Keeping the customer satisfied
Keeping the customer satisfied
Keywords: Customer loyalty, Customer care, Employee involvement, Call centres
Businesses seeking new ways of building customer loyalty should look closer to home according to a new report published in the UK by BTexact Technologies.
A report published by BTexact Technologies, BT's advanced research and technology business, Customer Relationship Management – Best Practice 2001 reveals that "to get customer loyalty, you need employee loyalty". This best practice report is designed to summarise the state of thinking and thought leadership in the customer contact arena and addresses the areas of customer service, e-commerce, call centres and other interfaces including the Internet – that a company has with its customers.
Peter Thompson, director of consulting practices at BTexact said:
Customer loyalty and retention are the new Holy Grail for businesses, however all too often efforts made to secure it fail to address the real issues. Organisations need to positively brand themselves both inside and outside. In order for a customer to experience excellent customer service, the employee must exude the positive energy and assurance that can only come from an inner feeling of company loyalty and self-belief, while being supported by efficiently provisioned customer oriented information. Dissatisfaction as a result of being dealt with by de-motivated, unsupported people will result in lost revenue and negative brand perception.
Nicola Millard, the principal customer relationship management consultant with BTexact and author of the report said:
CRM is becoming one of those overused phrases that everyone purports to understand but everyone interprets differently. That said, if a business is to succeed it is essential that it invests in customer service. This report, which is backed by five years of research, looks at all the aspects of customer service and offers sound, practical advice.
According to the report, traditional reward and recognition schemes are just as likely to be a demotivator as a motivator. According to Millard:
Motivation is a complex science and differs with each individual. Reward schemes may encourage short-term modifications in behaviour but because they are driven extrinsically, they do little to influence the value system of the person. Worse still, they start to focus on the reward itself rather than the reason the reward was put in place.
The report also reveals that while cost will always be an important consideration in any purchase decisions, time is now considered one of the most valuable commodities. Customers do not want to be left hanging on a phone line or passed from pillar to post.
Customer Relationship Management – Best Practice 2001 is the first of a series of best practice reports being produced by BTexact Technologies. Copies of the 64-page report can be obtained by completing the order form located in the "Know how" section of the BTexact.com Web site(www.btexact.com) under "Best Practice Reports". Cost £750. For more information about obtaining copies of the report please call +44 (0)1473 6070800.
