisfied, or do you need to make some changes?