A few months ago I fired the family dentist we had used for the last 10 years. Why would I quit doing business with someone after 10 years? Simple. My dentist quit caring about me.

I used this dentist because he came highly recommended for his quality of work. But way beyond that quality I was amazed and impressed by the level of patient care he delivered. He did many small things that set him apart from others and made me feel as if he truly appreciated my business.

For instance, he sent a welcome gift after our first visit. With every person we referred, we received a small thank-you gift. After every office visit he would call that evening to see how we were feeling. It should come as no surprise that he offered a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee. If for some reason we weren’t satisfied with the work he did, he would rectify the situation at no charge.

He was the model of what every business should be. With the possible exception of his 100 percent guarantee, the many small things he did to go the extra mile didn’t really cost a lot of money. But the message he sent to us with those efforts was invaluable.

He was not the least expensive dentist in town, but that didn’t matter because the value he provided was worth every penny I paid.

But somewhere along the way he developed a “dis-ease” called complacency. It appears he quit caring about his customers. No longer is his work 100 percent satisfaction guaranteed at no additional charge. No longer does he call us after an office visit to see how we are doing. No longer does he thank us for referrals. We no longer felt as if he valued or appreciated our business.

I can only presume that he must have forgotten an important aspect of customer loyalty--creating a long-term plan to keep those customers that he worked so hard to create that relationship.

Every year most utilities set up annual goals and budgets for maintenance, safety, new construction, labor, equipment and numerous other areas. Unfortunately, many fail to create a budget or long-term plan for strengthening customer loyalty. Consider these ideas in creating your long-term plan for customer loyalty:

Measure customer service--Keeping a pulse on customer satisfaction is not a one-time investment. In order to know if you are providing a consistent and high quality level of service, you need to continually ask your customers how are you doing. It is their perception that matters, not yours.

Modesto Irrigation District in California conducts daily telephone surveys to measure customer satisfaction. (See sidebar article.)

Create a customer satisfaction survey on your Web site. Allow customers to share suggestions on ways you can improve your service. Set up a simple survey that customers can complete at the conclusion of a telephone call. It is helpful to know what customers think about their most recent experience with the utility.

Create a long-term plan to keep a pulse on customer service. Customer feedback can be an invaluable tool for recognizing strengths and identifying opportunities for improvement. It’s important to implement a process in which every customer comment or complaint is addressed immediately. If a customer offers a compliment, share it with the whole organization. It’s not often that a customer calls to say how much they appreciate a utility’s service. And for staff who deal with customers daily, compliments come few and far between. So share the good news.

When a customer complains, someone with the authority to solve the problem should contact the customer to make sure he or she understands the problem and has the resources to create a solution.

In the last 12 months I would guess that I have completed more than 50 comment cards for airlines, restaurants, hotels, rental car companies and retail stores. Some of these have been with a complaint and some with a compliment. I have not had one company call either to thank me for the positive feedback or to further understand my dissatisfaction.

I’ve often wondered what companies do with those comment cards. I’m afraid they have been bitten by the same “dis-ease” as my dentist.

Create a long-term plan to handle unhappy customers and recognize those who care enough to say you are doing a good job. Either scenario enhances the groundwork for stronger customer relationships.

Invest in your staff. Many companies make a substantial investment in technology every year just to keep on the cutting edge to provide service to their customers. While this investment may certainly be necessary, don’t overlook the immense opportunity to provide service to your customers through your staff. Provide all of your employees with the skills to create a great customer service experience with every customer interaction. Give employees the skills to diffuse customers who are upset, angry or frustrated and turn those people into loyal customers.

Skill development requires more than an annual or biennial investment. Create a long-term plan to provide ongoing skill development for all of your employees on a regular basis. A long-term plan to improve customer loyalty continually will separate you from the rest. Don’t let complacency set in. Your customers are one of your most valued assets. Every customer counts, every single time.

David Saxby is president of Measure-X, a Phoenix company that specializes in customer service and sales skills training for utilities. He can be reached at 888-644-5499 or via e-mail at david@measure-x.com.

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