Do You Build Brand Loyalty?

Many years ago, a television commercial featured people proudly displaying their black eyes and proclaiming,I would rather fight than switch. They were referring to their loyalty to a particular company brand.

It appears that many companies have lost sight of the importance of customer loyalty and that it is built by offering the best possible customer service. Two examples are sighted below.

The following horrendous customer service story was recently featured in Money Magazine:

A customer purchased what he thought was a disc storage drive. Upon opening the box at home, he instead found a bag of beans. He returned the box to the chain store and asked for another box containing a new disc storage drive which he thought he had purchased.

The Complaints Rep replied the exchange is the responsibility of the manufacturer. The customer wrote a letter to the manufacturer describing the circumstances that took place. The manufacturer responded that the product exchange would be the responsibility of the store.

This left the customer in the middle of a circular argument that could not be fixed and feeling very frustrated.

This savvy customer wrote a letter to the CEO of this well known retail chain. He immediately received satisfaction by receipt of a coupon for a brand new disc storage drive.

A number of pointers come to mind in reading this story:

If the CEO were smart, he would review the company return policies. Due to the finger pointing between the store and the manufacturer, the CEO had to intervene to settle the matter thus taking his time away from more valuable pursuits. This particular time waster needs to be dealt with across all of his stores to avoid these costly interruptions in the future.

The next problem the CEO needs to fix is to make it a policy for customer service representatives to immediately take care of all unusual situations and satisfy the customers within reason. By taking care of problems immediately, they will prevent the spread of bad word-of-mouth.

Think about it - this story landed in Money Magazine and the name of the company was mentioned several times.

Analytically speaking, the cost of exchanging a disc storage drive for a sack of beans would have been far less costly than the loss of the complaining customer and all of the people he told, they told, and some of the readers of Money Magazine.

Review all of your policies when it comes to customer service. You will find cost cutting measures, improve client relations and enjoy many more Smooth Sales!

The next example is of an airline trip gone very wrong. Due to bad weather, the first leg of the journey was delayed by 90 minutes. Passengers were told, Do not worry. Over 30 passengers are on the next flight and you will not be left behind. This statement was anything but true.

Not only was the flight not available, it was completely cancelled. And this was one cancelled flight among many at the connecting city. The customer service line was extremely long and only two customer service reps were on hand. The wait in this long line was two hours from start to finish.

When it was finally her turn, this customer was told to Run to the next airline in another terminal to try to get the last seat. The person behind the counter smiled and said, I am putting you on the flight but you have to Run to customer service to let them know.

There was another two hour line in which I was expected to wait. When I finally made it to the counter, the service rep said I was not in the computer and accused me of lying.

I firmly suggested she call the person at the gate. Finally, a seat was confirmed on the midnight flight and I was told to Run back to the gate. A lot of exercise in running was had that night, but it entailed yet another 90 minute wait.

My opinion is these employees are not properly trained. They tell the customers what they want to hear rather than the truth. It is easier to work with the truth, particularly in stressful situations so that you know what you can count on. And as for brand loyalty to these airlines, I feel none.

Seed Newsvine

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