QUALITY customer service is the bedrock of every successful business.
Recent business global trends indicate that the business world is increasingly becoming a customer-driven market where competition is inevitably becoming stiffer.
To survive this competition and pursue growth and prosperity, businesses must attract customers and generate income.
It should always be easier and cheaper for every business to maintain an existing customer than attract a first-time one.
Many businesses strive to create their visibility through vigorous advertising, but the best way to promote your business products and services is by word of mouth marketing through your satisfied customers.
When customers receive satisfactory and quality services from your business, they tend to discuss it in their social network.
This consequently leads to direct publicity and increased popularity of your business.
To discuss this topic further, I would like to share a rare customer experience which I had in the recent past at Trentyres Lusaka.
I recently needed to replace the tyres of my vehicle and found myself at Trentyres Lusaka- industrial area warehouse and sales point.
The sales point stocks various tyre brands: Dunlop, Continental, Good year and all other leading global brands.
This salesman had tact of professional skills on selling and up to date relevant knowledge on tyres.
He also demonstrated that he cared for what he does. He wasn’t selling
for the sake of it. He was aiming to improve my customer experience on tyres in his warehouse.
He considered a number of reputable brands in stock and recommended one of them to suit my budget.
Apart from that he worked out the maximum available discount for buying a full set of tyres.
One amazing characteristic of this salesperson was his honesty: he had a number of new, unused but expired tyres which he could have sold to an ignorant customer like me!
To my amazement, he voluntarily taught me how to calculate the estimated economic life of a tyre from its manufacturing date!
He openly told me he could not sell me some of the tyres that were in stock because they had reached their expiry date!
He further went on to discuss how Zambian motorists could avoid some of the fatal road traffic accidents that are caused by poor tyre conditions.
Imagine such a customer enhancing shopping experience like this one, where you come out a satisfied customer!
Imagine how unforgettable such an experience has been on my life with motor vehicles and tyres.
I certainly interact with dozens of people every week and just imagine how this sales person’s tact goes to promote his company’s products and reputation.
This was a life-changing experience which changed my knowledge on types of tyres how to handle them and how to identify the estimated economic life of both a used and a new tyre.
What would stop one from recommending another buyer to go to Trentyres out of such an experience, Trentyre does not need to put up an advertisement to sell their tyres anymore!
A satisfied customer becomes a living advertisement for such a company because of the life changing customer experience.
Trentyre Lusaka store is essentially a busy shop but amazingly, I noticed that everyone was being attended to.
Amazingly, the sales manager and his people have mastered the art of handling more than one customer at a time, while making each customer feel like he or she was the only one around.
Another essential element of quality customer service is for a business’s sales staff to show that they care for what they do.
Additionally, every sales person must display knowledge of their products. They must not thrive on the customer’s ignorance.
Tact to share essential knowledge about the product is another critical skill that a salesperson must possess in abundant measure.
A good sales professional must read their customer’s minds and adapt to the knowledge of the customer and be able to ask well-thought out questions.
From my recent experience, I learnt what a number of car owners and motorists may not know.
A good salesperson must be ready to teach the customer something new about the product, its general characteristics and its prescribed use.
We have seen that customer centric focused behaviors are simple. In fact, it’s simple to smile at a customer, serve them and so forth.
What’s not simple is making that a habit.
Being a passionate marketing or sales professional takes a great deal of thought and consistent effort.
But, once a salesperson makes it his/her goal this inevitably makes the company stands out.
It is clear that customers value good customer service.
Marketers should, therefore, embrace the fact that investment in customer service is critical for the business’ sales strategy.
There is an ever increasing competitive pressure for businesses to hit revenue targets.
Achieving such targets could only be achieved through developing critical success factors such quality customer service.
For comments e-mail: ntumbograndy@yahoo.com Mobile +260977403113 +260955403113
The author is the Managing Consultant at GN Grant Business Consultant, a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), a Master of Business Ad inistration (MBA) holder and a candidate for the Herriot Watt University (Scotland) Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)