Not all customers are the same, or have the same risk of cancellation. Dissatisfied customers are at the highest risk for cancellation. But even “satisfied” customers, those who have (or who have expressed) no complaints, are vulnerable and can be lured away by your competitors’ marketing and sales campaigns or even by the DIY systems available on the market. How do you protect your customer base? By knowing how your customers truly feel about your company and your services, and taking action to improve customer stickiness.
Get feedback. Every customer interaction is a chance to collect information, so give employees who interact with customers two or three brief questions to ask at the end of telephone calls or in-person interactions. Consider using surveys (customer satisfaction and/or Net Promoter Score) to collect customer feedback and gauge customer loyalty. And don’t forget, social media is an excellent source of real-time information from your customers.
See complaints as gift. In her book,
A Complaint is a Gift, Dr. Janelle Barlow, the President of TMI US (the global consulting and training firm) suggests that customer complaints should be treated as gifts; gifts of information, opportunities to make customers happy, and ideas on how to improve products and services. While it’s hard to keep this mindset in the face of complaining customers with product or service problems, remember that you can use the information you get from complaints both to solve the individual customer’s problem (and hopefully retain that customer) and to identify company-wide issues that need to be addressed.
Work the customer feedback loop. The information you gather from your customers is useless if you don’t actually do anything with it. Use the customer feedback loop to take the information that you’ve collected and use it to address issues and combat attrition.
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Collect the information;
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Acknowledge the customer for providing the information;
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Evaluate the data to identify issues that need to be addressed;
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Act to implement policies, processes or procedure to address issues;
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Communicate changes and improvements to all of your customers.
Want more information on how to increase customer loyalty and decrease your attrition? Our whitepaper,
“Attrition: The Silent Killer” provides key strategies for combating attrition, including providing an excellent customer experience as an antidote to attrition. Also, check back here for more blogs with information and tips for combating attrition and building a profitable alarm company.
