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How To Design A "Customer Touch" Program
You don't want the ONLY time a customer hears from you to be when YOU want to sell them something or when THEY have a problem.
Wouldn't it be great if you could design a program that would:
- Increase your client retention.
- Provide opportunities for you to upsell clients.
- Get clients to refer business to you.
At SUITE 1000 we have created a formal schedule of contacts with our clients that we call our "Customer Touch Program". Below, I have outlined how you can design your own in-house program. If your have questions, or want copies of the forms we use, please don't hesitate to call.
The Planning Process
When - Deciding how often a client should be contacted should be based on things like:
- How heavily does the client use your services?
- How often does this client experience changes that are likely to impact the service you provide to them?
- How organized and proactive are they going to be about notifying you of changes?
- Has the client recently had changes in key personnel (who may decide to change their vendor if they have no relationship)?
We contact ALL customers after their first week of service to make sure everything is on track. We actually use this as a sales tool and it is part of a "No Surprises Pledge" that prospects receive before they even become clients. After the first follow-up, clients are assigned to a monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly schedule depending upon their needs.
What - You need to think about how the concept will be introduced to your customers and what questions you are going to ask.
What do you want to accomplish with the call? As a first step, I wanted to make sure that we knew about changes that clients were making that would affect the services we were providing to them (changes in personnel, in processes, in equipment, etc.). Over time, we added additional questions to gauge customer satisfaction, get ideas for new services, identify new opportunities, and get referrals. It is a process you want to develop slowly, not dump on a client on the first call. It takes time to build relationships and make both the client and your employee comfortable with the process.
It was also important to have a written questionnaire to ensure that everyone was being consistent and documenting the results. We put the form in ACT!, a contact management software package. This gave everyone valuable access to the feedback we got (salespeople, other customer service reps, management, etc.) so they knew the history of each client before they contacted them.
Who - You have to decide who is going to make the contacts.
I found the most success putting my Customer Service Manager in charge, rather than sales. She assigns herself and two other supervisors to a schedule. I wanted a "soft" approach that encouraged honest feedback rather than giving the impression that it was nothing more than a sales call. I also wanted to be sure that a regular schedule was adhered to month after month. Generally, this is not a strong suit in salespeople.
How - We also had to decide how contacts were going to be made.
We based it on the preferences of our customers. Many wanted to talk on the phone, but some, especially those that spent a lot of time in the field or traveled, wanted to correspond via e-mail. We also send a bi-annual, formal Customer Satisfaction Survey. Some clients prefer that we e-mail it, some want it faxed, and some want it mailed. If you are trying to get the point across that you care about customer satisfaction, you do what suits the client.
Is this a lot of work? Yes, it is! Was it worth it to significantly increase sales and eliminate customer turnover? You bet!
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