To improve customer satisfaction it is essential to understand what factors actually drive it. These are the factors that increase customer loyalty and result in repeat business.
Product Performance or Service Quality
The first consideration is the quality and performance of the products and service that you provide. The goal is to make sure the product – in our case the claim service of the insurer – fulfills the specific need for which it is purchased. This involves determining the coverage needs of the customer, and making sure you represent a reputable insurer with claim service superior to your competitors.
Meeting/Exceeding Expectations
Understanding customers’ expectations and then meeting or exceeding them is fundamental to creating satisfaction. Customers become satisfied only when you meet, or better yet, exceed their expectations. Customers’ expectations are as important as product performance in determining customer satisfaction.
Expectations, however, do not remain constant. Performance which satisfies a customer today may not be sufficient to satisfy that same customer in tomorrow’s competitive environment. As a result, changes in customer expectations need to be tracked over time and continually adjusted in order to meet those changing expectations.
Quality of the Interaction
A customer’s perception of his or her interactions with a company is another key driver of customer satisfaction. Quite frequently how a customer feels about the transaction (how he or she is being treated) is actually more important than the underlying quality of the product or service being purchased. Being treated poorly by a company leaves a damaging and lasting impression that is difficult to overcome.
Problem Resolution
Problem resolution is crucial to maintaining customer satisfaction. Most customers recognize that occasional problems are unavoidable and even inevitable, but the way a company responds to those problems is often the difference between retaining and losing a customer’s business.
Often, good problem resolutions actually increase customer satisfaction beyond the level which existed before the problem occurred. Customers who report that a company has exceeded their expectations frequently cite quick, customer-oriented problem resolution as the source of their satisfaction. Make sure your customers are given the opportunity to openly and easily report and describe in detail any problems they have experienced. Then take swift action to resolve the problem.
Ask Your Customers
It is unreasonable to believe you can meet your customers’ expectations, determine how they are treated or resolve problems without asking our customer for their options. Oftentimes, people don’t ask customers questions because they don’t want to know the answers. Sales people know why they are successful or why they’re not.
First ask, “Will you help me to help you more effectively? I learn how to serve you better when you help me with the answers to a few questions.”
- Why did you buy from me? You’ll learn the reasons, their feelings, and your benefits – often they are benefits you didn’t consider.
- “How do you feel about the work I’ve done?” You’ll learn how you affected the sale.
- “What are you satisfied with or pleased about?” These are things that are likely to please other customers. They are also the things you can do to sell to this customer next time.
- “What would you change or do differently if you had to do it all over again?” You’ll learn the things that are keeping you from closing sales with other people.
- “How can I better serve you in the future?” Now you know how to sell more to them.
