Attitude and service models | Marketing Concepts.

When a person arrives at a store or any commercial establishment, either physical or virtual, the best services, is hoping for expects: "be treated like a King", is that you decide to buy or not. Why? because the customer knows that without his purchase, without the money that you spend on different items, you store it would not exist or would not be what it is. And is that many of us have had bad experiences in terms of service, in case of a hypermarket, in a restaurant, on a bench, in a shop,...?, I think that I am not mistaken if I assure you all, as consumers, we have had bad experiences of service, as I think that I am not mistaken if I say that these bad experiences make our concept and image of the establishment to relax bringing as a result the decay of the economic performance of the store.
There are two basic attitudes of service customer that mark the companies, positive attitude and negative attitude, even when in the definition of policies and strategic plan firm recorded its interest and its purpose of providing an excellent service that allows loyalty to customers and thus develop a competitive advantage, a negative attitude of an employee can make all this scaffolding will come to the floor. When this happens, usually customer does not identify the person individually as the cause of your bad experience, identifies the complete institution, for example, if a bank he had a bad experience with a business advisor thinks "it is that this Bank's employees are lousy", which associated with negative and directly to the entity and all the people who work in it. Why it is important that the positive attitude of service prime in each and every one of the employees of a firm.

Only two attitudes

• Positive attitude: excellent customer behaviour
• Negative attitude: bad behavior to the client

Based on the variables treatment of customer and technical competence, we can distinguish four types of service companies:

• The ineffective and pleasant.
• The effective and pleasant.
• The ineffective and unpleasant.
• The effective and unpleasant.

The service the customer is determined by philosophy, attitudes, and behaviors of each of the employees of the firm, from the security guard to the President

Unpleasant and inefficient:

Which low technical competence and bad treatment combines the customer. A simple example, imagine an ice cream parlour, whose facilities are not very neat and whose waiters it nor be, unpleasant truth? (under treatment of the client), but what if that you add to the flavor of your ice cream line is not tasty and found in State almost liquid for misuse of its freezers, awesome or not? (technical incompetence). So who's going back, that would be tripped twice with the same stone, as the Lord churches would. The phrase from header of these companies is: "we are INCOMPETENT and not us imports be UNPLEASANT"

Ineffective and Nice:

Where companies with low technical skills treated as a King to the customer and thereby hope to cover the gap of their technical incompetence. Suppose that the ice cream has improved the appearance of their facilities and their waiters and that now is distinguished by its neatness and good treatment to the customer (pleasant) and bearing witness to this change we decided to return, but when they served us our ice cream, the taste remains disastrous and worse consistency, they are ugly and apart (ineffective) melted serve. His phrase from header is: "what do wrong but are lovely"

Effective and unpleasant

They are highly effective, they know their processes, they are efficient but reach high standards of technical quality, not focus on the customer and therefore are not leaders. Imagine gelato but now with excellent flavours, consistencies and variety of products, but frumpy equal that at the beginning, would you be customer?. Can be identified with the phrase: "we are very efficient, but very UNFRIENDLY"

Efficient and pleasant

Firms that have found the perfect balance between technical competencies and service strategy to the client are, are organizations that focus on the client because they know that it is he who is responsible, are aware of the strong competition and prospects are running for leadership. Ice cream parlor will be located in this quadrant if we mix the neatness and good treatment of the second quadrant with the flavors. consistency and variety of products of the third. We can identify them with the phrase "we do our work with maximum quality"
Poor service is the main cause of the loss of customers. According to the Association of Management of United States American Management Association (AMA), 68 per cent of customers who abandon their business relationship with a company, made because the service is poor. Another fact: 90 per cent of the lost buyers does not attempt to contact the company to explain what happened. And worst of all: an unsatisfied customer says 10 people their displeasure. He met, on the other hand, only disseminates its experience to five individuals. Tom Peters says to replace U$ S 1 a lost customer, costs U$ S 10. These five measures avoid the most common pitfalls of the service customer:

1 help the staff understand the importance of good service

Employees often feel that an occasional slip in the service will not have greater consequences. According to the Service Management Research Group, 92 percent of the CEOs said that the quality of service is the key to success; managers of branches, on the other hand, placed it below other goals, such as short-term financial results. One of the best ways to align the priorities of the company's staff, is to lead by example. The Nierenberg Group research shows that 95 percent of sellers said to improve interpersonal communications would motivate them to do their job better. Some techniques to accomplish this are as follows:

• Demonstrate an open and friendly approach: senior management should be professional and attentive at the same time.
• Help: managers should have a proactive attitude in dealing with your staff. It is important to warn immediately when an employee is not motivated, to avoid that the discontent spread to customers.
• To automatically give 110 per cent: the employees expect that their orders are handled, but superiors could go further, giving a quick response to the concerns, and providing additional support.

2 synchronized with the clock on the client

In most companies, there are customers who do not respond quickly; in these cases, it is essential to not annoy them with follow-up "calls", because behind them, lies another concern, why it takes so much?. A way of avoiding this type of calls is to include questions in the previous talks, as for example, when would like us to send you the product? Or when will you give me the details of your complaint?. Hasty, or impersonal communications will also cause the relationship with the customer. To avoid this situation, it is advisable to:

• Ask the customer what you prefer; some opt for cards, others by phone calls. Even if the company has established policies and procedures, never lose sight of the customer's requirements.
• If there was a problem, return the customer contact after a while; long-term follow-up is essential.
• Establish a preventive plan. If an order is delayed, move: call customer service and offer you send the merchandise faster means, no additional cost for it.

3. know the customer rather than assume what

To the best-known customers, they change over time; Thus, maintaining the same level of service, is not effective. In addition, competition seduces our usual buyers, so it is essential to foster loyalty continuously. The research and data reveal the needs and attitudes of customers. But this does not replace the personalized service. There are three effective measures that help maintain personal contact:

• When dealing with customers, either in person or by phone, ask them if it would not disturb them to answer a few questions that will help you to better understand your needs. It is a more personal form of interviewing them, which replaces the forms by mail.
• Send a personalized newsletter to their older clients, and will feel special. Just add a letter addressed to his name in any publication company.
• When a customer complains, employees try to do everything possible to solve the problem. So the answer cause better printing, ask a superior who call it and also apologize; It's a way of saying that the company appreciates it.

4. improve the Protocol

People want more than anything else, be respected. The first question is how to direct to the customer, in particular, that is only beginning his relationship with the company. A suggestion: use a formal deal ("Mr." or "Ms.") until they authorize it to call him by his first name. Although the most recent advances in the service the customer relate to technology (programs that booked pending appeals, better management of data, among other things), the personal interaction is irreplaceable. For this reason, it is convenient to remember some basic rules:

• Encourage its people to use a simple language when talking with new clients. Often, people try to impress using technical words, but these away to the purchaser.
• Place a small mirror with the word "smile" on the desktop of your salesmen and staff of customer support, even in the those who provide this service by phone. It is a way to remind them that they must have a cheerful and friendly attitude.
• Write scripts for sales and answers to some questions related to the service the customer. It is not a script telemarketing, but a guide to help remember the most important topics of the contact with customers.
• Evaluate what your employees know about your products or service. Sometimes, the staff just remember a very limited amount of the benefits offered by the company.

5. personal communications (the power of three)

The key issue in the management of customer relationships is to discover how you can set a personal contact with each one. The "power of three" is a technique that relies on track three buyers per day, and write them a thank you note. The goal is to plant the seeds that show people that the company values its business relationship. Some examples that work very well are:

• If a customer is dissatisfied, even though the company proceeded correctly, send you a letter of apology.
• If a customer helped to solve a problem, write him a note in which recognizes that cooperation, and thanks you for your patience.
• If you lose a client, send a letter in which admit that he was right; tell him that the company will miss the business relationship, and that they expect to resume it in the future.

The United States mail reports that only 4 percent of the correspondence is personalized. Therefore, send letters to its customers, will give you an advantage over 96 percent of the competition.

Published for educational purposes