Customer Service and Brands

Hi all! How are you all doing? Well I hope.

Its been a pretty hectic couple of weeks here with lots of late nights and early mornings due to various client commitments.  So much so I had to take Friday off (well almost all day off!) yeah I know me taking the best part of a day off but I was starting to burn out and if I didn't catch up on my sleep I knew what would come next - the dreaded tonsillitis and then being forced to take time off when clients are needing me! Not good and very poor customer service!

So this got me to thinking how far do most companies go to ensure consistancy in their customer service and also their brand? 


Now for me its not a problem because I am my own brand and I do all my customer service, but how does the other businesses I work with and promote reflect upon my own.  I was made to have to look very closely at this over the past few weeks and have been trying to get clients to see that doing things themselves does not only reflect poorly on their brand but also what I do.  And yes I can see that other factors can be an issue in these things but are you really willing to put a top quality brand at risk for the sake of a couple of hours of my work?  My answer would be no and thankfully the majority of my clients say the same (I asked them!) but my problem lies with do I continue to work with clients that put their brand at risk and ultimately mine?


Well lets look at all aspects of this.


A huge part of what I do for clients is marketing, promotion and the administration associated with that.  And for the majority of my clients its a case of that they know the value to their business in the work that I do but for two companies (lets call them x & y) they seem to be a little short sighted. But this can apply to any service you utilise so I'm putting this out to you and hoping to get some feedback!


When working with both X & Y I'm doing general admin, producing marketing materials, product development etc and when its working boy is it working but with both this last month has been hard work and when one of my other clients handed me a leaflet saying please tell me you didn't produce this my ears pricked up.


So what is important in your branding?


Consistency and quality! In absolutely everything that your company produces from a £50 steak dinner to your business cards, compliment slips and flyers everything should ooze quality and be consistent.  If you have company colours - always always always use the correct code for them! dont substitute with oh thats near enough! Near enough isn't good enough! You wouldn't accept a lock from the locksmith that near enough secures your premises!


So keep fonts, colours, logos, paper quality, finish the same in everything you do to keep your brand consistent with the level of quality your product or service has.


Now what about customer service? I'm very lucky that all my clients have excellent customer service and never quibble on it.  But someone said to me this week what constitutes good or excellent customer service?


This got me thinking.


Lets miss out good and strive for excellence!


Excellent customer service comes from building relationships with your customer.  This means building a rapport in the few minutes you have with a new customer to encourage them to come back and allow you to build a lasting trust with your customer.  So how do you do this?


Talk to them! They are humans like you and me!  They want to be treated with respect and made to feel like they are your only focus!


Always be polite! And yes this isn't easy with some customers but it a necessary part of building a reputation for excellent customer service.


Smile! Smiling automatically draws people to you and makes you more welcoming and friendly.  This is especially important on the telephone.  People cant read your body language on the phone but can hear a smile in your voice.


Never get distracted when you are dealing with a customer making them your sole focus means that they will feel special and go away feeling so.


Always endeavour to go that extra mile.  Add value to the service some how.  Now this can be easier in a retail environment by giving hints and tips with products, or samples etc but when you are in my line of business it is not so easy. So what do I do? I use social media to help raise the profile of my clients, Twitter is the best tool to acheive this.  Most of my clients are on twitter so I can tweet that I'm there or what promotions that they have on or events etc. Yes this takes some of my time but adds value to the service I provide and gives some free marketing to my clients. 


Now I'm not saying that I'm an expert in customer service but I always endeavour to do my best for a client and the feedback I get is on the whole indicative that I am achieving my target and exceeding theirs! I do however consistently review with clients that they are happy with the service I'm providing and we can adjust as necessary - assuming they give me the feedback I need.


So lets see if we can pick up the branding and customer service gauntlet and strive to exceed expectations!