What's at the End of the 'Extra Mile'?

For ISPs, sales and customer service aren't really separate. Sales brings in the first payments from new customers, but service gets the rest.

by Doug McDonald Director, Affiliate Programs, The TUCOWS Network courtesy of HowToSell.net [January 7, 2000]

Going that extra mile. What an overused phrase. Worse, it's all too often used to the detriment of your business when not properly understood or enforced. I figured it was about time I got back to my roots (yet another overused phrase) and did a piece on service and its importance to your sales.

Twelve years ago, as a Store Manager for a large menswear retailer here in Canada, I was teaching salespeople—many twice my age—the importance and the fundamentals of Customer Service. These folks were all straight commissioned sales people. Almost to a soul they had zero interest in spending any time with a customer after their credit-card charge was authorized.

I like to think that most of them came to see the wisdom of my "teachings." At the very least, they understood that I was a Store Manager and reported their progress and attitude directly to their own Managers, and that they had better be nice and pay attention. What may have surprised them was that we meant it. Their managers—yours truly included—had all been through the training first and had actually developed the final half-day course in conjunction with our own managers (who of course monitored our performance).

That was an important motivator 12 years ago, and it still is now when you are trying to get the Network Engineer to help someone who has walked in with a problem. Making sure that the misguided customer in your office lobby gets the service he or she needs and deserves more or less ensures that that customer will stick around as a fee paying asset—and more importantly that s/he will recommend your service to inquiring friends. It works the same way in menswear.

Getting back to my story, in one moment of frustration, old Doug rears his head and says to his pupils "It's not about being nice to them, it's about getting their money." That got their attention; then I was able to continue: "If you are thinking that, you are only about one quarter right." In my view, the other three quarters are, first, being a genuinely good person and business by servicing your customers as best you possibly can, and then getting their friends money, and—eventually—getting more of their money.

Nice guys finish first
Let's be honest, making money is why you're in this business—and a motivating factor behind why you are reading this right now. There's no shame in admitting this. Going about your daily activities with your long-term income prospects in mind is, in my opinion, a very healthy thing.

With industry analysts quoting the average per-customer acquisition cost at over $200, your referral business is by far your most cost effective growth strategy. If you are not tracking referrals, you should be. Taking it one step further and trying to determine exactly what it was or who it was that caused your customer to make the recommendation could go a long way in helping you to identify your best people and your best service programs.

Rewarding good service people is something that is not often done. Sales rewards are common and easily measured while customer service awards are not easily measured and too rare.

Think of it this way; sales gets customers to make their first payment, but customer service gets them to make the rest. So, a sensible goal is to build a culture that rewards excellent service performance.

Page 2: Rewarding merit