FROM THE BLOG

Read any company website and odds are every last one of them will talk about how their company focuses on customer service.  Some even take it a step further and say that this is their differentiator.  Says who?  Do they have stats to support this or the actions behind it?  Here at my independent broker dealer, Prospera Financial, we call it an excellent client experience.  Isn’t that really what excellent customer service is all about?  The experience; not meeting deadlines.

Call me a cynic, but meeting deadlines is bare minimum; ordinary service.  Yes, you must have it to provide an excellent client experience, but I would argue that you can meet all the deadlines in the world and still not provide an excellent client experience.  Don’t get me wrong- it is critical to have service standards and to strive to consistently meet them.  But they are the foundation and building block of excellent service; not the end result.  It drives me crazy when you hear a firm touting how great they are because they meet the basic guidelines that should be a given. It’s about all of the little things that you can do that show heart and that you truly care about the person on the other end of the phone, hallway or World Wide Web.  I suggest that it’s not really WHAT you do but rather HOW you do it.

Mistakes will happen.  We all make mistakes, miss a deadline or slip-up and don’t provide the level of service that we should.  It’s when these things happen that we have a true opportunity to take care of the client.  Do you make excuses or do you immediately, totally own it and take steps to make it right by the client?  Do you follow-up to ensure that the client is ok with the resolution?  I don’t know about you, but if someone makes a mistake and I can see that they sincerely care about fixing the situation for me, the outcome matters a lot less.  Attitude, empathy and follow-up are the key ingredients here.

I think this Inc.com article is a great summary of what makes a service experience an excellent one.

Happy Reading,

Posted by Tarah Carlow Senior Vice President, Marketing & Advisor Loyalty