Customer Satisfaction: How far is too far?

Originally Posted by Gilbert As I see it, "Customer Satisfaction" is subjective by nature. To remedy this, "objective" metrics could and probably should be adopted.

I agree. This "metric" or measurement of satisfaction could be tied to specific objectives or outcomes. This will keep the surprises down to a minimum at the end of the project.

Originally Posted by AZBroker When it comes to customer satisfaction how far are you willing to go to make/keep the customer happy?

If you're in sales, how far can you go? It's important that you create and manage good experiences for your customer. It's equally important to keep all of your promises. Lastly, I think it's expected that you would act on behalf of your customer to resolve problems with the company you represent or their service.

Regarding "how far", those are finite responsibilities for salespeople. It seems that the question and most of the previous replies involve owners or managers of a company. Hopefully, any company, large or small, would have a solid policy on customer satisfaction so that the salesperson would not have to carry that load.

Nordstroms is a famous exception. They allow all employees to make decisions regarding customer satisfaction. But I don't think most companies could pull that off.

It depends on the expectations of your customer. That's why it so important to clarify what your customer wants and expects BEFORE the sale is completed.

The size of the client and their purchase(s) is also a factor. I'm willing to do more to please my large accounts compared to a small customer.

Ultimately, the question to ask is, "Does it make good business sense to do...?"

Cheers!
Kelley

Great Question.

I would do what I can to please the customer, but once it reaches a point where it is outside of my business objective, customer management and marketing objective, then I would weigh the ramifications of further actions.

Once there was a customer who wanted a replacement of a tire. The store didn't sell tires, but the customer insisted that the tires were bought from the store. That store decided to replace the tire even if they didn't sell the product...

The Store ... NORDSTROMS!

Follow the lead of Success.

Originally Posted by cs_obd Great Question. I would do what I can to please the customer, but once it reaches a point where it is outside of my business objective, customer management and marketing objective, then I would weigh the ramifications of further actions. Once there was a customer who wanted a replacement of a tire. The store didn't sell tires, but the customer insisted that the tires were bought from the store. That store decided to replace the tire even if they didn't sell the product... The Store ... NORDSTROMS! Follow the lead of Success.

Yeah, what Ritchie said.

Originally Posted by cs_obd The Store ... NORDSTROMS! Follow the lead of Success.

As far as I'm concerned, Nordstroms wrote the book on customer service. We don't have one in our area, but whether, I've been in Santa Barbara , San Francisco, or Seattle, I have never been in a Nordstroms without buying something. The same spirit of helpfulness that is part of their service policy also exists among their sales professionals.

The employee who creatively solved the tire problem was able to do so because Nordstroms has a policy that allowed him to do so. Most companies do not have a policy like that.

That is very true. Leaving customer satisfaction to the whims of your sales team is not a good practice.

A true systematic, overall organizational approach is in call when tackling this idea. If customer satisfaction, better yet, customer management systems is not in place for the entire business, then all the efforts set forth will not be quantifiable and it will be difficult to gauge what is acceptable and what is not.

Originally Posted by cs_obd Great Question. I would do what I can to please the customer, but once it reaches a point where it is outside of my business objective, customer management and marketing objective, then I would weigh the ramifications of further actions. Once there was a customer who wanted a replacement of a tire. The store didn't sell tires, but the customer insisted that the tires were bought from the store. That store decided to replace the tire even if they didn't sell the product... The Store ... NORDSTROMS! Follow the lead of Success.

Bah Humbug! That sounds like an employee couldn't figure out how to handle the situation so he/she gave away the farm.

In that particular situation the lifetime value of the client might have made up for the hit to the bottom line but I'd be surprised if the typical Nordstroms, or any typical department store, employee would use that as a guideline for making such a decision.

Yeah, it's an unusual situation, and there are probably many stories out there that have the same correlation to the Nordstorm's Story.

The important "lesson" I derive from the story is - customers are the reason we have for-profit businesses, and without them we would be nothing. So take care of them, and nurture them, and help them grow along side your business.