Unleashing an Untapped Resource

Nick Samain, Group Show Manager, SME Canada

Beyond the Barriers of ‘Good’ Customer Service

• Discover practical methods to connect your customer service with your sales and marketing programs to grow your event with new exhibitors and attendees

• Find out how your peers in the industry are using customer service to serve prospects before they become a customer

• Learn tools on how customer service can help you break into new markets, lead your competitive strategy and grow market share

Learning Outcomes

• Customer Service ...is what an organization does when delivering its products and services to customers, and how it does it.

• Customer Experience ...is about how customers feel as a result of the service they receive.

• Customer Engagement ...is the outcome an organization wants as a result of the service they deliver and the experience the customer has.

*with permission and courtesy of Tim Hadfield, Everything Engagement Blog, http://everythingengagement.blogspot.co.uk

Service, Experience and Engagement*

Group Discussion: As a consumer, think of a company you have dealt with that provided you with ‘good’ customer service. Go around your table and discuss.

• How or what makes them unique and standout? • What similarities do they share? (delivery,

follow up, feeling you get, efficiency of service, quality of care, go the extra mile…?)

Good customer service

• Methodology vs. application• Quality of messaging• Communication mediums• Who is responsible for customer service in your

organization? • Measurement of inbound & outbound• Crossover of sales and service

Some ‘how’ but mostly ‘where’

Group Activity: Using the flipchart at your table, make a list of everyday customer service tasks/activities that a typical show organizer may perform in the lead up to a tradeshow or conference.

• Examples: collecting insurance forms, show guide listings, operational or marketing deliverables…

• Tape this list to the wall

Customer service: task list

• Customer service – a necessary expenditure• Where the sales process ends and service begins? • You have a problem? Call customer service• Customer service defines a quality experience• Oh what a feeling! Examples of memorable

communications and its lasting impression (positive and negative)

Communicating with your customers

• Service first and sales will follow? Defining the lines of battle

• Customer service benchmarks – focus on loyalty• Extend your reach into the marketplace without

adding resources • Seasonal nature of inbound customer service?• Offense or defense – the right mix • Calling customers before they are a customer?

Gaining competitive advantage

Empower your customer service team• Audit your ratio of inbound vs. outbound – do you

have the right mix? • Consider your seasonality and any excess capacity• Count and evaluate the number of times you

interact with your customer per cycle • Be objective in measurement of the quality of

messaging – can it improve?

Practical Tips on Engagement

1

Messaging your value • Identify all value add engagement programs that

support your event throughout the cycle – communicate!

• Old is new? Use the telephone! • Direct mail opportunities – make it personal • Balanced messaging and avoiding direct sales• Make every message an opportunity for further

engagement by your customer – on their time

Practical Tips on Engagement

2

Value-add engagement programs • Definition? • Group Activity: On your flip chart, list some of your

own value-add engagement programs that you have used (past or present) at your event to engage your attendees or exhibitors.

• Examples: loyalty programs, new product programs, special event features, online engagement…

• Tape this to the wall next to the first list

Practical Tips – Add value

3

Group Activity: Using a new flipchart…

1. Consider all of the customer service initiatives from the first list

2. Evaluate your second list of value-add engagement programs

3. Now try and bundle one of the customer service initiatives(list 1) with a value add engagement program (list 2).

4. You can pair more than one value-add engagement per customer service task

Practical Tips – Make the link

4

Group presentationHow can your group suggest a practical example of how to improve the effectiveness of a customer service message by adding value-add messaging?

Practical Tips – Sharing

• Eliminate any ‘one-way’ conversations and add engagement opportunity to every type of communication. Make the most of any communication deliberately!

• Create the ‘myth’ and remove fear: your customer service can do anything (and will) to win absolute satisfaction of your clients. (Ferrari speed example)

• Ever increasing expectations – recognize this now and turn it into a competitive edge

Unleash your untapped resource!

• Focus on the ‘how’ of customer service is crucial to achieving client satisfaction – however don’t ignore the ‘where’ and to ‘who’ it is being applied

• Consider ‘offence’ vs. ‘defense’ when it comes in inbound and outbound touches with your clients. What is a healthy mix for your org?

• You have great value-add programs already, use your customer service to help these reach new clients and drive business

Beyond the barriers of good

THANK YOU!

Unleashing an Untapped Resource

Nick Samain, Group Show Manager, SME Canada

Beyond the Barriers of ‘Good’ Customer Service