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MSN on Main interview with Adam Armbruster of ESA & Company
Sarasota, FL
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Customer Service: Lessons From the Fall
By Randy Myers
Photo by Jamie Myers
There's nothing like a recession to drive companies to new heights of customer service. After all, when every customer becomes precious, it becomes more important than ever to keep the ones you have happy.
But why stop when the economy recovers? Taking care of customers makes sense no matter what the business climate. That's why smart entrepreneurs are looking back at customer service improvements they made during the recession and, in many cases, deciding to continue them — even as the economy finally appears to be regaining its footing.
If you're running an auto dealership, for example, giving each customer's car a quick run through the wash bay before returning the keys could be fine when you're only making a half-dozen sales a day. Why not do the customer a favor? However, it could prove unworkable once you're back to selling, say, 20 cars a day. By contrast, if you're a retailer doing most of your business with customers who shop online, it may not be much of a burden to continue enclosing a thank-you card with every order that ships from your warehouse, no matter how much your sales take off when the economy rebounds.
Adam Armbruster, a partner with retail consultancy Eckstein, Summers, Armbruster & Co. in Red Bank, New Jersey, launched a customer service improvement during the recession that he's convinced is worth keeping now that the economy is growing again.
During the summer of 2008, Armbruster began creating and hosting educational webinars for his best customers. The idea, he says, was to provide them with tips for growing their businesses in a down market. "I thought that I had better give more value than my competition, and that I could keep customers happy that way," Armbruster says.
One of his early webinars was called "Recession Busters," and featured tips on sales, pricing and advertising. Another focused on predatory marketing, or, as Armbruster describes it, "how to create marketing tactics that allow you to take market share from a shrinking industry." In that webinar, he says, he shared examples on how companies could retool their marketing message to stand out in a crowded field and tweak their merchandising efforts to boost sales and profits.
Customers responded enthusiastically, Armbruster says, and he quickly made the webinars a regular monthly feature. In 2009, his business grew by 30 percent. While he can't directly link the webinars to his improving sales volume, he doesn't discount the possibility, either.
And, he has no intention of stopping what he's doing. "I've created a monster!" he jokes, then continues: "Clients love them. I believe the webinars keep them motivated and inspired. I like to help people, and these are just another way to help. They are now a permanent part of my service."
If you didn't introduce any formal customer service enhancements during the recession, try to remember some of the little things you may have done to keep your favorite customers happy, whether it was finding ways to accommodate a special order or just returning phone calls a little faster. Then, see if you can incorporate that into your standard operating procedures. No matter how good the economy is or isn't, I'm betting it will serve your customers, and you, well.
A former reporter for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones and contributor to Barron's, Randy Myers is a contributing editor for CFO and Corporate Board Member magazines.
By Randy Myers
Photo by Jamie Myers
There's nothing like a recession to drive companies to new heights of customer service. After all, when every customer becomes precious, it becomes more important than ever to keep the ones you have happy.
But why stop when the economy recovers? Taking care of customers makes sense no matter what the business climate. That's why smart entrepreneurs are looking back at customer service improvements they made during the recession and, in many cases, deciding to continue them — even as the economy finally appears to be regaining its footing.
If you're running an auto dealership, for example, giving each customer's car a quick run through the wash bay before returning the keys could be fine when you're only making a half-dozen sales a day. Why not do the customer a favor? However, it could prove unworkable once you're back to selling, say, 20 cars a day. By contrast, if you're a retailer doing most of your business with customers who shop online, it may not be much of a burden to continue enclosing a thank-you card with every order that ships from your warehouse, no matter how much your sales take off when the economy rebounds.
Adam Armbruster, a partner with retail consultancy Eckstein, Summers, Armbruster & Co. in Red Bank, New Jersey, launched a customer service improvement during the recession that he's convinced is worth keeping now that the economy is growing again.
During the summer of 2008, Armbruster began creating and hosting educational webinars for his best customers. The idea, he says, was to provide them with tips for growing their businesses in a down market. "I thought that I had better give more value than my competition, and that I could keep customers happy that way," Armbruster says.
One of his early webinars was called "Recession Busters," and featured tips on sales, pricing and advertising. Another focused on predatory marketing, or, as Armbruster describes it, "how to create marketing tactics that allow you to take market share from a shrinking industry." In that webinar, he says, he shared examples on how companies could retool their marketing message to stand out in a crowded field and tweak their merchandising efforts to boost sales and profits.
Customers responded enthusiastically, Armbruster says, and he quickly made the webinars a regular monthly feature. In 2009, his business grew by 30 percent. While he can't directly link the webinars to his improving sales volume, he doesn't discount the possibility, either.
And, he has no intention of stopping what he's doing. "I've created a monster!" he jokes, then continues: "Clients love them. I believe the webinars keep them motivated and inspired. I like to help people, and these are just another way to help. They are now a permanent part of my service."
If you didn't introduce any formal customer service enhancements during the recession, try to remember some of the little things you may have done to keep your favorite customers happy, whether it was finding ways to accommodate a special order or just returning phone calls a little faster. Then, see if you can incorporate that into your standard operating procedures. No matter how good the economy is or isn't, I'm betting it will serve your customers, and you, well.
A former reporter for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones and contributor to Barron's, Randy Myers is a contributing editor for CFO and Corporate Board Member magazines.
Adam Armbruster
Sarasota, FL
941 928 7192
