Why is a hotel always full while the next door one is empty, although they offer the same services at comparable prices? Why does a certain video game convince millions to play it, while others struggle with a lot less buyers, although they are a bit cheaper? Why does an IT product sell, while others don’t, although they provide similar features? Why do you need an appointment made weeks in advance for some beauty salons and you need none for others, as their personnel seems to always be waiting for customers that never come?

It’s easy; people are not buying products and services only. They buy experiences which include those products and services. Everything else going on while they are researching, testing and buying is of ultimate importance, just as how they are treated after getting the product or service and they come back to either buy more or require assistance.

It’s all part of a complex process. The experience is what matters and what makes you stand out. You need to build it, then promote it, then live up to what expectations you’ve created every time. A few quick examples! There’s no software product that’s flawless. If you start using it intensively, you will run across some bugs or some missing feature. That’s not a problem, we’ve all learned to expect it. But if the tech support fails to fix the problem once you’ve asked them to, or fail to properly explain things to you, you will change products.

Think of a spa. You pay for great products, relaxation, but could you relax if let’s say someone giving you a massage would be rude to you? Or at a hair dresser’s, if you look great in the end but the person has been pulling your hair all the time, bringing tears of pain in your eyes, will you ever come back?

It all seems easy to grasp, everyone is preaching it, but most companies seem to be overlooking this important aspect. Even if they offer these complete experiences to their customers, they fail to properly promote them. They get caught up in features and innovation and high tech and they forget to translate the benefits to their customers. They fail to explain how the entire process works and how they will be assisted every step of the way. And I have to wonder why. If the information is out there, if when we go buy something we evaluate the entire experience, why do we fail to translate everything we know in our own businesses?

I have a confession to make… I am extremely harsh when it comes to customer support. I’ve spent quite a while being a tech support engineer, I know how much it matters in building a great relationship with customers. So when I make my decisions about certain products or services, the quality of tech support backing them up is extremely important.  Why? It is simple. Anything can crash. No one should look for guarantees they will have no problems, they should make sure they will have help solving them when they appear. And based on my fare share of customer support talks, chats, email exchanges, I thought I’d make a top of the best ways to drive customers away.

1. Don’t pick up when they call

Definitely, this is the fastest and never dethroned method to make sure your customers will switch you for any of your competitors quicker then lightning.

2. Ignore the problems!

Have your customers report the same problem a few times and then make sure you constantly ignore it when you reply. This is bound to drive them nuts! So you’ll have a lot less of them to worry about!

3. Be nice, but completely unhelpful!

Make sure you explain in the nicest manner out there that nothing of what the customer needs will ever be possible. Remember, smile and keep being inflexible and unwilling to adapt or change! That should scare them off!

4. Don’t get your message straight before sending it!

Confuse them and then rule them all! The moment they get  a bit upset, send them a quick email promising something, to then have it contradicted by another representative of your company.

5. Be completely inconsiderate when it comes to their needs or issues

When you make major changes that affect the way their business works, don’t ever ask them if they’re OK with it! Just go ahead and if it’s in the middle of the week, even better!

What would you add to the top? I’m curious to find out what your experiences have been.

Need to increase the satisfaction and loyalty of your customers and turn them into evangelists through effective communication? Our marketing and PR agency can help!

You might have an amazing product or service. You might have done a great job promoting it, everybody knows it, they can see it everywhere and new customers are likely to recommend it. But if the customer service you offer is faulty, say goodbye to repeat customers and to long term deals. Because no matter how good, affordable, innovative, useful your product is, there always are problems! In a perfect world, there wouldn’t be, but in ours, there are. And what happens when your customer has a problem is what turns your relationship with them into a long term one. Yet here’s where most businesses fail!

Customers aren’t always looking for the perfect product or service. They’ve been around long enough to know that problems arising or not is a matter of luck. Smart customers will always prefer the company that makes them feel that if they ever have a problem, it will be solved fast and without them jumping through hoops for it.

Customer service means everything from technical support, to payment and invoicing support, to a good communication between the company and its customers.So don’t think that making sure your solution works is enough to keep customers happy. Cause if they can’t buy it in the first place, it won’t do much.

To make it all clearer, I’ll give you an example. There this bank that has amazing products. When it comes to SMBs, they simply rock; they have great consumer products as well. When you read about their products and services, you just want to sing that contract! And I for one did, on quite a few of their offerings.

But! They have email support that is useless. I’ve been in tech support, so when I have technical issues, I usually send out an email with screen shots, all the solutions I’ve tried, reference to their knowledge base articles I’ve tried, etc. I know lack of information delays the solution, so I’m willing to help get it over with. The lady I was talking to asked me to call their support, as she wasn’t able to help me. What happened to forwarding my email to someone who’s able to? I would have called if I wanted phone support.

They have misplaced a contract I’ve signed and I never got my copy! They promised to call when they found it, but never did. And I can tell you a lot about tired, annoyed and bored employees. Unfortunately, I’m not the only one, a lot of friends who work with this specific bank have had similar issues.

Right now, they handle my business account, I have a credit card from them and a savings account, plus a lot of associated services. Would I recommend them to anyone else? Sure! But I’m a special case: I work with 4 different banks on a monthly basis, I stay informed and I know that their competitors either don’t offer the services I need, or their support is just as bad. So I would recommend them, but I’d also warn everybody that customer service sucks. And that if they’re not willing to put up with it, they might as well go some place else. And trust me, the moment I find out some other bank offers better customer care for similar services, I’ll be running out the door!

The conclusion? If you want to outplay your competitors, make sure your customer service is top notch. It won’t compensate for a bad product or faulty service, nor will it help with the fact no one has ever heard of your product, but it will turn your customers into enthusiastic supporters, you’ll get plenty of word of mouth recommendation and you won’t worry about losing half of your business over simple issues that could have been solved, should you have taked the time to treat your customers as they deserve to be treated.

What I think you shouldn’t have missed last week…

Welcome to a new and sunny edition of our Monday reading list. I’ll start with something a little differnent today, an entry for this month “What I learned from” group writing project, lessons from a sidewalk. And it’s Brad Shorr’s entry, talking about sales lessons learned while pounding the pavement, it’s downsides and the many pluses of newer technologies.

Jonathan Fields has some adivice for you if you want to be a better speaker – go commando! What does that mean? It meand improvising, creating on the fly and coming up with a very real speech.

Jean Murray of Home Biz Notes talks about a rather sensitive issue: what to do when your spouse doesn’t support your work? Read her article for some great tips on how to get them on your side.

John Bell of the Digital Influence Mapping Project talked explained the difference between paid media, earned media and word of mouth, in the context of what brands want.

Shirazz Data thinks social networking has really nailed customer satisfaction. The next task on its to do list? Customer loyalty. Read his entry to get an idea of how to make the transition.

And to chear you up for this week, here’s an amazingly funny entry from Jaffe Juice: click to see how Michelangelo’s David would look after spending too much time in the US . And Ian Lurie’s explanation of why SEO is just like bacon!

The internet is a really dizzingly large place, I’m sure I’ve missed a couple of great articles. Let’s share them in the comment box!

What I think you shouldn’t have missed last week…

Hello everyone, nice to see you at a new edition of our Monday reading list. Hope your new week will be better than the last!

Worried about how to tweet, if you should unfollow certain people or about what will happen if you disappear from Twitter for a couple of weeks? Forget all of your fears and just start tweeting after reading Joanna Young’s 21 irresponsible ways to improve twitter confidence.

Bounce rates are an important metric, yet are often ignored. Tad Chef of SEO 2.0 shared 7 simple ways to decrease bounce rates and get more conversions.

The recession is claiming it’s victims. And great customer service is a much needed lifeboat. Joseph Thornly of Pro PR has a great case study from the travel and tourism industry to show you just how much high quality customer care can do for you.

Thinking to start your own business blog? I’m sure you’ve read a lot about it, but you should add Linas Simon’s list of things to check before you start.

Are you on the look out for a cause to join? I found the perfect one for you, recommended by Donna DeClemente of Lip Sticking: help stop violence against women. Don’t let the headline kid you, it’s a good thing they’re promoting

Sonia Simone starteg a wonderful series on Remarkable Communication showing the 7 big mistakes small businesses do. Here’s mistake number 2.

Is there something you want added to this week’s list? Let us know in the comment box!

See you all next week!