CHAPTER 24
Startle Your Customer
In the world of Customer Service we often talk about startling our Customers in a positive way. Of course in recent years companies have startled their Customers with the poor service they provided. In a social world, we are being forced to change that and build experiences that will create loyalty, dedication, and positive buzz. So as we work to gain social media success, we will deliver an amazing product and start to create Customer interactions to help facilitate positive buzz. This is easy since Customer expectations are at a low, but as this improves, the next step will be taking it to another level.
Since expectations of service are so low, you can often startle your Customer just by following up on feedback to say thank you or we hear you. This can always be shocking and completely change the impression of the company. In 2010, I received one of those insurance explanation of benefits forms. You probably have seen them, and if you are like me, just ignored them or placed them in a drawer. This time it was different. The form had my deceased daughter, Gianna, listed as the subscriber. Needless to say, that got my attention. Gia passed away in 2004, and at no time was she ever listed on that insurance policy. As you can imagine I called immediately, but that did not provide any explanation or hope of resolution, so I e-mailed the president of the company. The response was amazing! First the president responded to my e-mail directly with a ...
