What’s more important to you and your business? Getting customers through the door? Or looking after them once they’re with you?
It’s not unreasonable, in these challenging times, to think that the key to business survival is to get more customers. After all, it’s a numbers game right? Realistically, customer acquisition has to be the growth strategy of choice.
That’s certainly the message from two thirds of UK businesses, according to a study by the Epson Business Council. Their findings indicate that only 29% of UK SMEs believe that customer service will help them stand out from their competitors and benefit their business short-term.
That compares badly with apparently more forward-thinking businesses in Spain and Italy where, respectively, 84% and 77% of them consider customer service a key differentiator.
So who’s right?
Thinking ship
To a certain extent, they both are. It’s true that new business drives sales; sales drive revenue; revenue drives profit and profit ensures viability.
But, it’s a cut-throat world out there and the reality of our stuttering economy is that businesses want a bigger slice of a shrinking pie. Some have the luxury of being able to throw money at marketing in the hope and expectation that it generates the results they need to keep going.
Some don’t have that luxury, however, and are forced into putting more thought into what they do.
Take us as an example. The professional indemnity insurance market is completely different now to how it was a few years ago. New operators have shrunk the market and driven premiums down to such an extent that it’s extremely difficult to sustain growth.
As a result, the average buyer is now concerned with price more than anything else. We know that we’re not always the cheapest and we’ve found that making a case for our customers to buy from us for other reasons is hard. We have to justify our extra cost.
Make a difference
But to us that's a great opportunity. It’s a chance to demonstrate that we’re not like other insurance brokers. Excellence always stands out and if you add value in some way, customers will – sooner or later – realise the benefit and come to you because of it.
We know our market, we know our products and we know that, actually, not everyone wants the cheapest. In our experience, sophisticated buyers prefer to pay a bit more if it means they get the quality cover they need.
To a certain extent that makes our job easier. We offer sound advice and an attentive service in a market that needs it – not just because we think it’s valuable (it is) but because we think it’s important. Our customers need to know what they’re buying and they deserve the right policy, not just the cheapest.
We’ll scratch your back …
For us, providing great service is a fundamental part of the way we do business. We're convinced that business insurance could and should be ‘done better’.
'Doing it better' doesn’t happen by accident though. You need infrastructure, strategy, talent and dedication to make it work.
How do we know it's all worth it? The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating and our customers' feedback is overwhelmingly positive. We must be doing something right to get comments like: ‘The best insurance company I have ever used’.
Brand loyalty might be a marketing buzz-phrase but just think about it for a minute. People like to talk and, with Twitter, Facebook, blogs and forums at their disposal, they will.
If you can be sure that what they say about you is all good, it’s going to make a huge difference to your business; both long and short-term.
Look after your customers and they’ll look after you.
running a business