Turn up the heat on customer service in the chill economic climate, recommends report

Winning new customers can be tough at the best of times. And in a climate where consumers and businesses are keeping their overcoats and wallets tight shut, it's becoming more difficult than ever to prise people away from their existing suppliers. Even jaw-dropping price deals have lost their attraction.

But according to a recent report from leading industry commentators Forrester Research*, a switch of focus in your business development strategy could be the crunch-buster.

It's all a matter of looking inward rather than out: turning more of your attention - and your spend - on nurturing the customers you already have, by boosting the quality of their experience every time they contact you, visit your website or buy from you.

Organisations that neglect their customer care face many risks - and they can hit the bottom-line hard. Losing a customer to a competitor is only one aspect of it. Forrester's report also cites the problems caused by big call centre queues when customers call repeatedly to complain, coupled with all the extra admin time and costs needed for fire-fighting. Dissatisfied customers also tend to spread the word, not only telling their friends and family about their bad experiences but blogging abroad via the internet. The result can be widespread negative impressions and lost sales opportunities plus - potentially - the need for a much bigger marketing and PR budget to change perceptions and renew reputations.

And turning up the heat to improve customer satisfaction and boost sales doesn't have to break the bank in Forrester's view. Among the ideas they suggest to build stronger connections between customers and companies are:

• Making sure websites contain all the information customers are likely to need when buying a product or reporting a fault online - and that the answers they need are easy to find. That can help to cut down on the volume of helpdesk calls.
• Creating online communities - where customers can interact with each other and with the company online to exchange views and ideas and blog. RSS feeds and emails can keep them posted when fresh content and messages arrive at the site.
• Keeping messages consistent - so that customers get same information or advice whichever contact channel they choose to use to get in touch.

Keeping constantly aware of what customers are thinking - and acting on their feedback and ideas - is another vital tactic. This is one of the key foundations of BT Wholesale's own Customer Experience programme. As you may know from personal experience, every month our Customer Satisfaction Survey invites a random sample of customer representatives to give their views on how we are performing in areas ranging from billing to service - and how and where we could do better. That input informs and drives all we do - from new product development to service improvement initiatives - as well as alerting us quickly to any issue points that need to be resolved on a one-to-one basis.  

* "The Economic Necessity of Customer Service" - report by Forrester Research, January 2009

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Read how our Billing Customer Satisfaction Surveys will be going into action this new financial year in this issue here.

Need solutions to boost the experience of your customers? Talk to your BT Wholesale Account Management team about the wide choice of products and services we can offer, ranging from Interactive Customer Messaging to Next Generation Contact Centres.

Broadband Provider? Read about the CRM tools that are an integral element for your use, online at the new BT Plusnet Partner Broadband's revolutionary portal.

Or learn more about BT Wholesale's Customer Experience programme by contacting your Customer Satisfaction Manager.