Last month I purchased a new bed here in Toronto from Sleep Country, a retailer that was recommended to me by my family. Sleep Country has a reputation for good service and as my aunt told me – “They even assemble the bed for you!” – which is nice.
I’ve just received a little note in the mail, hand written by the salesperson who served me, with a postage paid response card attached to provide feedback. The card asks me to rank certain aspects of my buying experience with Sleep Country and provides a space for comments.
No doubt Sleep Country use the responses they get to further enhance their services and better meet the needs of customers, and based on the word of mouth I received about their company they are doing customer service very well.
What are you doing to follow-up post purchase with your customers?
Hi Yaro – although this simple act of following up was so simple, it IS indeed worthy of comment because of how seldom it happens. Not you’re favourably predisposed to Sleep Country, you’ve given them a PR6 backlink, and you’ve just told 1610+ RSS readers about how great they are. Everyone’s kicked a goal! Will
Wow you got a bed eh? How long are you planning to stay in Toronto?
Sleep Country is a pretty good business and this again just goes to prove that if you really enjoy what you do, word of mouth has a way of spreading. Cheers Yaro.
Luc
We do this with all our customers via email, most people are very suprised when they get an email from one of our team asking if they were actually happy with the gadget they purchased. If they weren’t happy it gives us a chance to resolve the problem ASAP.
I also have a real-life example…I can relate to your post because I just dropped off my car at the dealer because the lease had expired. In the meantime, I leased a new car from a different dealer. When I walked in to the old dealer he looked surprised that I leased from a different dealer. Now…I wonder what would have happened if he sent me a postcard even once a year. I certainly would have given him permission to send me a birthday card. Ya know, “Permission Marketing”. Well, as he found out when I dropped off the car, I leased my new car from someone else.
I’ve purchased some stuff at Guitar Center before, and every so often I get a handwritten postcard in the mail from the salesman who rang me up that says something like: “Hey Chris, just wondering how you’re enjoying your (Product I Bought). Come pass by the store and say hi sometime or give me a call if you need anything. My number is…”
I’m reading Seth Godin’s Small is the New Big right now and he talks a lot about the importance of interacting with customers and making yourself accessible. It’s great to see good companies that do that.
If you help the customer after the sale then you might get a repeat customer. In addition, the customer might tell others about your good product and service. Finally, helping customers encourages more sales from new people (People who have never heard of your product at all.).