Customer Service Journey

5. December 2008 by Aidan.

Every day we participate in our own customer service journey’s as we go for a cup of coffee, visit the cinema, buy the newspaper or go out for dinner. From our side, as customers, we don’t think about the experience too much. In most cases the experience doesn’t leave a lasting impression. Unless of course it was a particularly bad or good experience.

On the other side of the coin, the service provider spends a lot of time planning their store or restaurant, buying stock, checking prices, paying bills and managing the staff needed to run the business. While it would seem obvious, many business owners never consider the customer service journey. If some thought and planning is put into the customers experience with your business then there is an opportunity for the customer to remember you for the right reasons and come back to you time and again.

If you look at the restaurant business, a lot of focus on the customer service aspect of the business is concentrated on the waiting staff that are serving the tables. While this is critically important it is not the only interaction with the customer and every interaction with your customers should be looked on as an opportunity to impress them. If you look at the customers visit to your restaurant, or other business, as a journey then you will be able to analyse the experience in more detail and identify many more opportunities for you to leave the customer with a lasting positive impression.

For example, a customers visit to a restaurant starts with their decision to eat out. The customer then decides where to go. That decision is influenced by what they know about your restaurant and what they have heard from others. So to start the journey you need to ensure that all of your potential customers know about your restaurant (through advertising and promotion) and that your existing customers are all positive about their most recent experience there (this is why the journey is so important - it influences every customer and not just one).

The next step on the journey is the first contact, either through your website, through review websites or by telephone. How can you optimise this critical step in the journey. Your website needs to be clear, informative and needs to give potential customers a sense of what the experience of visiting your restaurant will be like. It also needs to contain all of the information that the customer might need, for example, type of food, location and contact details. You also need to watch the review of your restaurant to ensure that you are getting positive reviews. If the customer calls to make a reservation there  is a huge opportunity for you to impress with their first physical contact step. How do you accept reservations? What do you do if the time the customer is looking for is not available? How do you recognise returning customers? There are many opportunities for you to differentiate your business from others at this simple first step.    

As the journey progresses there are many more opportunities for you to impress the customer, particularly while they are in your restaurant.

Don’t forget, the journey does not end when the customer leaves the restaurant. Once they do leave, that customer becomes part of your “advertising team” promoting your business to others. You need to consider how to continue the customer journey with that person afterwards. In addition, there may be further revenue opportunities once they have left. For example, why not ask them would they like to buy a few bottles of the wine that they enjoyed on their recent visit to your restaurant.

If you run a service business it is important that you look at your customers interaction with you as a “journey”. This will help you to really understand what opportunities you have to provide customers with an unforgettable experience that they will recommend to others.

Aidan

~ Servitize your business ~

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