Quality is Remembered Long After the Price is Forgotten

We all hear about the importance of great customer service and the potential benefits of implementing a solid CRM (customer relationship management) strategy. We don’t always hear about the specific and unique ways businesses can harness the power of superior customer service to differentiate themselves and leapfrog competitors.

Customer service has become an integral aspect of 3rd Street’s success and allows us to create a genuine emotional connection with our clients. Remember, customer service is an investment not an expense. Business owners often focus on return on investment (ROI) instead of viewing the lifetime value of a customer.

A key ingredient to strong relationships is developing emotional connections. At the end of the day it’s not what you say or do, but how you make people feel that matters the most. In order for someone to feel good about a relationship, they must know the other person truly cares about them, both personally and professionally. “3rd Street Marketing has met and then exceeded our hopes and expectations. The staff is easy to work with and very accommodating. Their sincere and enthusiastic effort to understand our needs is evident and greatly appreciated.” - Pam Botis-Shoreline Village

With the Internet connecting everyone together, companies are becoming more and more transparent whether they like it or not. An unhappy customer or a disgruntled employee can blog about bad experience with a company, and the story can spread like wildfire by email or with tools like Twitter. The good news is that the reverse is true as well. A great experience with a company can be read by millions of people almost instantaneously,  so don’t be afraid to get creative and think outside of the box.

This is why building long term relationships and going above and beyond is imperative to a company’s success. Everything is customer service. Every action you take — the design of your web site, your content, how you answer email — communicates something to your customer. About serving her. About helping her.  Be a good listener. Take the time to identify customer needs by asking questions and concentrating on what the customer is really saying. Listen to their words, tone of voice, body language, and most importantly, how they feel.

“3rd Street Marketing isn’t just about cranking out text. They see the bigger picture – how our products fit together, what our customers expect of us, and how our partners compliment our solutions”. -Carrie Kulak-SafeStone Technologies, Inc.

• What can you give customers that they cannot get elsewhere?
• What can you give customers that is totally unexpected?

Ask yourself these types of questions when reviewing your businesses current CRM strategy. Price and quality can be easily copied – how you create and manage customer relations is much more difficult to imitate.