Most of the time when you say “Marketing” people assume you are just talking about advertising a business. Advertising is a huge part of marketing, but it’s just one part. One very important part of marketing that most people don’t consider is customer service.
Consider this: Marketing is everything that touches the consumer.
What aspect of your business does your target audience interact with the most? Probably customer service!
I recently saw the following quote on a sign at a business here in Shipshewana:
“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low prices are forgotten.” — Benjamin Franklin
This is one of the truest quotes I’ve ever read. Having great prices may get people in your door, but awesome customer service will keep them coming back.
Not only that, but did you know the following stats?
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70% of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they are being treated (McKinsey & Company).
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62% of customers say they share their bad experiences with others (Salesforce Research).
A Recent Customer Service Experience
Two years ago, my husband and I decided to purchase new kitchen appliances. We saw an advertisement that said Lowe’s had a sale on kitchen suites. Wanting to save money, we bought from Lowe’s, and approximately 6 weeks later, our new appliances were to be delivered.
On the day of delivery, I took the afternoon off from work to be there when the truck arrived. However, at 4 pm, we got a call saying they were still an hour away. An hour passes, then another, then another. At 7:30 pm, we get another call saying they are 45 minutes away and is it still ok to come? Okay, fine. We’ll wait.
And wait.
At 10:30 pm, they call and say they were confused about where we were located and they will be there soon.
It wasn’t until 12:30 am when they showed up at our house! By this time, I was really unhappy, and to make matters worse, they had damaged the refrigerator door and told me they would have to order a new one.
3 months later, still no new door. I called, but they said it was never ordered. They decided to just order me a new refrigerator entirely. However, no one called to schedule a delivery date like I was told they would. Then, without any notice, one day they called and said we are 30 minutes from your house to deliver! Thanks for the heads up! (Do you sense my sarcasm here?)
6 months later, the ice maker went out and I had to have service out to replace it. His first trip was to check and make sure it didn’t work. So he had to come out a second time to actually fix it. One year later the ice maker goes out again.
To make this already long story shorter, I will just tell you that after many many phone calls with many, many Lowe’s employees my ice maker was still broken, and I had no hope of getting it fixed. no satisfaction.
After two weeks of no response, I finally called in and asked to talk directly to a manager. Manager Sarah answered, and believe it or not, she was a customer service superstar! She was very empathetic and told me she would fix it right away. Needless to say, my new refrigerator was delivered a couple of weeks later at no cost to me! THANK YOU!
Good Customer Service Can Drive Your Marketing Efforts
So, how does this relate to marketing? A big part of marketing is word-of-mouth. I’ve told many, many people both about my poor experience with Lowe’s and about how Sarah fixed it for me.
Marketing is all about connecting the right message with the right audience and the right time. And the end goal? Driving valuable action. I received poor service. It felt like no one wanted to help me. This did the opposite of driving valuable action. It caused me to never want to do business there again.
Good marketing is caring about people. If you want to look like you are the best at your business, be the best to your customers.
Do you need help coming up with a marketing strategy? We even offer customer service training. Contact Barnyard Marketing for a free initial consultation.