Customer service

When you think of marketing- customer service probably isn't the 1st thing that springs to mind or some people might not even realise how big of a part of marketing customer service actually is.
But although attracting customers to your brand and making them aware of your products is important; whats fundamental to the success of a brand is customer retention.

Have you ever noticed that the most profitable retailers are always the ones who provide impeccable customer service instore- Apple, Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Boots, John Lewis are all fantastic at it. I really do believe it's forefront to success and keeping your customer.

I had a particularly pleasant experience in Boots recently- one which surprised me.

I'm usually a MAC devotee and always buy my make-up in there, however after visiting the Debenhams store in Bristol and having a really rude sales assistant more interested in chatting too her friend and what was behind the till than actually finding me the product I needed, I decided to leave the store. I had actually intended to make quite a large purchase that day but I was so disappointed in the way she had dealt with me that I decided to leave- to be honest I have visited loads of MAC counters, in London, Birmingham, Manchester and the Trafford Centre and have never experienced any treatment like I had in there. However the Bristol staff have always let me down- sometimes blatantly having had just come back from a fag break (not nice when they breathe it in your face) or just generally not been interested in me as a customer.

Anyway, so I decided to try a different counter and went to try Boots instead this time, not only to get my advantage card points (most successful loyalty scheme ever) but by this point I was sick of Debenhams! I had heard great things about the Clinique products in blogs and wanted to give it a try- but as I hadn't tried them before I was slightly apprehensive- however the sales assistant was amazing and talked me through the products- she had amazing product knowledge and I explained my apprehension at spending a lot of money on products I hadn't tried before and she put me totally at ease by taking my phone number and offering to call me a few days later and then scheduling an appointment a few weeks later where she would check I liked them and see if I had any problems and if not she said I could return the products!!

I was astonished at how well she treated me- no hard sell and she really did look after me, seriously a different treatment from the MAC counter!!! Will definitely be returning to the Clinique counter.

Good customer service not only means that customers are more likely to return- they are also likely to spend more money!

Yet- even when you get these loyal customers- good customer service is neccessary as even one bad experience can put a customer off for life. Especially with the extent of social media today- 1 bad tweet, facebook post or youtube video can be detremental to the reputation of a brand. It isn't just a bad customer service experience shared with one person- it's shared with the WHOLE WORLD.
Similar to my blog post of public relations- posts and shares about negative news regarding a brand are FAR more likely to be shared than positive ones.

Take this video:



It currently has 650,000 views- all seen how poor hollister's customer service can be- although this may have been one isolated case, it has been seen by thousands and provided a negative association not only with the brand, but with the staff and customers may think twice about buying from Hollister in the future.

This just indicates the extent to how important customer service is in the first place. And at the end of the day- good training and brand values to begin with which are set in place in all areas of the business means there is less for the PR department to have to deal with and ultimately- less to clean up afterwards


Steph x

Inspiration and stamina

Hellooo! Well I finally completed all of my coursework for 2nd year! This means no more assignments until 2015! Can't believe how long away that is, although no doubt it will come around fast!
Now, I'm the kind of person who gets fascinated with certian people and then stalk their every movements on twitter and have to research everything about them!!
Well at the moment I'm a massive fan of Matthew Hussey- his speeches are amazing and although this video is long it is sooooo worth watching for anyone interested in business, not just entrepreneurship.

Everything he said inspires me and his drive and determination is something I try to mirror. No matter how many times people in your life tell you to give up, if you believe you can do something never give up. If I had have listened to people telling me to give up, I never would have passed my driving test, got in to university, moved to Bristol, worked in America, got a job at IBM... all things I am proud of achieving. And I think despite people using the reccession as an excuse for why they don't have a job or why they aren't looking for one, there are jobs out there for people who are willing to go the extra mile, put themselves out there and not give up.

 

Another thing which gives me motivation to work hard and prove people wrong is the fact I am female- when people consider 'success' or a 'successful person' I feel like they always think of a business man. I want to exceed the norm and make my own success as a female.

In the video, Matt talks about 3 key attributes of success in business;

• Selling yourself

I think I'm lucky as I am a naturally confident person who never stops talking, but for others who struggle with confidence they may have a problem in doing this. It's never cocky or embarrasing to talk about YOUR achievements and the things YOU are proud of, I think in order to impress others you have to go about this in the right way, but at the end of the day- opportunities are never going to come knocking on your doorstep you have to go and look for them

• Don't be afraid to take risks

I've learnt not to be scared of rejection recently, rejection in everything, not just in terms of a career.

My Mum tells me off sometimes because I just can't get my head around people who want to do the same thing day in day out and never want to make changes in their lives, she tells me "some people are just happy living their lives" well I know for a fact I NEVER want to be that person. I want to be stunned, surprised and thrilled every day of my life! I know this means I will be constantly working to do so, but I get bored easily and love change! I'm not afraid of trying new things, moving half way across the country, travelling to America and I think this mindset really pays off. Being comfortable is BORING.

• Say YES to everything

People always always tell me to stop doing this, that I take too many things on at once, but I feel like if I hadn't said yes to everything at the beginning of this year I wouldn't be in the place that I am now. At first I thought maybe I was trying to please everyone and just couldn't learn to say no, now I realise that by doing so I have put myself in a better position.

When you say yes to everything you can then make your own decisions on what you want to do, opening up your options can never be a bad thing.


Luckily, I have been blessed with confidence and I think having the confidence to be sure of yourself, your aspirations, goals and having the confidence to talk to new people, realise not everything will work out, something which Matt talks about a lot, are traits not everyone has, yet I think without these, the potential to succeed in business is less prominent.

Anyway a personal blog- not my usual type of post! You might not agree, all comments welcome.

Stephanie