An Apple a Day Keeps the Customers Coming Back: Part 2 The Low Cost and High Returns of Fresh Customer Service

By Michael Brown

Note to the reader: The first four steps in this important process were described in the previous issue of the NARDA E-Newsletter.

You have probably heard the phrase, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” more times than you can count. Apples are natural, healthy, and best of all, cheap. If you aren’t eating an apple a day to maintain your health, presumably the cost isn’t what’s keeping you from doing so. 

For the same amount of money that you would invest in that daily apple to ensure your physical health, you also can fund a strategy that will ensure the health of your frontline customer service operation. I call this strategy “Fresh Customer Service.” 

Fresh customer service demystifies the process of attracting loyal, happy customers who return again and again and recommend your business to their friends and families. This type of customer reaction – what some may consider as a minor detail –actually can tip the scales and prove the difference between a prosperous or a bankrupt organization. What’s the secret? The Frontline Employee.

Throughout your organization’s entire process of selling, serving, marketing, cleaning – you name it – the only way you can hope to deliver a world-class customer service experience is by listening to, equipping, empowering, involving and valuing the feedback and expertise your frontline employees can offer.

How exactly do you implement and execute fresh customer service? I have broken down the process into the following 6.5 simple and cost-effective steps.

The Final Steps: Fresh Thinking

Fresh step 5: Bubble-up innovation – This will show you how to appreciate and utilize the current ideas frontline employees possess to improve the whole organization. They, not managers or CEOs, are privy to why senior customers want earlier store hours, or why the trash that accumulates on the sidewalk is keeping customers away. Therefore, it is a winning practice to listen to the comments and suggestions frontline employees may have to make your organization better.

 

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