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May 17, 2012

Under-promise and Over-deliver… a True Story

As most of you know, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software is a must-have in your marketing & sales arsenal.  Your CRM software is used to track and record client & prospect interactions, manage marketing campaigns, create sales reports and so much more.

I happen to use ZoHo (www.zoho.com).  This isn’t a story to promote a specific platform, but rather a story about the “customer experience” and how it can impact your business.  And I happen to be the customer.

So, here’s the story… I was trying to create a web-to-lead form (information from my website that would automatically be deposited into the CRM) and was having a little trouble.  I went looking for help online and ZoHo makes available lots of online documentation and even videos on YouTube.  I found what I needed… tried it… but it wasn’t helping.

So I decided to communicate my problem via email… which I did and received a friendly, prompt reply which included step-by-step instructions.  I liked the responsiveness… but again, it wasn’t quite doing what I needed it to do.

When I replied to the email and mentioned that I was still having trouble, we scheduled a phone call.  They called me and talked me through the problem and together, we fixed it.

The moral of the story… a company provides multiple ways and communication channels for their clients to take care of any issues they might have.  And the fact that they were willing to schedule a call and literally walk me through the solution step-by-step is remarkable.

But here’s the rest of the story… I don’t pay a dime for the software.  I happen to have the small-business version which they give away.  Now think again about what happened… online resources, email support and personal attention – all for someone who generates no revenue for them.  When it’s time for me to upgrade to the pay-per-service model, who do think I’m going to use?

Think about your firm… are you consistently under-promising and over-delivering?  Is that part of your marketing strategy?  Are your frontline employees trained and ready to work under this paradigm?  If you answered ‘yes’ to those question, then you’ll have a competitive advantage that very few others will be able to match.


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