At Your Service: Turn “Ow” into “Wow!” by addressing customer pain points

I’ve been studying customer service for over 20 years now and would say that 90 per cent of businesses I analyze say how good their customer service is but fail miserably when it comes down to actually delivering it, at least in some areas.

Apart from doing all the basic customer service stuff like answering the phones properly, greeting customers warmly, making eye contact, smiling – OK, we don’t need to go through the list of basics, you get it, or at least I hope you do – we need to go deeper and we do that by eliminating as many pain points our customers have as possible. When we deliver the “Wow,” we eliminate the “Ow!”

But how do we discover our wow? The easiest and best way is to find out what the pain points are that your customers have when dealing with your specific type of business, then fixing those points. Your customers have lowered their standards when it comes to customer service because it’s really hard to find exceptional service. If you are actually doing all the basics well, you will have fairly happy customers. If you take it to the next level, you’ll wow them! Is it difficult? No, it just takes a bit of work.

Here’s eight little steps to help you to up your game. In the end, it’s about treating our customers like gold every time we see them. These points aren’t going to blow you away but if you actually apply them, you’ll be trending in the right direction.

Always be at your best. Whether on the clock or off the clock, you and your team represent your company. Be professional. Be courteous. Go out of your way to be the best in everything you do.

Make every business decision with the customer in mind. Too many companies change policies and procedures to make it easier for their team. Before you do that, make sure it is easier for your customer as well. If the change makes life more difficult for the customer, rethink what you are doing. The harder we make things for our customers, the less likely they will continue to work with us.

Watch what your competitors do well. Are they blowing you away with their service? With their wow factor? If so, you’ve got some work to do.

Ask your customers what their pain points are when dealing with people in your type of business and in their world. Maybe you can help solve some of their other problems and really look like a rock star.

Ask your customers what they’d like to see you do more of. Many businesses fail to check in with their customers, but it’s easy to do through a survey or, better yet, face-to-face or on the phone.

Give them more than they expect. If you say you will deliver on Tuesday, do it on Monday (if that doesn’t create a problem). If you say you will call back the next day, do your best to do so the same day.

If you cannot help them, find them someone who can. Referrals to other businesses will come back to you. Most people won’t do this extra little thing because they are afraid they will lose business. By doing it though, you will actually strengthen your relationship because you went out of your way when there was no money coming your way.

Get your groove on. Do things in a safe manner, for sure, but get things done as quickly as you can to further impress your customers.

Being a business owner is tough. It takes continuous hard work to get to the top and even harder work to stay there. For most of us, it won’t be handed to us on a silver platter. The harder you work, the more rewarding it will be. As a business owner myself, am I happy with where I am at? No! I want more. I want to be more. I want to continue to grow and climb to new heights. It doesn’t matter what business you are in, you have to separate yourself from the pack. It’s all about the complete customer experience. It’s about delivering the wow and eliminating the ow. Yes, there are other ways to deliver the wow, but the more you have in your arsenal, the better off you are. Eliminating pain points is the quickest and easiest place to start.

Russ Dantu is a 30-year veteran of the rental industry and has been delivering workshops, seminars and keynotes on customer service for over 15 years. For more information, visit russdantu.com or email russ@russdantu.com.