What is the Question I’m Asked During Life and Business Coaching Most Often?
“As a life and business coach, how can I have loyal clients for life?”
I love to meet people from all over the country. They energize me with their questions! One question I’m asked all of the time as a life and business coach is, “How can I have loyal clients for life?” It all boils down to customer service. The key components of great customer service are: keeping your promises, consistency and dependability, quality, and client appreciation.
I can’t emphasize enough the importance of customer service. If your customer service sucks…your business will suck wind! It’s only a matter of time. As a life and business coach, I have guided a lot of business leaders over the years, and it’s amazing how often this happens. I can have two business owners, who work in the same industry, who have virtually identical business visions. Except one business is profitable and the other is struggling.
What’s the difference? Usually, the culprit is the company’s customer service. The profitable company knows the four keys of good customer service:
Keeping your promises
When I conduct life and business coaching sessions we always talk about keeping your promises to your clients. I don’t care whether you promise free shipping, or the delivery of a product or service by a particular date…you will kill off your client loyalty, if you fail to meet deadlines and you fail to keep your promises. It’s better not to make a promise to a client at all than to break a promise. Remember the old Fed Ex commercial, when it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight…
Similar to that idea, it’s better not to ‘give’ something to your clients and then later take it away. Subconsciously, clients don’t like things taken away from them.
Consistency and dependability
You may remember these ad campaigns too. How about the Motel 6 campaign, “We’ll leave the light on for you.” And what about, the best surprise is no surprise, used by Holiday Inn. Their message to their clients was, we will be here for you, whenever you get here and you will always find the same, standard room wherever your travels take you. Clients need to feel safe, and that there will be no screw-ups. If you maintain a sense of consistency and dependability, that is the second key to having loyal clients.
Quality
The third key to exceptional customer service is quality. When I interact with business leaders as a life and business coach, the superstar companies have superstar products and services. If it’s a product generating business, the platinum standard is Apple. Steve Jobs spent mega hours and mega bucks working on design quality. For example, he wanted his products to have rounded, not squared off edges. Look down at the Apple device near you, see the rounded edges? That’s just one noticeable example of quality in corporate products which equates to customer loyalty.
Client Appreciation
Last, but not least, the fourth key to fabulous customer service is client appreciation. Today, more than ever, companies are fighting for the same client dollars. The companies which rise to the top make it a habit to appreciate their customers.
In service based companies like health care, banking, law, and insurance, it’s all about the client feeling that they have that one to one special interaction with the service provider. Perhaps, it’s that the employees remember the client’s name, ask about their kids, remember their birthday, or send them customer appreciation coupons. These strategies and others, which we discuss during business and life coaching sessions, separate the good companies from the great companies.
So how does your company rank when it comes to customer service? If you need help in that area, consider an in-house retreat or business coaching sessions designed to ramp up your customer service.
