Don’t Bother Looking After Your Clients

Growing a successful business is all about winning new clients, isn’t it? It’s about going after them, doing a great job on your sales pitch and getting them to sign on the dotted line. And then you can relax, can’t you; no need to worry about that client anymore. You’re free to go and look for the next new client and wow them with your sales technique and your promises!

Really? Well, that’s how some businesses seem to think they can treat their clients.

Last month I went to Toronto and Seattle to visit some friends. We decided to fly with Air Canada as they had good prices and flights that worked with our ’round trip’. Booking our tickets was the easy bit. Once I started to ask some unusual questions, customer service seemed to disappear. When I phoned to ask about changing seats and getting assistance for getting on and off the planes, things started to go wrong. The company would appear to have a central system for enquiries – once you tell them your booking number they can find all your details. But the people who answer the phone when you call with a question can’t operate without their script. Ask them something a bit different and they start to struggle. “Please hold while I check,” was a phrase I got tired of hearing. Asking to be put through to someone who might actually have the answer didn’t help much. “We’ll call you back with the answer,” was code for “We don’t know the answer.” So I tried to call them back and got a completely different story.

Things didn’t get much better at the airport. Despite having checked in online, we still had to go through the whole process again. When we checked in at Seattle for the short flight to Vancouver and the connecting flight home, we queued for 25 minutes; it then took another 15 minutes to complete the process. Maybe that’s why they managed to lose my suitcase! I really began to feel that Air Canada have a number of processes they work to, but when those processes don’t work, or you want something different, they aren’t interested in helping you.

On the upside, the cabin crew on all the flights we took were wonderful. They’re cheerful and friendly. They found me extra seats and keep asking if I was OK. Despite the long hours they work, they’re great at their jobs and can cope with out of the ordinary requests. They don’t need a process to work to – just common sense!

So the next time you take on a new client, think about what comes next. Don’t leave them hanging on the phone without an answer to their questions. Show them how much you care about them and how important they are to your business. When you really look after your clients, they’ll keep coming back and help look after your business.