About This Blog
The purpose behind this blog is to first review places of business and services provided (more on this in the following paragraphs). The concept is based on the strength of "Word of Mouth" marketing. The power of "Word of Mouth" is undeniable. There are many stats out there which I have listed some sources below. They all project the influence that "Word of Mouth" marketing has over the consumer.
The primary purpose for this blog is to give outside perspective to your business's customer service. With a focus on this area in the last decade, I offer perspective that you may not normally receive just in observing the interaction your employees and customers have, or in receiving direct customer feedback. I also may open your eyes to some hidden gems within your staff. In my reviews I will talk about the entire overview of your business image as well as the image and impression your service representatives portray to the customer. I will rarely use names in a negative review unless absolutely warranted. I will single out those individuals that I feel deserve special recognition because, many times, those that service your customers the best are not always recognized for their value. If I can help you see their value in the image they give your company, you may re-evaluate your perspective of some of your employees. Your customers are your most valued asset. Then, if you have employees that are able to relay the service you expect for your customers, they are your next best asset.
Compassion will alway be considered in my reviews. Many times bad experiences will come from a situation where the service representative may be experiencing a stressful situation in their lives. We as employers like to say to keep your personal lives out of the work place, but realistically, this is virtually impossible for any "human being". Let me know when you have an android servicing me so that I may review with a different perspective (J/K). There are certain degrees and situations where personal and professionl cross lines and especially in the service industry, you cannot survive unless they coexist. My reasoning for this is people. People are made to feel more comfortable when they are related to. What I mean by this is that there is comfort in knowing that your service provider understands your situation which helps to improve there level of service to your customers. This will definitely effect some of my measuring criteria like "Consideration and Awareness". An example of the comfort I refer to; your child's teacher has a child in the same age range which subconsciously gives you a little more comfort because, assuming that the teacher is a decent and responsible human being, he are she has similar concerns about their own children which may influence them to act more responsibly in the daily development of your child. We all act from experience. Those that have experiences similar to our own will likely be more aligned with our expectations and our values.
I will rarely write a review immediately after an experience. I do not want emotion to play a role in my entire perspective of service. I will require emotion to be included which will be captured when I make my written or verbal notes. Emotion is definitely an element as far as customer perception. However, there are unreasonable customers, uncontrollable situations, and sometimes things just go wrong. It is our goal as service providers to create the optimal environment for our customers making it more likely for customer loyalty which is the goal in any customer service based business. It takes more effort to keep customers than to get new ones.
Sources for "Word of Mouth" statistics:
- Sean Moffitt has a blog with some interesting facts and stats on "Word of Mouth". Below is a slideshow he put together on Slideshare. Word of Mouth Cheat Sheet (Agent Wildfire)View more presentations from Sean Moffitt.
- Google Search "Word of mouth marketing statistics"