5 facts about how to achieve customer satisfaction
“A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption of our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider of our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to do so.”- Mahatma Gandhi
The above Quote by Mahatma Gandhi fairly sums up the importance of a customer for any business and why he should be kept happy. The customer is a purpose of any business and he is the reason for any organization to be in business. It is an organization’s responsibility to keep the customer happy and satisfied with the products and services. A happy and loyal customer will not only come back to you with more work, he will also get more business for you.
Achieving higher customer satisfaction should be the aim of every organization, all its departments and each individual working in the organization. A negative customer feedback should not be taken as a hindrance in your day-to-day operations but as an opportunity for the organization to learn and improve their processes. An organization which strives for higher customer satisfaction all the time is the one which survives and grows in the chaotic and highly competitive marketplaces of today.
Let’s explore what are 5 key facts which can help an organization achieve high customer satisfaction.
Communication with the customer: Communication plays an important part in building any relationship. It is important to communicate frequently and openly with the customer to build a level of understanding and mutual trust. Communicate with customer to understand his needs. This helps in delivering products or services which are as per customer’s expectation. Being upfront on difficulties or limited control that you may have on the tasks can also enhance trust and relationship with the customer and also eliminate the possibility of having issues with the customer in future.
Timely delivery: The best way to keep the customer happy is to deliver as per his expectation. Every customer expects on-time deliveries. Get an agreement from the customer on the time that you would take to complete the work. Always be on time with your deliveries. A prompt response to customer queries is highly appreciated and each person in the organization should be trained to do this.
Right the first time: A single customer complaint can cause a lot of rework in terms of time and effort it takes to fix the problem. It not only increases the cost of the task but can also damage your reputation. Key to avoiding this is to deliver the products and services right the first time. Organizations should focus on quality and each person in the organization should imbibe a practice of delivering services which are right the first time itself. This not only reduces your cost, it makes the customer happy and he comes back with more work. It also improves the efficiency of your teams as they will have to deal with lesser customer grievances. This increases your organization’s productivity and reduces your cost.
Reduce Customer churn: In today’s world of Facebook and Twitter, negative word of mouth can spread to millions in minutes. Any organization should avoid this and take all necessary steps so that the problem a customer is facing is addressed in the first instance itself. Reducing customer churn and retaining a customer is a most challenging job that organizations face today. Adding value to your services/products is another way of keeping the customer happy. Be ready with value propositions for your product/ service and leave your competitors behind. Offering customers, a package of services is a good way of retaining the customers.
Conduct Customer Satisfaction Survey: Conducting customer satisfaction surveys is an important way of understanding customers expectation. The survey results help you to know if you are doing things the right way or if there are any gaps in your processes that you need to fix. Conduct these surveys on fixed frequencies or at the delivery of your products and services. Use these surveys to understand the flaws in your processes and improve your processes.
Keeping a customer happy is not an easy job, but can be accomplished if this is imbibed as a culture in your organization. Each individual in the organization should be trained to be customer focused and should work towards enhancing the customer experience.