Rainmaking Secrets

Handling complaints and recovering from delivery slip ups seems to be a dying art.

Great brands deal with customer problems quickly and well.

In our customer experience and sales training with clients such as Toyota, we use a six step recovery approach which resolves around the profound but simple act of an apology.

The HATRIC Six Step Approach to Customer Problem Solving:

Step 1. Hear out the customer without interruption or judgment.

Step 2. Apologize for the problem with sincerity and regret.

Step 3. Take responsibility for the problem and following up.

Step 4. Resolve the problem then and there if possible.

Step 5. Immediately refer the problem on to someone who can solve the problem - if you need help.

Step 6. Compensate the customer so they leave better off that before the encountered the problem.

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When you calculate the downside costs of not achieving customer engagement, its worth reminding yourself of what the benefits of achieving customer engagement are.

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s report Beyond Loyalty found 80% of its respondents said achieving customer engagement would improve customer loyalty. 76% said engagement would increase revenues. 75% said engagement would improve profits. And 56% beleived engagement would increase bigger market share.

When marketers being to seriously address the issue of engagement they might improve their credibility with their CEOs and board. The average tenure for a Chief Marketing Officer might also increase to above its current 21 month average.

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A 2007 report from the Economist, based on research of 311 executives on their companies engagement practices tells us the ‘winning differentiator is no longer the product or the price, but the level of engagement - the degree to which a company succeeds in creating an informative long-term relationship.”

The term “engagement” has been used to describe all manner of marketing, loyalty, satisfaction and retention practices. But engagement today is about taking a more strategic view of customer relationships. The bad news is, highly engaged customers are the exception, not the rule.

Of the respondents that were surveyed by the E.I.U. only 13% believe their customers are very committed to their product, while 44% believe their customers are only somewhat committed. If CEOs really believe this, then they need to move heaven and hell until they get the results they want.

Popularity: 5% [?]