Frequently Asked Questions
Why outsource my customer follow-up?
The reasons are numerous. The obvious, of course, are the costs of space, equipment costs, and continued managing; supporting, training and hiring that will need to be done in order to maintain a professional customer service department. Continued personal contact is a never-ending necessity. Without this time consuming task, your staff will be able to concentrate more on what they do best, like selling! Leaving customer service to the experts to gather the valuable customer information for you will ensure a consistent follow up program for the benefit of your customers, your staff, and your future. The value of a third party works beautifully in allowing your customers to feel at ease about the information they want to share. Many customers don’t feel comfortable speaking directly with the company they did business with about their experience. Outsourcing this invaluable task will not only improve customer service but will also maximize the investment of employees time by keeping them within their core competencies.
How can follow-up with existing customers help my bottom line?
A Study in the Harvard Business Review showed that for every lost customer, a company must gain 3 new SATISFIED customers just to stay even. As an owner, you know what you are spending to get a customer through the door. Do the math. Have your customer acquisition costs risen dramatically? Other Harvard Business studies have shown that a dissatisfied customer tells 11 others and a satisfied customer tells 3 others. But the “dissatisfied” story gets repeated 9 times by each of the original 11. That's an easy math equation. If you are not following up with your existing customers, you have a missing link. Here's an incentive straight from Harvard: A 10 percent increase in customer retention typically increase profits by 25-100 percent!
“Loyalty today is no longer a function of role or duty, but rather a passion. You must do things so astonishingly well that customers become not merely loyalists, but rather outright apostles.”
--Skip LeFauve, Chairman, Saturn
How do customers perceive the follow-up call?
As opposed to a telemarketing call, customers really appreciate the call. They immediately feel the management of your company cares about them! Everyone loves to give their opinion. An ever-increasing number of our conversations are closed with the customer thanking us for calling.
Does CSI provide follow-up for prospects?
You bet! Making new customers is the front-end strategy. Holding on to them is the back-end strategy. The long-term objective is to turn every new customer into a lifetime customer. Our CSI Customer lifecycle program begins with prospects and is our most popular program. Often time’s salespeople get overwhelmed and the follow-up is put off in an effort to keep up. Outsourcing this priceless task will not only ensure prospects are actually being contacted but will also maximize the investment of employees time by keeping them within their core competencies.
What is wrong with the mail surveys I am already sending out?
Nothing is wrong with mail surveys, they are just generally less efficient, less informative, and often provide more inaccurate data than phone follow-up. Most customers that take the time to fill out a mail survey are either extremely satisfied or extremely dissatisfied with their experience. The remaining bulk of your customers are unheard from. You are hearing the very good and the very bad but missing out on all the important stuff in between. Also, by speaking directly with the customer over the phone, our CSR's our able to capture very detailed impressions of their experience. This way you find out all the WHY's and WHY NOT's empowering you to make proactive decisions in order to quickly handle complaints and reward greatness; giving recognition where it is due is great for your company's culture.