Don’t you just love clients who are easy to do business with?
You know the silent ones who always seem to be satisfied. They seem just too good to be true. In fact, you hardly hear from them, you must be doing a great job.
Beware! When it comes to customer service, silence is not always golden.
The Technical Assistant Research Program (TARP), a customer service research organization) offers these rules about customer silence:
The 8 / 20 Rule says that a dissatisfied client will tell between 8 and 20 others.
The 4% Rule says that only 4% of customers who have complaints will tell you, the other 96 % will tell others.
“Silent Customers can be Deadly…Encourage them to Complain” ● Ron Kaufman
Consider these strategies to avoid the silent treatment:
Ø Saturate everyone in your organization with the voice of the Client .
Ø Invite and pass along regular feedback and Client comments. Good and bad.
Ø Initiate regular contact with all of your Clients. This makes them feel valued, involved, and well-informed. Don’t assume they saw you just because you were on the property.
Ø Make personal contact whenever possible, and when you miss them, leave a note or follow-up with a phone call.
Ø Keep a Client Contact Log and set your schedule to contact every Client on a regular basis.
Ø Don’t assume that if you don’t hear from them everything is okay.
Ø Check in.
Some good news…
According to TARP, 50 to 80 percent of all complaining clients who have their complaints resolved are a company’s most loyal clients. So don’t be so grateful for the easy, silent ones, invite complaints and initiate communication, and then act on what you hear.
So, don’t be so sure that the quiet is really silence, there may be sounds about your service that are heard by everyone but you
“Clients who are silent to you are not always silent to others.”