An article in this month’s issue of Inc. profiled Dawson Rutter, a man who went from being a cab driver to building a $34 million limo company by providing a superior customer experience.  What I found fascinating about the article was the fact that you don’t have to be a company the size of the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain to provide truly excellent customer service.  It’s a matter of priorities.  Rutter’s company, Commonwealth Worldwide Chauffered Transportation, started small.  They pull from a pool of drivers that is largely untrained and itinerant.  Yet they are able to consistently provide customers a superior experience which has been the basis of their success.  They do it by investing money in training and customer service.  For example, their phone system doesn’t have a voice menu and they answer all calls within three rings.  This increases call center staff costs but increases profits even more.

Another important differentiator for the company is its extreme attention to detail.  Drivers never remove their jackets.  They always keep clients’ luggage in their line of vision until the bags are loaded in the car.  They make sure to have the client’s favorite beverage and reading material.  And the list goes on.

This type of attention to detail can help almost any company stand out – and frequently at little or no extra cost.  I’d like to tell you that the way to learn which details are important to your customers is to have Bureau West conduct research – but that would only be part of the story.  Consider additional ways to gather information to improve the customer experience.  For example, is there an opportunity for employees to engage customers in conversation in the course of their transaction?  And speaking of employees, many companies overlook their own employees as a rich source of information on the customer experience – consider ways to ensure you receive ongoing input from company staff.  Another option is to have managers telephone customers after the sale.  Rather than just having customers fill out a survey, an actual conversation will generate far richer insights.

We’d be glad to help strategize about the best ways to learn how to improve the customer experience at your company – whether utilizing Bureau West researchers or your own staff.  Please give us a call at (818) 752-7210.