Most larger companies outsource their customer service to the Internet. Got a question or problem? Use the online user forum, online help pages, online chat or search the company web site and hope you find something. The customer is pretty much forced to self-serve, self-diagnose and self-fix their problem.
This reliance on the Internet allows companies to cut costs. But outsourcing to the lowest bidder, in this case the Internet, pushes customers away. It kills personal interaction and eliminates customer relationships.
No customer relationship => no customer loyalty => no business.
Customer satisfaction is worthless. Customer loyalty is priceless.
A US client with whom I’ve been doing business for 11 years recently changed its payment system such that its cheques are now printed on white paper. The new cheques look the same as a Bell or Rogers invoice remittance stub or the federal government’s GST tax remittance form.
I took one such cheque to my bank, The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). Since the cheque was in US funds, it couldn’t be deposited into my Canadian account via an ATM. It had to be processed by a teller.
An RBC teller was about to process the cheque when a bank manager or supervisor happened by.
“What’s that?” he asked. “I’m not going to accept that.”
“I don’t want to cash it,” I said. “I just want to deposit it into my account.”
“It looks like a photocopy. Why should I trust you?” he asked.
“Because I’ve been banking here since before you were born,” I replied.
He walked away and the teller returned the cheque to me.
(Added: A little while later, I spoke to another RBC person. After this guy reviewed my account information, he pointed out that my business account was opened on January 13, 1984. He laughed and said that was three days after he was born.)
Up until four or five years ago, when I went into this very same bank branch, the tellers would recognize me and ask, “How’s the photography business?” or “I saw one of your pictures in the paper the other day.” The branch manager would invite me into her office to show me the latest photos that she shot of her kids.
Today, perhaps like everyone else, much of my banking is done online or through an ATM. This RBC bank branch also seems to have a high staff turnover. So with no customer relationship anymore, I’m now an untrustworthy nobody despite my 32 years of business banking at RBC.
Winning customer loyalty doesn’t happen overnight but it can be killed in a minute.
What does this have to do with photography?
As a professional photographer, you have to encourage and grow customer relationships. Yes, that’s become a trendy business cliché but it really is important. The key way to differentiate yourself is through customer relationships and customer experience, and not through price.
A 2014 American Express study [or a colourful PDF] showed that customers are willing pay more for a better experience. But customer service and customer satisfaction have been gradually declining over the years as businesses pay more attention to cost cutting and their bottom line.
Some customers won’t be interested in a relationship and that’s fine. But the ones who do care are the ones who’ll be repeat customers and the ones most likely to give word-of-mouth referrals.
You should try to encourage feedback from the customer and open the door for continued contact:
• “Here are the finished photos. If you need any further edits, please let me know. I’m always available to help. It’s important to me that these photos suit your project. Let me know what you think.”
• “I just saw the finished project and I think it looked good. What do you think? What did your company/client/customers say?”
A customer relationship requires that you:
• Be consistent. Consistent level of photography, consistent delivery times, consistent reliability.
• Show compassion. Have the customer’s best interests at heart.
• Be flexible. If the job requirements change a little bit, if it runs a bit later than planned, etc., this should not be reason for you to hit the panic button.
• Make each customer feel special or important.
Your (potential) customers make buying decisions based on your words and actions. Most of these decisions are influenced by emotion not price. Customers need to feel welcome, respected, important and understood.
The death of a relationship comes after the death of communication. A web site should only start the dialogue, it’s not a replacement for you. Don’t hide behind your web site.
