FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Tom Ellis
October 12, 2004 Ellis Communications, Inc.
Phone: (417) 881-5635
Email: tom@elliscomm.com
PHOENIX, Ariz. – Here’s a bit of news that customer service and
marketing departments at utilities both can use – customer service is
marketing.“When it comes to meeting the needs of
customers, the heads of these two departments both need to think about
the same things,” says David Saxby, president of Phoenix-based
Measure-X, a company that specializes in helping utilities improve
their customer service and sales.
An effective marketing strategy is all about
bringing the right message to the right person at the right time,
according to Saxby. To do that, three basic questions must first be
answered, he says – who are my customers, what do they need and what
is the solution that I’m offering them? “That creates a lot of common
ground between marketing and customer service,” Saxby says.
Saxby offers the following tips and questions
for marketers and service managers to ponder as they strive to better
understand their customers:
n Profile
your customers by their occupation, income and age. Different groups
tend to buy for different reasons, Saxby notes.
n Do
you know the reasons your customers buy from you? “Is it service,
price, convenience, quality, dependability, hours, uniqueness,
competence or your availability?” Saxby asks.
n Step
into your customers’ shoes and identify the benefits of your products
and services. Remember to do this from the customer’s point of view,
Saxby says.
n Does
your staff even understand that customer service is marketing?
n Do
you have a system to keep track of who your customers are and the
qualities of service that are most important to them?
n Are
you measuring your results? “When a customer calls and inquires about
a product or service, does your staff ask them how they heard about
it?” Saxby asks. “Do you have a way to measure your marketing
investment to know whether it generated results? If you do, what were
the results? Remember, if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage
it.”
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Measure-X is a measurement, training and recognition company that specializes
in customer service and sales skills. For more information on Measure-X,
call 888-644-5499 or visit its Web site at www.measure-x.com.
