SMALL BUSINESS | Drive Customer Satisfaction Reviewing a sampling of the 12,000 B2B buyer surveys we collected in first quarter of 2012 revealed that speed and accuracy are mentioned consistently when praising or complaining about their buying experiences. While courtesy and friendliness are top satisfiers in Rhode Island’s top industry, hospitality, that isn’t the case for business to business buying.
Do you measure the speed of answering emails or phone calls at your company?
Yes, courtesy is important, but you miss a deadline or botch a job too many times and customers don’t care how friendly you are. Helping you B2B buyer succeed at their jobs is what matters. Their jobs are on the line and you must make them look like heroes—to their bosses, peers, staff and customers. Jobs are scarce in Rhode Island.
How long does it take a CSR to discover the status of an order? Do an audit of your speed by asking about any random order.
FOUR MAIN PROCESSES THAT NEED SPEED: SPEED of turning quotes
AREAS TO CONSIDER THAT DRIVE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION by Michael Casey
turning quotes answering emails and phone calls job status updates turning around projects advice proposals and pricing job status finished product or service invoices 48
RISBJ | rhode island small business journal
Getting buyers the price in less than a day impresses them and shows discipline. It gives them more confidence that you can turn the job around quickly as well. It shows you know what it takes. Track your performance. You may want to try putting two dates on every quote: “Customer Request Date” and “Customer Received Pricing Date.” SPEED of answering emails and phone calls When contacted by a buyer, respond immediately with a personal acknowledgement from a warm body unless your approach is totally selfservice. A warm body response is sometimes confused with that auto-reply sent by Outlook. There is a place for that approach, but try to minimize automated response and make things personal. Similarly, phone calls should be answered or the voice mail message acknowledged within a few hours by someone.
SPEED of job status updates Buyers want to know the status of their jobs either by viewing updates on their personal customer-facing portal, or by calling or emailing to get an immediate update.
SPEED of turning around projects It all comes down to deadlines—knowing when the customer needs it done, and hitting that mark. This is the biggest satisfier for buyers in the realm of speed. Out of a pool of 30,000 buyer surveys, missing deadlines is the second biggest complaint; quality of the end product is highest on the list. Set realistic expectations and educate the buyer on how to collapse turnaround time. Many times the customer doesn’t help you turn projects quickly, but explaining what you need and by when clearly can speed things up for both of you—making the buyer look like a hero. Measure—Measure Again—Improve. You must be doing all of these constantly. If you are measuring it, then you can manage it.
FIVE MAIN PROCESSES THAT NEED ACCURACY TO SET YOU APART: ACCURACY of advice The value-added service you offer is consulting and advice. Offer quality advice that saves money, produces a better outcome or result, shortens the turnaround time, approaches the goal in a creative fashion, and makes buyers look smart. Remember, it’s about making your customers look good.