Holly here! I know I haven’t been as interactive lately, but I promise that I am cooking up secret project things and writing website copy and all kinds of things that you will love when I talk about them next week. But in the meantime, I miss you guys, and I’m absolutely going to respond to all of your wonderful comments over the weekend.
I wanted to add something quickly to this fantastic post. My experiences have also shown that customer service really is king. Sure, lots of sites say that you don’t have to answer your email in more than two sentences and you don’t have to remember the details about your clients lives and politely ask about them; truthfully, these aren’t required. But doing them can be the difference between a satisfied customer and a raving fan for life.
Hello Cottage Copy readers! It’s Laura again, and I have a little customer service story for all of you. It goes something like this:
A week ago, I got a call from a client . A website development company had contacted her asking who was building her website. (A little bit of context: Her website was going through an overhaul. I had put up a template ‘under construction’ page from OurTuts
all that was on the page was her social media links, her proposed launchdate, and how to contact her business in the meantime).
Not much there to go on. I can completely see why this guy told my client that they could do better than what I had to offer. They did C++, jQuery, CSS, Ruby on Rails–every mark-up language that was currently out there, they knew.
And they were trying to steal my client. And truth be told, they had every right. I don’t proclaim myself to be a coder. I don’t know JavaScript. I rely heavily on third party software to create my websites. And I’m actually just a lowly copywriter who happens to know a bit of tech. That company on the phone with my client, when it comes to website design, could very much kick my ass.
Now, what did my client answer in response to their obviously superior offer?
She completely and utterly told them off.
“I’ve gone through three other web designers, and none of them understood my business or what I wanted. It’d take *months* for a change to appear on my website and it doesn’t even look the way I want! One girl was even charging her $80 a month for doing *absolutely nothing*. Laura, on the other hand, listens to me. She knows exactly what I want, what my business is about, and I know when I have a problem, I can just call up my girl and it’ll be taken care of. You cannot do that for me.” (Note: this is not verbatim but it’s pretty darn close.)
And I’m sitting here on the phone, trying not to turn beet red at the restaurant I’m at, as she recounts this conversation with the webmaster who cold called her, and my jaw is just hanging open. She *did not* just say that all of that to him.
She did. And needless to say, the guy was a bit flabbergasted and quickly apologized for making her upset.
So what does this have to do with customer service?
Everything.
I’m a copywriter. Obviously, website creation isn’t part of my normal services, nor would most copywriters advertise that. But I do it. Because my clients need it. And because I want them to succeed. I had spent two hours the week before at this particular client’s business, getting to know her industry, because the more I knew about her, the better I could help her.
And she loved me for that. Even if someone was more skilled than me, she wasn’t going to give me up for a stranger. Because I treated her like gold. Because I listened. And customer service matters more.
So if you think you can’t compete against someone who’s more established, more skilled, and has better resources than you, I’m telling you’re wrong. You can compete. And you can compete well. Give everyone you do business with a phenomenal customer experience, and I guarantee that the payout will be in more than just in dollar bills.
Laura Espinosa is a copywriter in Simi Valley, CA. When she’s not running all across Ventura County catching up with her crazy clients, or bothering Holly on gchat, she is working on her urban fantasy novel and cuddling her riceball of a cat. You can find her on Twitter
since a certain someone convinced her to join.
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