Did you know that 90% of customers are likely to abandon a good or service provider after experiencing poor customer service?
To make matters worse, each dissatisfied customer will tell 10 other people about their poor experience
In Australia, many customers simply do not bother to complain. In fact, studies suggest that for every customer complaint, there are 26 other unhappy customers who remain silent
All this could be very damaging to sales and a business’ brand
Little known facts about customer experience:
• Dissatisfied customers whose complaints are taken care of are more likely to remain loyal, and even become advocates
• It costs 6 to 7 times more to acquire a new customer than retaining an existing one
• A 2% increase in customer retention has the same effect as decreasing costs by 10%
• The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60 – 70%. The probability of selling to a new prospect is 5-20%
It is estimated that 60% of all small and medium businesses do not have a formal procedure in place for dealing with customer complaints. Maybe they don’t have many complaints, or take the view that they will deal with them as they occur?
One of the many benefits of implementing an ISO9001 Quality Management System is that it puts Customer Satisfaction at the heart of your business’ operations. ISO 9001 requires that you put strategies and processes in place to manage customer satisfaction, and by definition reduce customer dissatisfaction
As part of any Quality Management System, here is a simple list of things which you could consider:
• Context – are you a B2B business where handling of customers may be very different to a retail B2C environment. You might have Account Managers for key customers for example
• Communication – a key customer satisfaction issue and response. You might receive a formal complaint or negative feedback directly or increasingly via social media if your business has a presence
• Leadership – the strategy, culture and resources need to be driven from the top of the organisation. Clear policies on Quality, customer satisfaction and issues like returns will help
• Resources – looking into the root cause of issues might find that a lack of resource, components or competence exists. There might be a need for you to look into the infrastructure of the business, your human resources, manufacturing capability and training regimes
While each organisation will deal with customer satisfaction in their own way, a Quality Management System (QMS) will provide the necessary framework. It provides a Standard of business activity to adhere to, which if implemented, helps meet customer expectations and supports continuous improvement. To learn more about implementing a QMS in your business, contact QMS Australia on 1300 789 132 today