In addition to providing quality customer service and providing services as expected by clients, businesses can gain customer loyalty by solving their problems. Whether the issue is directly caused by the company or is a result of something more in the customer’s control, companies that can both diagnose and remedy issues end up helping themselves, such as by gaining repeat business or referrals.
Exceeding Expectations
Customers appreciate when businesses make accommodations, such as squeezing in an unexpected guest for a dinner reservation or allowing customers to cancel without a penalty. But even when the business is responsible for the problem, customers often give them a chance to make up for it.
As customer relationship management software company SuperOffice explains, customers want to feel taken care of. Recounting a presentation from an airline company, they write that those who experienced a problem, such as a cancelled flight, but then had their problem taken care of ended up reporting higher satisfaction than those who did not experience any serious problems in the first place.
Plus, Forrester found that 65% of those who said that problem resolution experiences far exceeded their expectations were very likely to spread the word about their experiences.
Of course, companies shouldn’t purposefully create problems just to solve them, but companies should ensure that they have the ability to promptly fix client problems in the event that they do occur.
Anticipation Matters
Being able to detect customer problems is important, because many customers never even bother to complain. Instead, they simply stop doing business with that company.
For example, a study of bank customers found that 96% never complain directly to the bank, and 91% of those customers will never come back, according to 1st Financial Training Services.
While that lack of notice can put companies in a tough position, it means that businesses have to put more effort into recognizing when problems do occur so that they can reach out to the customer rather than waiting to hear from them.
Fixing Energy Problems
Energy management is an area ripe for problem solving, as many businesses do not have a complete picture of how their activities affect their costs. They may be dissatisfied with how high their bills are, but they might not know how to solve the issue. So energy services companies have significant opportunities to fix client problems by monitoring energy management using energy analytics software (EAS).
For example, suppose an energy services company is brought in to replace equipment and provide projected energy savings from the project. If six months later the client is not saving as much as anticipated, they might be angry with the energy services company and spread the word negatively.
Yet if the energy services company set the client up with EAS, they would be able to detect unusual energy usage and figure out how to get back on target, such as by recognizing which areas of the business are responsible for unusually high energy consumption. The energy services company could then exceed client expectations by recommending what processes to adjust to achieve additional savings, which goes beyond simply completing the initial retrofitting project.
In other instances, energy services companies could use EAS to identify faulty equipment that is unrelated to the initial work they did for the client, but it still anticipates a problem. Not only do they gain the goodwill of the client by recognizing the issue, but they could also gain additional work from the client by implementing the equipment change.
EAS can’t solve every client problem, but it gives energy services companies a useful tool to detect energy-related operational issues early and on an ongoing basis, which can in turn boost customer loyalty.
Request a complimentary energy efficiency assessment to find out how Artis Energy’s RTIS® energy analytics platform can provide you with the visibility and insight to transform energy from a fixed cost into a distinct competitive advantage.