What are some ways that you can show your customers, and your employees, that you are truly customer focused?
Shep Hyken interviews Megan Singh, Project Management Director at Squaremouth, a four-time Gold Stevie Award winner for Customer Service Department of the Year, to get ideas that you can implement in your organization.
First Up:
Shep Hyken begins his opening comments by asking, how easy are you to do business with? Part of that easiness is how you guarantee what you sell. You want to create confidence and trust, because those feelings will convert to customer loyalty. The old saying is, “People want to do business with people they know, like and trust.” The knowing and liking is easy. The trust part is hard. It comes from predictable and consistent experiences. And, it doesn’t hurt to guarantee your products and services, either!
Featured Interview:
Shep begins his interview with Megan Singh by asking about Squaremouth’s guarantee, known as the Zero Complaint Guarantee. Megan explains that Squaremouth sells travel insurance policies through their comparison website. So, anything through Squaremouth is actually another company’s insurance policy. Squaremouth wants their customers to feel comfortable with the company they have chosen, so they ask all the insurance companies they represent to comply with their Zero Complaint Guarantee. Squaremouth promises every customer that if they have any complaint at all about their claim, Squaremouth will get involved and mediate with the provider on the customer’s behalf. As a result, this policy gives their customers confidence in Squaremouth’s offerings, and it gives Squaremouth a good working relationship with their providers to make sure that all claims are mediated fairly.
In addition to their customer-focused guarantee, Megan attributes much of the company’s success to their amazing employee culture, from the various employee perks like unlimited vacation time and a boat for employee happy hour cruises, to having every employee spend time once a week directly interacting with customers. For Squaremouth to be totally customer-focused, everyone in the organization must feel connected to the customer. Squaremouth aims to exceed everyone’s expectations – even their employees!
Top Takeaways:
• Develop a customer service mantra, credo or vision for your company. Squaremouth’s credo is “We want to be the best place for our employees to work and the best place for our customers to buy products. Period.”
• To be one of the best places to buy from, you also need to be one of the best places to work. Squaremouth treats their employees the way they want to them to treat their customers. Maybe even a bit better.
• To have all employees understand the customers’ needs and wants Every employee in their St. Petersburg headquarters (even the CEO) at some time during the week, works in customer service, communicating directly with the customer.
• ‘Downsell’ the customer. Many of Squaremouth’s customers are shocked by this policy, but Squaremouth will not sell the customer more coverage than they need. As a matter of fact, they often suggest less expensive policies. The least expensive policy can often be the best one.
About:
Megan Singh is the Project Management Director for Squaremouth, and like all members of the Squaremouth team, Megan remains close to the customer base by taking customer phone calls on a weekly basis. Squaremouth helps travelers easily and instantly compare travel insurance products from every major U.S. travel insurance provider.
Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, best-selling author and your host of Amazing Business Radio.
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