06: Customer Service vs. Customer Excellence

So many businesses think they are providing great customer service, but don’t realize that they are often missing out on opportunities to either wow their clients or help them see that you appreciate them.‘Customer Service’ is reactive. It solves some of the problems when customers ask. ‘Customer Excellence’ is being proactive. It removes problems before they happen, personalizes the experience, and closes the loop so people feel seen, not processed. If you have never heard of the term ‘Customer Excellence’, Sharon has a great example to show how that is different from ‘Customer Service’ by sharing an experience at the grocery store. ‘Customer Excellence’ makes you unforgettable. If you want loyalty, word of mouth, and profit, stop doing the minimum and start designing experiences people willingly brag about.In this episode, Sharon shares several experiences showing the difference between ‘Customer Service’ and ‘Customer Excellence’, and what a business could consider doing differently to stand apart from the competition. Isn’t it worth less than 20 minutes of your time today to listen to this episode, in case you can learn what you can do to help your business grow and prosper?In this episode, you will learn:Many businesses miss the mark in how they show the value of the business they receive, either from someone purchasing their products or their services. ‘Customer Service’ satisfies. ‘Customer Excellence’ exceeds. And almost all the money sits in exceeding expectations, not meeting them. When you exceed, you get loyalty and word of mouth at almost no cost. That compounds over time.How do you show you care about your customers, clients, members, or patients?  It doesn’t have to be something expensive, but often even just a smile or an acknowledgment is all that is needed. There is a lot of competition out there, no matter what profession or business you are in. Learn how to stand apart so people keep coming back to you and wanting to become raving fans by telling others why they should purchase from you or work with you. Have you set up standards within your business so that your staff know how to work with or respond to your clients, so that everyone is working from the same playbook and maximizing the ‘Customer Excellence’ experience?Points To Ponder:# 1Where in your business have you set standards for yourself, and if you have staff, for how you treat each interaction with your client? For example, do you check in with them periodically if you haven’t heard from them for some time? Or do you send them a card on their birthday to let them know you are celebrating with them? # 2 What systems, standards, or onboarding do you have in place (or should have in place) to ensure that each client, no matter if they are new or have been with you for some time, knows that you value their business. # 3 If you did an audit of your level of customer service and realized it wasn’t truly customer excellence, what would need to happen to move the needle towards excellence?